Turns Out Johnny Manziel Didn’t Come From An Oil Inheritance, His College Buddy Just Made That Up As A Way To Hide All The Autograph Money They Were Making At Texas A&M - And We All Believed It

Scott Halleran. Getty Images.

Really odd that no one has talked about the Manziel Netflix doc on the blog. You'd think Kayce would write one given her friendship with him over the year. Billy would find a way to latch onto one his antics and relate to the polarizing star. You'd imagine Tate would have something to say about Johnny never watching one second of film during his days with the Browns. Nevertheless, nothing Manziel centric on the blog so let's talk about what I think was the most surprising takeaway —his money. 

We all know during his time at Texas A&M that Manziel would frequently be seen sitting court-side or front row at any sporting event you can think of. He was partying in Vegas every other weekend. People began to wonder how a college underclassmen was affording all of this? Per the NCAA rules he wasn't allowed to take any handouts because they're the worst organization to ever exist. They came after him for allegedly signing all sorts of memorabilia in exchange for money, which at the time was viewed the same way as murdering someone. 

So what did they come up with to get the Gestapo off his back? Well, that's where his buddy Nate comes into play. 

This guy Nate came up with a giant lie that Johnny came from oil money and it was completely believable. Everyone seemed to buy it and on he went with his life dominating college football and becoming this mega-celebrity. He was just some kid from a Texas family drowning in money who just so happened to be an electrifying football player. The investigators shrugged their shoulders and moved onto their next victim. 

Turns out Nate orchestrated this whole plan that would have Johnny's grandfather clean all the money they were getting from the autographs. They gave him the cash and he'd send it to Johnny. Nate volunteered as the potential fall guy and as a result got 20% of every dollar earned. Absolutely genius. 

They really made the whole thing up and we bought it like suckers. 

The doc panning to his grandfather giggling might be the best part of the doc. He has zero speaking part in this hour-long doc, he just laughs. I love this guy. 

No one bothered to fact check any of this. Fans, reporters, NCAA investigators, they all just heard this and went on with their way. When I heard it I didn't think for a second it was this ruse built to cover up all his signings. Honestly, it hurt his image for me a little bit because now he was just this spoiled rich kid instead of regular ol' college kid who was great at sports. I still get the vibes his family was pretty comfortable financially, but the oil tycoon story was just an incredible lie to get everyone off his back. Honestly I still believe it, it was that believable. All concocted by some college kids to fool a nationwide fanbase. Johnny Fucking Football, man.