Known as one of the most exponential rises, yet meteoric declines, the Johnny football documentary follows the untold journey of one of the most popular collegiate football players of all time through his journey, covering the highs and lows of his outlandish career.
Johnny Manziel, a quarterback everyone thinks they know, yet not so much. The documentary takes place in the 2011-2012 season, Johnny was a first year college quarterback with zero expectations. As we enter the documentary we find Johnny as a player who was solid enough to produce a winning team. But nobody had any idea he had NFL talent.
Before the season, Johnny was arrested for fighting, and caught with a fake ID, but it didn’t jeopardize his starting role. Week one, was a loss. We find their coach at the time saying he’s going to “unleash” Johnny and “Let him do his own thing.” After that the team reached 7-2 going into college football powerhouse Alabama’s home stadium. And they were firing. Johnny and the Aggies came out up 21-0. As day turned to night Alabama slowly came back and twisted the momentum. Johnny came out with one last chance and they scored knocking off #1 Alabama.
I enjoyed following this because we found Johnny more as a college student, he wasn’t like other athletes. After games he liked to party and hang out with his fellow classmates but the fame got to his head.
Now at the time, college athletes couldn’t make money off of their name. But Manziel did it illegally, he and his friend had a business deal to help him make money off of autographs. Manziel would hold secret autograph sessions racking in absurd amounts of money. Now with the season coming to a wrap, Manziel was the second favorite to win the Heisman, and Johnny was put under investigation for the autograph deal. He was not caught, and shocked the entire nation winning the Heisman.
After the Heisman, people started talking about money, and that’s all Manziel really wanted. Manziel announced he would be returning back to A&M for the next year, he was loved even more.
The next 20 minutes of the documentary focused on Manziel’s decline, his last year as an Aggie went rough, Manziel played worse than the year before, and after the season entered his name in the NFL draft. One thing he always mentioned is he played football for fun, not as a career. When he got to the league, his love for the game was questioned. Manziel never turned out to be a successful quarterback, and his story was truly sad to say the least. Today he is recovering from personal problems and working on his personal self to become the new best version of himself.
This documentary left out key points fans wanted to hear about their beloved football star, and looked more into the football aspect of his career. I personally agreed although I still enjoyed it. I would rate it an overall 4/5.
