With College GameDay on campus for the first round of the College Football Playoff, the studio show visited College Station for the matchup between the Texas A&M Aggies and Miami Hurricanes. And while former star quarterback Johnny Manziel was advertised to be the guest picker, Rece Davis doesn’t sound like he is buying why he missed the show.
The former Texas A&M Heisman winner is no stranger to battling personal demons, especially in the wake of his NFL career going bust with the Cleveland Browns. He’s even opened up about that in a documentary about his rise and fall. So when he was abruptly replaced by Oklahoma City Thunder NBA champion Alex Caruso at the last minute, it certainly raised questions as to the nature of his absence.
Manziel took to Instagram, apologizing for missing the program and saying that the nature of his absence was out of his control. He had attended the Anthony Joshua-Jake Paul fight the night before. And at least according to tabloid The Daily Mail, it was a sudden illness that knocked the former quarterback out for College GameDay.
But host Rece Davis sounds like he is skeptical of that story.
On this week’s College GameDay Podcast with Pete Thamel and Dan Wetzel, Davis took what amounted to a veiled shot at Johnny Manziel. Although he didn’t mention the troubled former Heisman winner by name, he alluded to the situation after Wetzel brought up the Paul-Joshua bout.
“When you go to a fight like that, you’ve got to be very careful about where you eat breakfast the next morning,” Davis said. “Because it can leave you ill and give you difficulty in reaching the locales where you are scheduled to be. But I digress.”
After Pete Thamel made light of Manziel’s Instagram post where he referenced perpetuating false narratives, Davis continued.
“I just wondered, is that what the kids are calling it these days? A bad breakfast? Anyway, wouldn’t cast aspersions anywhere. For those who follow closely, you’ll be able to read between the lines there. You have to follow a little closely,” Davis added before he and Thamel both complimented Alex Caruso on what a great job he did as the guest picker.
Certainly, Johnny Manziel would have been a big draw at Texas A&M for College GameDay. But given his history, College GameDay had to know that there was a chance that he wouldn’t appear on the program. The fact that they were able to pivot to Alex Caruso probably shows just that. And given Davis’ thoughts on the matter, it might be a long time before he is given an invite again.