Johnny Manziel is finding himself in hot water once again. The Texas A&M quarterback has not exactly had a smooth offseason. Mysterious tweets about hating College Station, hanging out courtside at basketball games and now another NCAA investigation seem to be overshadowing the Heisman Trophy year he had. As the college football season kicks off in a matter of weeks, Manziel is turning to others for advice.
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton knows a thing or two about a quick rise to fame and also what it feels like to have the NCAA investigating your every move. He was essentially Manziel three years ago. On Tuesday, Newton told reports that he has had multiple conversations with the young quarterback about how to balance college life and the media that comes along with being a high-profile player.
"For any college athlete you are vulnerable to so many things," Newton said, per the Associated Press. "You think everybody loves you for who you are ... [He] has to go through these types of situations to know how to handle them in the future. When somebody comes up to you and asks for your autograph, you don't know if they're going to do it for good or bad."
Newton would not dive into the exact advice he gave Manziel, but did say that he understood exactly what the quarterback was facing, having dealt with the same thing. He realizes that it is a tough lesson to learn and accept.
"When I was there at college so many people wanted from me and I wanted to give so much," Newton said. "Like I would sign this and give my time and this, this and that. And nobody was looking at it through my [eyes]. If you say no to this particular person you are going to be a [jerk]. You are going to be the person that people look at as, 'What's up? We came out here and supported you and cheered for you and you can't sign an autograph?'"
The autographs are what have Manziel in his current situation. The quarterback is being accused of accepting at least $7,500 dollars for autographing memorabilia items that were eventually sold. Per NCAA rules, that is not allowed and now the Heisman winner is being investigated to determine if the situation is true and whether or not he will be eligible to play in 2013.
