Exclusive: John McClain shares his experience with Johnny Manziel
Key quotes from John McClain interview:
"Johnny blew me away. I told him that 'if you talk at the Combine like you talked with us, you will blow them away'."
"I have had a lot of people, both Aggies and non-Aggies, reach out to me and say that they have learned a lot about him from these stories."
"The thing that impressed me the most was that he said that he wants to put the Johnny Football persona behind him. He is growing up and learning from his mistakes. He called them 'goofball decisions.' Nothing he did was really bad. You see players every day do bad things, he never did that. Just 'goofy.'"
"People don't understand [how bad he wants to play for the Texans.] I think if the Texans had the 2nd or 3rd pick, he would still want to go to Houston."
"Johnny's quote about the Texans making the worst decision they have ever made if they decide not to draft him and turning the chip on his shoulder from a 'Frito in to a Dorito' was the best quote I have ever heard."
"There will be a lot of people that will say that it will hurt him not to throw at the Combine. That's BS. If I had a quarterback, I wouldn't let him throw at the Combine either."
"A lot of people will be surprised at how smart he is. Once he gets in the room and looks at the NFL executives in the eyes, they will be impressed just like I was."
"The fans and the media [of NFL teams in the running] are getting to be like the Aggies have been for the past two years. They are getting really fired up about him."
"Houston's goal is to be like Kansas City and Indianapolis, two of the worst teams in the league. New coach, new quarterback and make the playoffs."
"I go back to what Art Briles said 'if you have been a great player in high school and a great player in college, especially against the best competition in the country in the SEC, and if you get in the right system and work hard... you can be great at any level.'"
"Millions are won and lost in shorts and a t-shirt. Johnny will impress in shorts and a t-shirt once they get to know him."
"Bill O'Brien wants an intelligent and accurate quarterback that eats, sleeps and drinks football. That's the part that Manziel will have to convince him of."
"Johnny has convinced me that he is all about football. I have been doing this for 35 years, I have a good BS meter. If in fact he goes to the NFL and is back all over TMZ because of what he does 'after work', I am calling Hollywood and nominating him for an Oscar."
"If the draft were tomorrow, I think the Texans would take Blake Bortles. But it's not and I think there is a great chance they take Manziel."
"The people that speak negatively about Johnny Manziel don't know him. People made out some of the quotes in my story to be that he is cocky and arrogant. He wasn't. He impressed the heck out of me and he will impress the heck out of them."
"Russell Wilson didn't just open the door, he kicked down the door for smaller quarterbacks."
Check out John McClain's piece on Johnny Manziel here.
