Encore will be tall order for Manziel

Quarterback Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy. Can he become the second two-time winner? Archie Griffin of Ohio State did it in 1974-1975.
Quarterback Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy. Can he become the second two-time winner? Archie Griffin of Ohio State did it in 1974-1975.

— Heisman Trophy history suggests it will never get better for Johnny Manziel than it did this season. In the award’s 78-year history, only one player has won more than one: Ohio State’s Archie Griffin in 1974 and 1975.

But even if Manziel doesn’t win another Heisman, there’s still plenty left for Johnny Football and Texas A&M to achieve before he’s done in College Station, Texas.

“First and foremost, there’s the Cotton Bowl,” Manziel said Saturday night. The ninth-ranked Aggies play No. 12 Oklahoma in Dallas on Jan. 4.

“From there, I have to be the guy who starts the motor for a run at the national title next year. That’s our goal. If more awards come, they come.”

That goal doesn’t seem too farfetched after the Aggies’ better-than-expected first season in the SEC. Manziel was joined on stage at his post-ceremony news conference by Coach Kevin Sumlin and Texas A&M offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, the former star quarterback at Texas Tech.

Manziel turned 20 this week. Kingsbury is 33. Sumlin is 48. They might be the future of the SEC, especially after going 10-2 with their fast paced, Spread offense.

Texas A&M averaged 44 points and 552 yards per game. Manziel smashed Cam Newton’s total offense record with 4,600 yards passing and rushing.

“You look what our offense did this year. People didn’t really think that we were going to have mush success in the SEC. They said these smash mouth, hard-nose defenses and this gimmick offense ... won’t work,” Manziel said.

“For us to come into Alabama and some of the other games and really stress tempo,tempo, tempo. We want to move fast. We want to make people uncomfortable. That was our main goal this year. Our offense with coach Sumlin and what coach Kingsbury did, I love it. I love everything about it. It’s definitely something that can work if you have the right people in place for it.”

Kingsbury said he and Sumlin didn’t quite realize what they had in Manziel early on.

“All spring Coach Sumlin would blow the whistle because the defense was close, and [Manziel would] come over ... spike the ball, ‘God! They wouldn’t have got me.’ I’m like, ‘OK, Johnny, sure they wouldn’t have got you.’ Cometo find out they wouldn’t have got him.”

There’s only so much defenses can do to hem in Manziel, who is a master of making something out of nothing.

But defenses will search for ways to rein in Johnny Football. Sumlin’s response might be to get his running backs more involved. The Aggies figure to have a stable of good ones next season.

Manziel could be as good or better next season, but not be able to put up those same video-game numbers.

It’s a common tale in Heisman history.

BYU’s Ty Detmer won the award as a junior in 1990, but finished a distant third behind Michigan’s Desmond Howard and Florida State’s Casey Weldon in 1991.

“I felt like my senior year I was a much better player than my junior year.” Detmer said earlier in the week. “Smarter, less turnovers. Didn’t have as good a stats, but I felt like I was a better player my senior year. But the expectations were different.”

The move to the SEC, hiring Sumlin and the program’s second Heisman - and first since John David Crow in 1957 - have Aggies’ hopes soaring.

“The award for the program is huge,” Sumlin said. “There’s a lot of programs out there that don’t have one. It took a long time for Texas A&M to get to two.”

Sports, Pages 15 on 12/10/2012

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