Manziel asks why Als won’t start him

MONTREAL— A healthy Johnny Manziel is wondering why he’s not starting for the Montreal Alouettes. The Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback returned to practice on Thursday and set the cat among the pigeons, asking out loud if the club had lost faith in him.

The 25-year-old said he had been healthy and available to play for the previous two weeks, fully recovered from the concussion he suffered in just his second start for the Als — a 2417 loss to Ottawa on Aug. 11.

“If the club had faith in me, I feel like I would be the guy, I feel like I would’ve been the guy after I came back from the concussion,” Manziel said. “That hasn’t happened, so I need to continue to get out here. And it’s the hardest part about missing practice, I need these reps to try to leave as little doubt as possible in my ability to play.”

Manziel was at practice for the first time this week after being sidelined by a flu bug that required IVs to replace fluids Tuesday and Wednesday.

While he said he feels well enough to play Friday when the Alouettes (3-8-0) play host to the B.C. Lions (4-6-0), Antonio Pipkin is expected to start. Matthew Shiltz is the other quarterback on the Als’ roster.

“I hope this organization, I hope the people here haven’t lost faith in my ability to play, and I still get a chance to come back and get a chance to be in with the (starters) and play, because that’s what I came up here to do and that’s what I want to do,” Manziel said.

Als coach Mike Sherman said it was “too soon” to predict whether Manziel would be the team’s third quarterback on Friday.

“Seems like he’s doing better, so we’ll evaluate him a little bit more. ... I really haven’t even talked to the trainers about him other than the face they gave him IVs yesterday at the doctors, and he’s feeling much better today,” Sherman said.

Manziel, with a white baseball cap pulled low over his eyes, did little but watch Thursday’s pregame walk-through at Montreal’s practice facility in the shadow of Olympic Stadium. At times, he spun a football in his hand.

In a six-minute interview with reporters afterward, he said he feels like he’s spinning his wheels with his second CFL team. What’s particularly frustrating, he said, is the Alouettes traded “half of an organization I feel like in terms of what they gave up to get me here.”

Manziel, who made headlines across North America when he signed a two-year contract with Hamilton prior to the start of training camp, didn’t see any regular-season action backing up Ticats incumbent Jeremiah Masoli. Manziel has started two games for Montreal, both losses.