Sports

Giants rookie, former Manziel teammate at Texas A&M, defends Heisman winner

Giants rookie defensive end Damontre Moore weighed in on the current issues involving his former Texas A&M teammate Johnny Manziel, gushing about the Heisman winner’s talent and saying he the Aggies quarterback is a terrific kid.

Manziel is under fire because of his actions at the Manning Passing Academy (he was asked to leave early), comments made by his father in an ESPN article about how he thinks his son will be in jail someday and now reported allegations that he is being investigated for taking money for an autograph session.

“That’s like a little brother to me. He’s a really good kid,” said Moore, a defensive end and a third-round pick by the Giants. “I think people are being a little bit too hard on him, but at the same time, it’s like my dad always says – I don’t look at who’s right or who’s wrong. I looked at what you do to put yourself in that situation.

“But Johnny’s a really good kid and he’s gonna play – there’s some things you can coach but he has something that you can’t coach, he’s just born with. I’m just ready for them to get back to football and that way all the spotlight can be off of him and get back to just playing.”

Asked if Manziel’s situation is self-inflicted or whether he’s being picked on, Moore replied, “I don’t know. I’m not down there anymore, so I can’t really just comment on anything like that. All I know is what type of person he is. He’s a really good kid. A great team leader and he’s the leader down there. He’s a ballplayer. That’s all I can really say about it.”