Did Johnny Manziel win a National Championship? Exploring the collegiate career of the Texas A&M alum

Johnny Manziel is one of the most enigmatic players in the NFL. He took college football by storm in 2012 as he starred for the Texas A&M Aggies for two seasons before departing for the league in 2014.

Manziel broke several records during his brief college career.This included the most total offense in a game as he racked up 557 total yards against Arkansas. He then broke his own record a fortnight later racking up 576 yards, easily becoming the top draw in college football.

The player threw for 3,796 yards, 9 interceptions and 26 touchdowns in his first college football season and his season highlight reel looked like something out of a movie. His most memorable game came against Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide.

Johnny Manziel's social life was booming and he had a few problems with excessive partying and missing training. But, this did not affect his onfield performances and he went from strength to strength.

Although he never won the national championship with the Aggies, Manziel was the first freshman to ever win the prestigious Heisman Trophy for his stellar season.

There's a Netflix special titled "Untold: Johnny Football" which shows his brief but brilliant life as a college football player and even more chaotic NFL career. It premiered on August 8.

Johnny Manziel's NFL career

The Texas A&M alum captivated the attention of college football fans in 2012 with an unorthodox manner of playing the quarterback position. However, his NFL career was nothing but a disaster.

During the draft, Manziel sent a desperate text to Cleveland Browns' offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains which prompted them to pick him:

"I wish you guys would come get me. Hurry up and draft me because I want to be there. I want to wreck this league together."

Manziel's career for the Browns was quite underwhelming and he was released after two years. He details how this led to a spiral of using cocaine and OxyContin and even attempting suicide. Per The Athletic, he said:

"I had planned to do everything I wanted to do at that point in my life, spend as much money as I possibly could and then my plan was to take my life. I wanted to get as bad as humanly possible to where it made sense, and it made it seem like an excuse and an out for me."

Johnny Manziel will continue to be a study in how abruptly the careers of the best and brightest talents in college at times struggle with the step up to the NFL.