2012 Heisman Trophy Winner Johnny Manziel fought with his fans on twitter Wednesday after a photo of him with a Longhorns tattoo was posted. Manziel immediately shot down the post, tweeting “FAKE tattoo.”
Johnny Manziel was the talk of college football in 2012 after being named the Heisman winner as a freshman. The 6-foot-1 quarterback from Kerrville, Texas threw for 3,706 yards and 26 touchdowns last season for Texas A&M.
Manziel is a dual-threat quarterback and led Texas A&M to a 41-13 win over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Cotton Bowl . The blowout over the Sooners marked the end of Manziel’s freshman season, which will go down as one of the best ever.
Johnny Manziel returned to Spring practice for the Aggies on March 5 and has been working with the team’s new offensive coordinator Clarence McKinney as Texas A&M prepares for the upcoming season. Manziel was battling for the starting role at quarterback this time last year and is battling again in 2013; this time on twitter.
Manziel received tons of responses to his tweet about the fake Longhorns tattoo. Most athletes ignore any bad remarks made to them on twitter, but that’s just not the way Manziel does things. Manziel responded to multiple comments with disrespectful jokes of his own.
An Alabama fan tweeted Manziel which sparked enough irritation for a dirty response:
Ah yes, but was the douchebag it was on fake as well I wonder? RT @jmanziel2: FAKE tattoo…
— Bane (@BamaBane) March 13, 2013
Here is a taste of what Manziel can dish out if you get on his nerves:
@ bamabane tell your mom I said wassup
— Johnny Manziel (@JManziel2) March 13, 2013
Manziel later removed the tweet, but not before the twitter-war was re-posted hundreds of times. All athletes are scrutinized through social media and you can guarantee the fans are just looking for a response.
Johnny Manziel will give you just that and more based on the recent twitter feud. Any athlete who is willing to jab back-and-forth with fans is going to bring attention to himself for the wrong reasons, so I wouldn’t doubt that Manziel regrets allowing twitter to get the best of him.
Backlash is just a small price athletes pay during their careers, but Johnny Manziel’s had enough and he’s still in college. Manziel’s fight on twitter over the fake Longhorns tattoo will brush over soon, but you can guarantee he just opened the door for anyone else willing to battle it out.