What if Johnny Manziel had chosen Texas instead of A & M?
A note from the Webmaster concerning Larry Carlson’s article.
Webmaster Billy Dale and retired Professor of journalism and consummate Media guru Larry Carlson have created a Longhorn sports history website combining 1000’s of montages and mosaics telling the story of the Longhorn brand through the eyes of those who created it.
The site is free, educational, historical, and insightful.
From the fertile imagination of writer extraordinaire Larry Carlson, Longhorn Johnny Manziel’s alternative story unfolds. Writer’s note: “Maybe there’s too much oak pollen in the Texas air, or maybe it’s just good to exorcise the whole 2010-2021 football era by indulging in a daydream of what might have been.” Larry Carlson
Larry asks, what if Johnny Manziel had chosen Texas over the Aggies? He answers the question by entering Rod Serlings Twilight Zone. A dimension made possible by traveling in the “Back to the Future” time portal machine.
A dimension where “Johnny be Good”
Instead of “Johnny Be Bad”
A dimension in time where all the terrible recruiting decisions after Colt McCoy graduated are corrected.
Such as decisions to not offer Johnny Manziel and tell RGIII Texas would use him as a defensive back. Both were Heisman trophy-winning quarterbacks who Texas never considered as quarterbacks for Texas.
Then there were Baker Mayfield, Nick Foles, and Drew Brees, who were in Austin’s backyard. Two of these three were Super Bowl MVPs! And what about Andrew Luck’s courting dance with Texas before choosing Stanford? Read the three links below to see all the other insufficient data recruiting decisions made by the Longhorns.
Johnny Manziel
https://bleacherreport.com/…/1769270-history-of-texas…
Johnny Manziel
https://www.goodbullhunting.com/2013/8/2/4576342/what-if-johnny-manziel-texas-longhorns-safety
Robert Griffin III
Larry begins Good Johnny’s story after his football career is over, and he returns to serve as Grand Marshal of “Bevo week” in Austin.
Enjoy a moment of alternative history and read with a sense of humor, not a vindictive spirit. Larry’s article is a spoof, and all the other synonyms surrounding a spoof, such as parody · pastiche · burlesque · takeoff · skit · imitation · pasquinade · pasticcio. Nevertheless, it is a “what if” moment worthy of reflection.
AUSTIN, TX: April 23, 2022
An Alternative History for longhorn football – A trip “Back to the Future” 2010-2021.
by Larry Carlson- lc13@txstate.edu
If Johnny Be Good
Back to the future -Johnny Manziel is #2 for the Longhorns in the photoshopped image taken in 2013.
Johnny Manziel was enjoying being home. Seeing old UT teammates, swapping tales, signing autographs, drinking something cold. College football’s only three-time Heisman winner was back in his old stomping grounds. Back in Austin, where it all started that fall of 2011.
Manziel served this week as Grand Marshal of the Bevo Bonanza, three days of festivities for Longhorn lettermen and fans, set to climax this evening with the Orange-White spring intrasquad game.
Manziel, who announced his retirement from football in January after seven stellar NFL seasons with the New England Patriots, including five Pro Bowl selections and three Super Bowl rings, is getting around just fine, thank you, after his second knee replacement surgery.
“It’s all good,” said a beaming “Johnny Football,” who came to be known as “the Night Owl of New England” and “the Fleet Feet of Foxboro,” while dazzling Pats fans with his on-and-off-field derring-do as a quarterback-turned-slot receiver/return man and man about town extraordinaire.
I am always going to be a Longhorn.
“Heck yeah, I wish the knees had hung in there better,” said Manziel, whose “triple axel” mid-air spins became the trademark of his elusiveness on the gridiron. “But there’s a time for more chapters, always,” he said, waxing philosophical. “I’m always gonna be a Longhorn, I’m always gonna be a Patriot,” but I’m looking forward to just everything in life. I’ve seen enough bright lights and I’m ready to relax in peace,” he continued, flanked by UT Athletic Director Mack Brown and Texas coach Todd Dodge outside Bellmont Hall Saturday afternoon.
“Give credit to Johnny,” Brown said, “he was a team player first but we wouldn’t have those two other national championships (2013, 2014) without his unique talents. It’s that simple,” concluded Brown, who turned over the coaching reins to Dodge after celebrating his third national title team in ’14.
Dodge was all aglow about Manziel’s $5 million dollar donation to what Johnny Football called a “slush fund of NIL money earmarked for five-star quarterback recruits at Texas.”
“Johnny’s generosity to the program is going to help lead us back into the championship picture,” said Dodge, often criticized of late for a 2021 season that saw Texas lose twice and beat lowly Kansas by just 13 points in an 11-2 campaign that did at least bear fruit in the form of a New Year’s Day win in the Cotton Bowl.
Not surprisingly, Manziel made light of what is by far the largest contribution to UT by a former player.
“Hell, I made that at the tables in Vegas during last season’s open week,” he cracked.
Manziel, of course, came to the Forty Acres in 2011 as a much-hyped freshman QB from Kerrville’s Tivy High School. But he was moved to defensive back in August and a nagging hamstring sidelined him almost the entire season. Until the legend was born in College Station the night Texas and Texas A&M teed it up for what has been the last edition of the rivalry, pending UT’s much-anticipated move to the SEC. Texas fans from nine to ninety know what happened when ‘Horns QB Case McCoy received a shoulder injury late in the first half with the Ags leading a defensive battle, 16-7.
Manziel successfully lobbied Brown into inserting him at quarterback. He came off the bench and ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more in the second half, igniting a 42-25 victory. He famously needled the conquered Cadets in post-game remarks with ESPN.
“Those jackwagons with swords and Smokey Bear hats were talking about their 12th man stuff. But when you wear the burnt orange and white, you only need eleven guys at a time.”
An unprecedented three consecutive Heisman trophies would follow, as would UT’s most recent two national titles. And Manziel earned a degree in Chemical Engineering in between spearheading Texas teams that went 41-2 with him as the starter.
So what’s next for the greatest Longhorn player ever?
Manziel said he and his wife will relocate to Van Horn, in far West Texas, where they have purchased the famed El Capitan Hotel after deciding that Kerrville has “grown too much.”
“But right now,” Johnny roared, “me and the Minister of Culture, Mr. Elon Musk hisself, are gonna knock back a few Shiner Bocks before we join Guv’nah McConaughey in his suite for a little Orange and White football.”
Photo of Johnny at a party during Bevo week in Austin .
The end of the alternative history of Manziel as a Longhorn
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