Exciting news surrounding Johnny Manziel broke Sunday, and coincidentally, Texas A&M’s media day to mark the start of fall camp was Monday. Head coach Kevin Sumlin spoke about his Heisman winner’s predicament, seeming to choose his words carefully as he faced questions about a potential NCAA investigation, but generally made it seem as if he knows just as little about the situation as the rest of us do.
Kevin Sumlin on Johnny Manziel: Texas A&M coaches found out Sunday
Kevin Sumlin had a regularly scheduled press conference Monday, and had to face the press about Johnny Manziel’s reported NCAA investigation. It seems the Aggies head coach is still finding out the facts of his QB’s alleged pay-for-autographs scandal.
Sumlin said that he found out about this on the same day as the rest of us.
Although the NCAA has reportedly been investigating since June, Sumlin said that he wouldn't have been the one to hear about it, and that such investigations would be funneled through the school's athletic department rather than going straight to the head coach. He said he hadn't found out whether or not an investigation is actually ongoing, and that he would talk to Manziel later as planned.
He said that many people would be involved in the process of deciding whether Manziel would play if the investigation were still ongoing at the start of the season and if it put the quarterback’s eligibility into question. But he said that he had no intentions of changing the roles of Manziel and other quarterbacks in camp.
Comments from other Aggies:
A&M OC Clarence McKinney: Until I'm told otherwise we're going to proceed with Johnny as our quarterback.
— Kate Hairopoulos (@khairopoulos) August 5, 2013
Per A&M SID Alan Cannon: "There was a conversation between Johnny and I and we decided it was best if he didn't speak today."
— Billy Liucci (@billyliucci) August 5, 2013
Malena said Manziel attended team functions etc. on Sunday and everything was 'fine.'
— Brent Zwerneman (@BrentZwerneman) August 5, 2013
Sumlin made it clear he wanted to focus on other issues. He opened the regularly scheduled press conference by discussing the difficulty of dealing with the death of offensive lineman Polo Manukainiu, which happened less than a week ago. And he poked fun at the press, pointing out that none of them asked him about the fact that all 31 of his signees were eligible and enrolled in summer school. He also pointed out that defensive tackle Kirby Ennis would miss the team's opener due to an arrest for gun charges.
From SB Nation’s Aggies blog, Good Bull Hunting
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