Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca
He’s been on their negotiation list for multiple years, he’s been in negotiations with the team for close to a year, and all of a sudden, he’s here.
It’s surreal on many levels for football fans who remember the off-balance throws, wild scrambles and touchdown celebrations that led to a heisman trophy and the NFL.
Say what you will about Manziel’s past or his fallout from the game’s largest stage, there simply is no doubting that if Manziel can find the sporadic playmaking and arm talent that lured multiple NFL teams into having 1st round NFL draft interest in him, he can make an impact in the CFL.
Hamilton was quick enough to the trigger to get Manziel on their negotiation list should this moment come now the biggest question of all looms large.
How the heck do you use the guy?!
Every moment Manziel is on field with the black and gold is spent with quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison learning the offence. Terminology, motions, cadence, huddle procedures, route combinations and defensive coverages are all on the table as topics of discussion.
The hope is to get Manziel up to speed with this two week Canadian crash course where he can not only understand but contribute. With Jeremiah Masoli the unquestioned, established and trusted starting quarterback of the Tiger-Cats one has to wonder how Manziel would contribute and what he could accomplish in June Jones’ Hamilton offence.
The typical – and often oversimplified – answer when trying to break a player into the CFL with a unique skill set is to build a packaged set of plays, a limited playbook if you will to facilitate their basic knowledge and access the raw skills that demanded signing that player.
MORE ON MANZIEL AT TICATS CAMP
» Job Shadow: Manziel a spectator early in camp
» Steinberg: Still plenty of questions surrounding Manziel
» Watch: Manziel learning on Day 1
» On Demand: Manziel’s introductory press conference
» First Look: Manziel puts on his stripes
In theory that sounds like the right way to get Manziel involved in the game plan but in practice it simply doesn’t make sense.
Packaged plays are typically created for players with a unique skill set capable of accomplishing something off-beat which the starter typically can’t. If the Ticats were working with a a tall, thick, pocket passer with limited mobility as their starter perhaps Manziel would be more likely to be offered that role but Jeremiah Masoli can do everything athletically that Johnny can.
Furthermore, Manziel’s greatness, burned into so many of our memories was not born of a strange wildcat set or option offence. What Johnny does best is create with imagination and athleticism from the normal offence.
At Texas A&M if you played zone he’d burn you with his pinpoint passing into windows. If you played man coverage he’d either throw a perfect ball over the top or watch the defence all run away with receivers before breaking loose for one of those iconic wandering scrambles.
No group of packaged plays will be able to properly access Manziel’s skill set, because his best skill – at his peak playing ability – is improvisation and imagination, not being bound by the stringent requirements of lines on a page.
June Jones reiterated that thought after Tuesday’s second training camp practice saying “both Johnny and Jeremiah can make a ton of plays within the pocket. When things break down those guys can make things happen and things are so spread out in the CFL that by the time they see an opening, that’s the best way for them to do what they do”
The conversation is reminiscent of Masoli’s introduction to black and gold fans when Zach Collaros was the established pivot in the hammer. Masoli was often given a group of plays but never the full depth of the playbook. An approach which Jones seems befuddled by, “he (Masoli) was always a packaged play guy and was never given a chance to develop as a read the field quarterback going 1, 2, 3, 4 through receivers until now but every day here you see him make special throws because he isn’t being limited”.
“I went and took every pass that Johnny threw out of four wide receivers or three receivers and a tight end and guess what he looked like, Texas A&M Johnny. I said to myself why would you try to put him in anything else? … Put him in what he’s done, let him run what he’s done and go play football”.
– Tiger-Cats head coach June Jones
It sure sounds like this perspective makes June Jones more likely to take the reins off Manziel quickly instead of cautiously breaking him into the playbook one chapter at a time.
So packaged plays are not likely. What then can you use Manziel for to create and contribute?
To Jones the answer is more simple than you might think:
“I went and took every pass that Johnny threw out of four wide receivers or three receivers and a tight end and guess what he looked like, Texas A&M Johnny. Okay? I said to myself why would you try to put him in anything else? When you put him under centre or with multiple tight ends or running backs you make him a rookie again. Put him in what he’s done, let him run what he’s done and go play football”.
While that might seem too basic to work think of what Jones’ principles were in turning around an 0-8 football team last year in Hamilton.
Protect the quarterback. Complete passes. Don’t take penalties. Make tackles.
It worked then, it just might now. In reality there might be no football coach in North America or the world more qualified to re-develop Johnny Manziel than June Jones. A history of turning garbage to gold at the team level with a special eye to quarterback excellence driven by a simplistic but exact attention to detail.
In Hamilton Jones has already created a ready made ‘Johnny friendly’ offence full of quick, accuracy needy throws and spread concepts capable of delivering endless playmaking opportunities. It really is a match made in stylistic heaven.
When Manziel gets a regular season opportunity to prove his worth? Nobody knows yet and the slow progression of Manziel through two days of training camp suggests patience is the order of the day, but when he does get up to speed Jones knows there will be a natural confidence and understanding that should lead to Johnny Manziel rediscovering who Johnny Football is.
“Since he’s been a sophomore in high school he’s been running the things we’re doing here in Hamilton right now, and he sees things because he’s done it a million times”.
