Winner of college football’s top award to be announced Saturday
While Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel gets ready for what he hopes is his coronation as the Heisman Trophy winner, those closest to him say he hasn’t forgotten his Texas roots.
Manziel Mania really hit the big-time after the Aggies quarterback led A&M to a win over then No.1 Alabama on November 10th. But his head coach at Kerrville-Tivy High School, Mark Smith, told KTRH he knew how special Manziel was a long time ago.
“To say it’s a surprise, probably not,” Smith said. Maybe how fast it’s occurred, that’s probably the biggest surprise of all.
Smith tells KTRH he was glad to be on the ground floor of Manziel Mania.
“I just feel honored and blessed to have the opportunity to coach a guy like him. That’s the special part to me. Coaching a guy like him is really pretty easy,” Smith explained.
After winning the Davey O'Brien Award as the nation's best quarterback Thursday night, Manziel heads to New York as one of the finalists for the Heisman Trophy (the other finalists are Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o and Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein). The announcement will be made Saturday.
A&M Associate Athletic Director Alan Cannon, who has been with the Aggies for thirty years, told KTRH the 20-year old hasn't let all the attention get to him.
“He’s handled it very well. Johnny has been himself. He enjoys being with his teammates, playing the game of football and going to class,” Cannon said.
There was no pre-season hype for the Aggies quarterback. In fact, A&M didn’t even ramp up a Heisman campaign until after the victory over the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, something that Cannon said was not easy to pull off.
“It was a great team effort, not only by the staff, but also the university,” Cannon explained.
Smith telling KTRH the town of Converse is set for tomorrow night, with many parties being held all across the town.
