Als’ Manziel cleared for return, but Pipkin is likely to start
MONTREAL — While they are rivals for the starting quarterback position on the Montreal Alouettes, there is no ill-will between Johnny Manziel and Antonio Pipkin.
The two trained together at the George Whitfield quarterback academy in San Diego before they became Canadian Football League teammates this season in Montreal.
“We’ve known each other, we’ve hung out before,” Pipkin said Wednesday. “He’s a good guy and you just want see everybody succeed. “The controversy thing is not in our (quarterbacks) room or in our locker-room at all.”
That said, Pipkin looks to be getting a third straight start Friday night in Ottawa even though Manziel is out of concussion protocol. Coach Mike Sherman never says definitively which quarterback will start, but Pipkin has taken the lion’s share of snaps with the starters this week.
Manziel, who returned to practice after sitting out two games, was cleared to come off protocol on Tuesday afternoon.
“I’m easing my way back in, slowly but surely,” said Manziel. “I won’t go into a ton of detail about it, but I started to feel more normal toward the beginning of last week, and once you feel normal is when you really start the protocol stuff.
“They told me early last week it was looking unlikely I would be able to play. I know I wanted to. I’ve never missed two weeks in the past when I’ve had a concussion. So this has been a longer, slower process for me than I’m accustomed to, and I think it’s definitely been frustrating. I want to play and I’m itching and eager to get back, but we’ll see how things play out.”
The Alouettes sent two veterans and a pair of first-round draft picks to Hamilton for Manziel on July 23, looking to the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner and former Cleveland Brown to stop the revolving door at their quarterback position. He made two starts, both losses, and took a heavy hit to the head while trying to score a touchdown.
While he finished the game, he was placed under concussion protocol a few days later, feeling no bitterness toward the Redblack who hit him, cornerback Jonathan Rose.
“It was a good hit,” said Manziel. “It was unfortunate I had to miss two games because of it.
“Its easy to sit back and look at the film and say I should have slid at the one-yard line, but I’ve played football my entire life and come across a lot of situations like that and it hasn’t played out like that before.”
In Manziel’s absence, Pipkin stepped in and gave 2-8 Montreal perhaps its best quarterbacking of the season. Last week the Tiffin University product passed for 303 yards as Montreal beat Toronto 25-22 to end a six-game losing run.
It was a surprise for many. Pipkin spent last season with the Alouettes but got into only the final game of the season. He was released in June and called back Aug. 6 only when a string of Montreal pivots fell injured.
Now he’s pushing Johnny Football for the starting job.