Johnny Manziel truly believes he would’ve stayed in college football at Texas A&M in the NIL era, rather than go to the NFL as early as he did. Following two years as a starter, Manziel declared for the NFL Draft and was a first round pick by the Cleveland Browns in 2014.

However, his NFL career quickly flamed out and he had stints in the CFL a few years later, as well as Fan Controlled Football, an arena league. But, the former Heisman Trophy winner has been open and honest about his post-collegiate struggles on and off the field but has his moments where it’s fun to play the hypothetical game.

Just imagine Manziel, at the peak of his collegiate powers, rolling in the NIL dollars. And then coming back to Texas A&M on top of it? Oh man.

“I mean, I think no matter what, being in the NIL era, if that would have, you know, been the equivalent of 2013, I would have stayed no matter what,” Manziel said on Always College Football. “Just because, you know, a couple million bucks in College Station goes a really, really long way. And, you go to the NFL, or a first round pick, you know, you sign for $10 million or whatever it is, you know, that’s the two years that I had remaining at Texas A&M, to be able to make (that) through NIL. So I think, for me, when I think back about it now, I definitely, if there would have been any real money involved, I definitely would have stayed no matter what.”

This isn’t the first time Manziel alluded to more time in College Station. He spoke to fellow Heisman winner Matt Leinart about the topic back in December with NIL being such commonplace across college athletics.

“Yeah, I think so, just because, I mean, you know, you get into your rookie contract if you’re not taken  high enough, I mean, you know, I could have stayed two more years in college and probably made what I made throughout the four years of your NFL deal for the most part,” Manziel said. “So I think it would have given me the opportunity to still be at a place today and then like that, be able to make money and be able to, you know, still continue to go play the college football life. It’s tough for me looking back, having left two years of eligibility on a table.”

Manziel burst onto the college football scene in 2012 when he became the first freshman to ever win the Heisman Trophy. That year, he threw for 3,706 yards and 26 touchdowns to help the Aggies to an 11-2 record. 

Along the way, he set multiple records, including one against Arkansas when he had 557 yards of total offense. That broke Archie Manning’s record, and Manziel broke his own mark just two games later with 576 yards of offense in a single game. As a redshirt sophomore in 2013, Manziel threw for 4,114 yards and 37 touchdowns as he finished fifth in the Heisman voting.

ATLANTA – Just a few years after NIL and instant eligibility for transfers upended the college football world, programs must adjust again.

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire had already completed his portion of Big 12 football media days when Colorado’s Deion Sanders was asked if he has been paying attention to what the Red Raiders did in the transfer portal.

The gist of that question was really about all the money for Texas Tech athletes, which is widely reported to be around $55 million for the upcoming school year. A significant chunk of that is expected to go toward the transformation of a football program that has never won a Big 12 title or even had a 10-win season since 2008, six years before three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Patrick Mahomes played his first game for the Red Raiders.

“Yeah, Joey got some money. Joey, where you at, baby? Spending that money, I love it,” Sanders said emphatically about the fellow Big 12 coach he calls a friend, and who coached two of his three sons in high school. “I love you, man. I appreciate you. Can you send a few of those dollars to us so we can get some of those players too?”

The reported dollar figures are staggering, even in these early days of schools being able to pay athletes directly. That total supposedly includes the maximum $20.5 million of revenue each school can share with players under the NCAA’s landmark House settlement that took effect this month, meaning the rest would come through name, image and likeness deals.

Red Raiders spending big

Last fall, Texas Tech said it was budgeting $14.7 million for the fiscal year — about $9 million more than the previous year — in support for the athletic program, which had a budget of nearly $129 million. The headlines started to come soon after.

Tech’s softball team had never won a Big 12 regular-season or tournament championship before standout pitcher NiJaree Canady arrived last year in Lubbock with a NIL deal that made her the first $1 million softball player.

With Canady, who had been to the previous two Women’s College World Series with Stanford, the Red Raiders won both of those league titles and got all the way to the final game of this year’s WCWS before losing to rival Texas.

Canady has already signed a similar NIL deal for next season. Tech also added three top transfers: Florida second baseman Mia Williams; two-time 20-game winner Kaitlyn Terry from UCLA; and Missouri Valley Conference player of the year Jackie Lis, an infielder from Southern Illinois.

Along with all the money spent on players, Texas Tech this spring unveiled a $240 million football complex at Jones AT&T Stadium, where Cody Campbell Field is named after the former offensive lineman who made a $25 million donation to the project.

