The example Johnny Manziel set in his two years as a starter at Texas A&M was exactly what backup quarterback Kenny Hill didn't need, according to one of Hill's new coaches at TCU.
Hill plunged from being celebrated as "Kenny Trill" and the next Manziel to losing the starting job in just a two-month span in 2014, and he transferred to TCU before the 2015 season. Now, he has a chance to replace another star player -- Trevone Boykin -- albeit with far fewer distractions this time.
"It's kind of unfair," TCU offensive coordinator Doug Meacham said, per Sports On Earth. "You're a young kid, you roll into a school where the Heisman Trophy winner is a guy that misses meetings and does whatever he wants to, and in your mind, you think, 'Well, that's just how you're supposed to do it.' So, I don't think that helped him a whole lot."
Manziel's star never burned brighter than it did from his two years as the Aggies' starter to his first-round selection by the Cleveland Browns in the 2015 NFL Draft. From there, however, his career unraveled, and the Browns released him just 22 months after making him the draft's No. 22 overall pick.
Like Manziel with the Browns, nothing has been handed to Hill at TCU. He has yet to win the starting quarterback job and will compete with Foster Sawyer in fall camp. But in Hill's new environment, the pressure and attention isn't anything close to what awaited him in Manziel's wake.
Added coach Gary Patterson: "[Kenny] needed to get out of the limelight. He needed to get back to just being Kenny Hill, the kid I recruited out of high school."
TCU opens the season at home against South Dakota State Sept. 3. And for Hill, a fresh start should also be a much quieter one.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
