Jason Cook on Johnny Manziel, the NCAA and more

Key quotes from Jason Cook interview:

"We thought hell had broken lose the day after the Wright Thompson article was released."

"It has been a wild ride this off-season."

"Its the first time in 47 years that there is a college athlete on the cover of Time Magazine."

"I was getting as many calls from TMZ as any other outlet. He is a world figure. It is amazing how transcendent he is."

"There is an insatiable appetite for Johnny Manziel stories in the media, whether it is true or not."

"It is a situation where the reason why Johnny Manziel is on the cover of Time is because he drives ratings."

"What’s happening with A&M is significant, and I can't even imagine what the ratings are going to be for the Alabama game."

"There were approximately 4.2 million viewers watching the A&M/Rice game"

"Regarding the NCAA decision…we reached a win-win situation. It was a win for Johnny Manziel. It was a win for A&M."

"Eric Hyman was a steady hand and a guiding force as we went through the situation with the NCAA.'

"The goal was that we wanted Johnny Manziel to be eligible to play. That was the #1 goal all along."

"We think that the ultimate statement was made when Johnny Manziel ran out against Rice."

"After we got the NCAA issue resolved, the media has sure amped it up quite a bit"

"The media was a force in his emergence on the scene at the national level. There has never been a college player this scrutinized"

"I know that it is extremely tough for our fan base, people are coming after us because we are on the top now."

"I have to remind people that the E in ESPN stands for Entertainment."

“Just because we aren't coming out publicly does not mean that we are sitting idly doing nothing."

"It is intense here. I wear maroon shirts here. I have the logo on my chest. It affects me too."

"If you look at it objectively.... we are a little bruised, not mortally wounded."

"A lot of times in a really good sound PR strategy, no one knows what is happening behind the scenes."

"Texas A&M is bigger than Johnny Manziel. We have to protect our student-athlete."

"The triangle of ESPN --- entertainment, news and revenue -- has become a paradox."

"So you think the media is a circus now? Just wait [for the Bama game]"

"This Alabama game is going to be 10 times bigger than the Florida game in 2012."

"Even with out any official announcement... we are preparing for College Game Day."

"It will be the first time for CBS at Kyle Field since 1989."

"Paul Finebaum is the best at trolling fan bases in history. And he has made a living doing that."

"The best thing we can do next week is for our fans to be pro Johnny Manziel, pro Kevin Sumlin and pro Texas A&M."

"Use [the Alabama/A&M game] as an opportunity to promote our school, not to go negative on someone else."

"Whenever we do interviews and deal with the media, we have a strategy in place."

"A lot of people are making this all about Manziel by throwing out the statement that A&M is making millions off of him. We started the plan for the new Kyle Field before Johnny took a snap. We moved to the SEC before Johnny took a snap. What you are seeing is that Johnny has definitely accelerated these plans... things are building on top of each other."

"All these things are building on top of each other. It is a perfect storm, it is not solely Johnny Manziel."

"We just click off history like crazy around here right now.”

"By having the Aggie Dance Team on Kyle, we wanted to add some pageantry and color. It was an opportunity to showcase something else about Texas A&M. The Dance Team did not take away anything from traditions. We want to add-to not subtract-from."

"From our jersey portfolio... #12 has always been really strong. We only receive $50,000 in royalties of ALL jersey numbers."

"Mike Slive's background is in NCAA compliance. He worked on the A&M issue in the 80's. He is very familiar with it."

"When I read TexAgs, I laugh, cry... pull my hair out."

"I thought that the demons of the bevel were cast out last year. Maybe they are coming back."

"From a football standpoint, Eric Hyman's philosophy is that A&M wants to play a team from Texas."

"Soccer has Baylor on Sunday night here at Ellis Field. If you want to bring in the Big 12 hate, here's your opportunity."

"What happens on the field determines who wins the Heisman. We said this last year... we had the same noise."

"[Johnny speaking] is a situation that we have to be comfortable with... and he is comfortable with. That is coming soon."