Johnny Manziel admits to getting paid at Texas A&M: Made ‘decent living’ selling autographs

Years after the fact, former Texas A&M football superstar Johnny Manziel admits he made a good bit of money selling autographs after his Heisman Trophy-winning season.

Texas A&M football legend Johnny Manziel admitted to selling autographs after his Heisman Trophy-winning season during his final year in College Station.

Manziel opened up about this on the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast. He said that he did it very sneakily during his redshirt sophomore season of 2013.

“We’re doing it all sneaky, we don’t want to get caught, we’re trying to learn from everybody else who’s got caught,” Manziel said during the interview. “And I may or may not have gone back to this guy’s condo and signed probably 10,000 pieces. He gave me three grand.”

Another man told Manziel he was getting ripped off for getting paid that little so he offered him $30,000 to sign a bunch of memorabilia.

Manziel recounted the exchange on the podcast:

"“So this guy is like, ‘All right, go to this room at the Fontainebleau. All this stuff will be in there laid out, and when you’re done, just send me a picture of all of it, I’ll give you the code to the safe, the money will be in there.'”"

Manziel says he never sold an autograph prior to winning the 2012 Heisman Trophy. He would leave College Station for the 2014 NFL Draft as a first-round pick by the Cleveland Browns. Manziel lasted only two years in the NFL.

Manziel said he made somewhat of a decent living in college but said he didn’t take money until after he won the Heisman. He did, however, dare the NCAA to take away his 2013 9-4 season that saw the Aggies beat the Duke Blue Devils in the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta.

Texas A&M football legend Johnny Manziel admits to selling autographs

This would have been bigger news as recently as two years ago. However, with name, image and likeness policies being approved in various states across the country, nobody is really going to bat an eye at what Manziel did. When you win an award as prestigious as the Heisman as a 20-year-old redshirt freshman, it has to be next to impossible not to cash in on your newfound fame. So much has changed.

While the NCAA may try to make an example out of Manziel and the 2013 Aggies, it will come across as a toothless bite at this point. It is not like Manziel made millions of dollars signing autographs during his final year in college. Any other college student can make money on the side, but not college athletes. Manziel would not admit this if he did not believe in future NIL legislation.

Had this have been public knowledge in 2015, Texas A&M would have been is so much trouble.

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