Johnny Manziel Gets Called the “Kardashian” of College Football

There are few bigger stars in college football right now than Johnny Manziel. He became the first freshman to ever win a Heisman Trophy and he’s become a rockstar on the campus of Texas A&M as well as all over college football. But while he’s bigger than ever at the moment, Manziel is still struggling with being a teenager trapped in the body of the most popular college football player in the country.

So naturally, this has put him in a position where every move he makes is analyzed and the ones he’s been making recently haven’t been all that great. From partying all night to getting pulled over and attending basketball games, Manziel lashed out at the world on Twitter this weekend saying he couldn’t wait to leave College Station.

This little tantrum has, like everything he does, been broken down by everyone as though it’s a scientific study of some kind. Not everyone agrees with Johnny Football’s behavior and USA Today’s David Climer went as far as to call Manziel the Kardashian of college football.

"Let me be the first to say that I love watching the guy play quarterback for Texas A&M. But let me also say I’m starting to consider him the most spoiled brat in intercollegiate athletics. He’s becoming the Kardashian of college football."

Depending on who you are, this is either the best compliment in the world or the worst insult you can toss at  someone. The general consensus among human beings not age 10 or younger is that the Kardashian’s are nothing but a sideshow family that has gotten famous off of reality television and will not go away. They are stuck up, they are caricatures of themselves at this point and they’ve become powerfully famous for no apparent good reason other than they like to have sex on film.

Manziel hasn’t done that and he actually has been able to become famous because of talent rather despite it. However, his behavior is what seems to be bringing him down in the eyes of most of his critics and it’s outbursts like the one he had this weekend that don’t help his cause. Climer points out in his piece that Manziel seems to be bi-polar with his love and hatred of the attention he’s brought himself.

"Remember, this is the same guy that was so put off by the extra attention he was getting from other students in an English class in the spring that he opted to take the class on-line. One day, he’s living like a rock star, the next he can’t stand to be subjected to all the hubbub in College Station."

Perhaps a better comparison would be to call Manziel the Kurt Cobain of college football as he clearly loves the attention most of the time but is still having trouble adjusting to the volume of attention and praise he’s getting. Where Cobain was supposedly the voice of a generation, Manziel is the Aggies bright and shining hope to be kings in the SEC and that’s no small feat.

He’s just a football player at the end of the day, but football is the most popular sport in the country and Manziel plays in the most football crazy state in the universe. We’ve seen talented people pushed too far before and while Manziel may just be whiney teenager, let’s not forget that when he loses a football game and is being crucified as though he’s something different.