How Johnny Manziel’s addiction undid a legendary football career

Johnny Manziel, better known as 'Jonny Football,' is one of the biggest 'what ifs' in football, going down a dark road of addiction after a legendary college football career.

Manziel was recruited by Texas A&M in 2011, the season the team moved into the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the toughest college division in football.

Fast forward to 2012, after he spent the 2011 season redshirted and Manziel was on the brink of becoming a national hero, producing 557 yards of offense in a game against Arkansas, breaking Archie Manning's 43-year record.

'Johnny Football' led his A&M side to an iconic victory over legendary Alabama on their home turf, making Manziel a household name across the US and changing the economics of his school.

His historic performance against Alabama caused a frenzy in the media, with Texas A&M seeing donations more than double to $740M in just one season.

His 2012 season saw the freshman reach multiple firsts in college football, becoming the first freshman to pass for 3000 and rush for 1000 yards. He became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy, the highest honor in college sports.

The season wasn't all plain sailing for Manziel, who was known for his partying and drinking even the day before a game. According to insider.com, Manziel's favorite phrase was, 'Win or lose, we booze.'

While the country and A&M were making a shed load of money off of Manziel, the star quarterback wasn't making a dime, resulting in him creating an autograph for cash scheme.

The scheme had Manziel flashing cash at private parties with LeBron James and Drake and moving around the country on a private jet. His excuse to hide it from the NCAA was that his family was sat on oil money, helping him only get suspended for half a game.

All the partying, NCAA stuff, and A&M pressure had changed Manziel, but he still managed to lead A&M to an 8-4 record with the NFL in his sights.

His agent, Erik Burkhardt, launched an intensive campaign to clean up the image of Manziel during the pre-draft process. He was drug tested every week, and for nearly all of the process, Manziel adhered.

Just a week before the draft combine, he slipped up partying in California. He knew he wasn't going to pass the drug test, but Manziel was adamant he was going to compete.

Burkhardt instructed Manziel's parents to check into the hospital with fake chest pain so their son would have a believable excuse to leave the combine and avoid a drug test.

The star quarterback had other ideas, saying: "I'm going to chug a gallon of water. I'll get this stuff out."  Manziel had passed all drug tests at college because the fourth-string quarterback had been doing them for him.

The plan had worked, Manziel was selected in the first round as the 22^nd pick for the Cleveland Browns, but from that point on, it only got worse.

According to insider.com, Manziel said: "When I got to Cleveland, I wasn't in this head space to be able to just go play football." The quarterback did everything to get away, drinking all the time and checking into rehab.

After a failed attempt at rehab and several run-ins with the law, Cleveland cut ties with Manziel less than two years after selecting him in the draft.

Ruined by the fact he was an all-time bust, Manziel set off on one final bender, spending $5M with a plan to end his life that was stopped when his gun failed to work.

Since then, Manziel has started to get his life back together and now spends time with his family and playing golf in Arizona, A long way from the football field.