Secret to Johnny Manziel’s Success – His Giant Feet

Johnny Football is real good. It’s almost unfair how good he is. And if you saw him at a restaurant or the store you’d never know just looking at him. The numbers he puts up are incredible – already this year he’s thrown for 2,867 yards, 28 TD with a 72% completion percentage(!), plus he’s run for 553 yards making him the Aggies leading rusher. After watching him for a little over a year and a half, I think his freakish abilities have a lot to do with his abnormally big feet and the agility that he makes them deadly.

Manziel might be 6′-0″ tall on a good day, but he wears size 15 shoes!  I’m 5′-9″ and wear size 11 men’s shoes, and I have average to above average size feet. My father-in-law is 6′-4″ and wears size 14. So he’s got 4-5″ on Johnny but wears one size smaller shoes.

Those big feet, and the way Manziel uses them, are a thing of beauty (except when playing MSU). He runs on the balls of his feet and can turn on a dime. His agility considering the clown feet is incredible. He can reach top speed in just one step – it takes most guys at least three or four. Watch these videos:

Manziel is able to move around in the pocket, and then outside the pocket and when pressure comes he can quickly escape. If you’ll notice, it’s almost like he’s a ballerina on the tips of his feet (my wife even calls him the “fairy”, ha). The slow-motion replay in that Alabama game really gives you the picture of what I’m talking about. When defenders are chasing him he can go from standing still to running full speed just like that, making it incredibly difficult and frustrating to contain him. He’s basically Archie Manning out there, but better. He’s elusive, fast and has great instincts. Combine that with his freakish feet and how he uses them – he’s borderline unstoppable.