Texas A&M star quarterback, turned college football celebrity, Johnny Manziel's turbulent lifestyle off the field has been widely documented in recent weeks.
Since winning the Heisman Trophy in his freshman year, Manziel's life has been placed under a microscope with his every move dissected.
However, Manziel has never had his personal covered like it was in the latest story by Wright Thompson of ESPN The Magazine. The lengthy article serves as a source of reasoning for Manziel's scrutinized behavior, while his parents, Paul and Michelle, were the main subjects in the piece expressing their fear that their son's new found celebrity will restrict him from showing any signs of growth.
One of the most revealing portions of the article came with Paul's reaction to his son's arrest.
"He'll grow up," Paul says. "He'll fight the same thing with his son. And his son will think he knows it all. It's a cycle. Right? I think that's the toughest relationship in the world, fathers and sons."
After his arrest, Johnny's parents and (Texas A&M head coach Kevin) Sumlin mandated he visit an alcohol counselor; Johnny saw him six or seven weeks during the season. About the only place they still see the real him is on the football field.
"Yeah," Paul says one evening, driving in his car, "it could come unraveled. And when it does, it's gonna be bad. Real bad."
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