Campbell’s financial impact on the program goes well beyond that. He is chairman of the school’s Board of Regents, a billionaire who with his oil and gas partner John Sellers co-founded The Matador Club, the school’s NIL collective that is now under the umbrella of the athletic department’s Red Raider Club. Sellers and Campbell earlier this year sold some subsidies of an oil and natural gas company for about $4 billion.

Last week, Campbell announced the launch of a nonprofit called Saving College Sports to help solve a “crisis” as the industry “faces an existential turning point as legal, governance and economic challenges threaten” hundreds of thousands of athletes, fandom and the economies of campus communities.

On the gridiron

The Texas Tech men’s basketball program has four Sweet 16 appearances since 2018, including a run to the national title game in 2019. But the big moneymaker for all programs is football and the Red Raiders will find out this fall if a big financial commitment to those players will get them into the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Texas Tech brought in 22 football transfers in what many consider a top national portal class. Most are highly touted players, with about half expected to be starters and most of the others impact players on a team already with several key returners after going 8-5 last year in McGuire’s third season.

“Yeah, it’s been a fun offseason,” McGuire said before Sanders took the podium. “We were really aggressive whenever it came to the portal and meeting some of our needs for the football team. … I think this conference is really strong. There’s a lot of teams that have some big opportunities this year to really make a statement, and we’re planning on being one of them.”

With the amount of money involved, some front-loaded NIL deals before the House settlement with new guidelines went into effect, it will certainly be a huge and expensive disappointment if they are not.

“I understand how important this year is,” McGuire said. “We’ve got to have a lot of things go right, but everybody does. You’ve got to keep your quarterback healthy. You’ve got to play at a high level. I know there’s a lot of expectations. My job that I’m going to really try to do is keep the pressure on me and the coaches.”

Tech returns senior quarterback Behren Morton, who threw for 2,976 yards and 25 touchdowns last season, and senior linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, the league’s top tackler with 126 last year. Rodriguez is the preseason Big 12 defensive player of the year, and on the league’s preseason team with a pair of four-star transfers: edge rusher David Bailey (Stanford) and defensive lineman Lee Hunter (UCF).

“It’s unbelievable, those guys came in and bought in to what we were talking about,” Rodriguez said. “I love those guys to death already and I think they’re going to make my job a lot easier, especially with the guys we have up front.”

It will also be up to McGuire to deal with paid players, some making significantly more than others on the roster.

“I think that goes into your culture,” the former Texas high school coach said. “It’s real. It’s real money. Guys are making different amounts of money in the locker room.

“One thing that you better understand if you dream to play in the NFL, your contract’s not going to be the same as the guy next to you, and if that’s what you focus on, then you’re going to spend a lot of time wasting a lot of energy,” McGuire said. “If guys want to increase that, focus on what you can control. That’s your game and how hard you’re practicing and how hard you’re playing.”

AP Sports Writer Schuyler Dixon contributed.

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

It has been some time since the Virginia Tech men’s basketball program has had some hype surrounding an incoming freshman. In fact, this season, there is a real chance that when all is said and done next June, veteran coach Mike Young could be looking at having a pair of draft picks in the 2026 NBA Draft on his 2025-26 roster.

Those two players would be Tobi Lawal and incoming freshman Neoklis Avdalas, both of whom entered the NBA Draft process this spring, but withdrew to play another year of college basketball. Lawal, who transferred to Virginia Tech from VCU last season, will play his second season for Young, while Avdalas gave a verbal commitment to the Hokies and then signed after withdrawing. He is not on campus yet as he is playing in the FIBA Eurobasket U20 with Greece, and he had a move that should fire up Tech fans for next season.

Virginia Tech incoming freshman Neoklis Avdalas drops a filthy move in a FIBA matchup

If there is one thing that is clear about Avdalas, it’s that he has the opportunity to be a special player at Virginia Tech. Expect him to be able to play multiple positions for the Hokies, and that even includes handling the ball as the point guard. He had a play against Lithuania that Hokies fans hope to see next winter in Blacksburg: a filthy crossover.

That was certainly a filthy move by Avdalas and Virginia Tech fans are hoping that they see that a few times next winter. One thing is clear, Avdalas has multiple ways he can score the ball and that is something Hokies fans have seen a lot of. The Hokies are going to have multiple options on offense next season, but Avdalas might very well end up being their best option. It almost seems too good to be true.