BEREA, Ohio — The buzz about Johnny Manziel’s first training camp with the Browns was so strong that they started lining up before dawn for a practice that didn’t start until 9:30 a.m.
Browns fans are a famously fanatical bunch, but that devotion has cranked up to 11 thanks to the new guy wearing No. 2.
Nearly 4,000 of those fans — at least half of whom appeared to be sporting a Manziel jersey or T-shirt — crammed into every nook and cranny at the Browns’ suburban complex for the first practice of camp Saturday morning.
This downtrodden sports town might be excited by LeBron James’ return, but it’s downright giddy about Manziel. And that includes King James himself now that a Manziel Browns jersey has become one of his new favorite accessories.
Johnny Football is now Johnny Cleveland.
“I’ve had an incredible fan base that’s followed me, but it’s really come out of the woodwork here in Cleveland for me,” Manziel said with a look of amazement after Saturday’s two-hour practice. “It’s truly incredible.”
Manziel’s unapologetic partying and carousing since the draft, which reportedly has “alarmed” team officials, has seemed to make the former Heisman winner from Texas A&M only more compelling.
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The Browns sold more than 2,000 season tickets in the first week after using a first-round pick on Manziel in May, and the ardor has done nothing but intensify in the meantime.
Demand to see the open practices at training camp this year was so strong fans had to register to attend for the first time this year. The Browns also needed less than 10 hours to distribute 25,000 free tickets to a scrimmage in nearby Akron next week.
The NFL revealed last week that Manziel’s jersey has been the most popular seller in the entire league since the draft, and it’s easy to see why after a quick tour of the Browns’ camp.
The team souvenir shop had so much space devoted to Manziel shirts, jerseys, pictures and trinkets that it might as well have been the Johnny Store.
And all this for a backup quarterback — at least if you listen to the Browns and first-year coach Mike Pettine, a former Rex Ryan Jets assistant.
From Pettine to owner Jimmy Haslam to new general manager Ray Farmer, the Browns have gone out of their way to talk up incumbent quarterback Brian Hoyer — he of the three career NFL starts — while trying to make Manziel more humble.
The team even barred the national media from Manziel’s first minicamp in May because, according to a club official, Pettine didn’t want a repeat of the Tim Tebow circus he saw up close with the Jets.
Strange behavior for a franchise that has made just one playoff trip since coming back to Cleveland in 1999, went 4-12 last season and is working on its third head coach in Haslam’s two years of ownership.
And it’s not as if Manziel’s cockiness and partying ways were a secret to anyone before the draft. If anything, they were the reason a top-five talent still was available to Cleveland with the 22nd pick.
But Haslam was at it again Saturday. He called Hoyer a “class act” while saying through pursed lies that he hopes Manziel can learn from the model off-field behavior of Derek Jeter, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and LeBron.
“I think Johnny said it well — he made some rookie mistakes,” Haslam said when asked about Manziel’s recent antics, which included a photo surfacing of him tightly rolling a $20 bill in a Las Vegas bathroom. “The really great athletes make their news on the field and not off the field.”
Asked if that message had sunk in, Haslam grunted: “We’ll see.”
It’s not as if Haslam is speaking from higher ground, though. Haslam’s trucking company, Tennessee-based Pilot Flying J, recently settled a fraud case with the U.S. government and customers for nearly $150 million, and Haslam still could be indicted.
It’s little wonder, then, that Manziel was more than a bit defensive Saturday on the topic of his off-field behavior.
“The reason that I’m popular or the reason that people follow me and there’s been such a buzz around me is when I went out on Saturdays at Texas A&M, I played with an extreme amount of passion and I played with my heart on my sleeve, but more than anything, I had fun,” Manziel said, his voice rising.
“I have fun playing this game, and it’s what I live for. It’s what I do, [and it’s the] same way off the field. Whether I’m playing golf, going out having a night life, whatever it is, I have a lot of fun. That’s what my life is, and luckily for me I’m living out my dream of playing in the NFL having a ton of fun.”
On the field, the race to start Week 1 against the Steelers appears tilted in favor of Hoyer. The Cleveland native impressed in two victorious starts last year before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
Hoyer, a former Tom Brady backup with the Patriots, said Friday he expects to open the season as the Browns starter. Manziel is learning the playbook for the first time and has yet to truly impress in any practice, although he showed some flashes Saturday.
But if Manziel was impatient or difficult to deal with in college, Pettine insisted that hasn’t been the case with the Browns.
Asked how coachable he considers Manziel, Pettine was absolute.
“He’s been great,” the coach said. “From the day he walked in here, he’s been extremely coachable, he’s been great in the meeting room and asked the right questions. He’s been fine.”
Manziel’s teammates seem to have taken to him, too, although not as ferociously as the fans.
Even Hoyer appears to be warming up to his rival. Despite what seemed like some subtle digs at Manziel’s behavior in the offseason, Hoyer praises the rookie in public now.
The two quarterbacks also exchanged a forceful fist bump as they passed each other on the way to the podium after practice Saturday.
“Being a team player, you want the best people out there, so whether that’s me or Johnny, I think that will be determined through the next couple weeks,” Hoyer said. “For me, I want the best quarterback to play.”
Whether he wins the starting job in camp or even at all, Manziel sounds like he is ready for the topic to start shifting to football.
Manziel admitted Saturday he needs to mature and has “done some immature things,” but it didn’t appear to be in danger of entering the seminary anytime soon, either.
“This is the greatest life that I could have ever imagined for me, and I’m loving that,” Manziel said. “My life is incredible. I’m blessed to be in this position. I’m going to have fun each and every day, whether it’s practice, whether it’s training camp, whether it’s during the season going out and playing a game which will be even better, or it’s going out in the offseason or playing golf or hanging out with my family.
“Life is fun. Enjoy while it’s here.”
Johnny Party
A rundown of Johnny Manziel’s off-field activities since being drafted May 8 by the Browns:
May 9: Celebrates his draft selection by partying into the night at Avenue night club in Manhattan with rap stars Drake and Busta Rhymes.
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June 7: Photo surfaces of Manziel laying on an huge inflatable pool swan at a party in Austin, Texas.
June 16: Is photographed holding a huge brick of $1 bills up to his ear and talking into it like it’s a cellphone.
June 30: Attends a party at Justin Bieber’s Beverly Hills mansion and is photographed with boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. Cops are called to break it up.
July 6: Tends bar in an Austin nightclub.
July 7: Jets to Las Vegas, where he stays at “The Real World” suite at the Hard Rock and parties at XS nightclub at the Encore.
July 7: Photo surfaces of Manziel tightly rolling a $20 bill in a Las Vegas bathroom.
July 10: Is spotted partying in Boston with two NFL players — Eagles linebacker Bryan Braman and Patriots defensive tackle Joe Vellano — and four attractive young blondes.
July 17: Attends an ESPYs after-party hosted by Drake at a $50 million mansion in Los Angeles.