Manziel thinking football
O’bannon case on Delany’s mind
NEW ORLEANS — Johnny Manziel has decided he’s not going to allow the pitfalls of fame stop him from having a good time, forging friendships with rival quarterbacks or even going back to class — in person.
As for the pressure inherent in living up to the Heisman Trophy standard he set for himself in only his first season as quarterback at Texas A&M, he isn’t concerned about that, either.
“I’m not thinking about it. I’m just going out and playing football and doing the things I’ve always done,” Manziel said Thursday, when he visited New Orleans to accept the Manning Award, which recognizes the nation’s top college quarterback. “The success that we had last year — I wasn’t worried about my own individual success. I was just worried about going out and playing football and trying to learn the system and get better.”
O’BANNON SUIT: Jim Delany garnered headlines in March when he declared in a legal document that if the NCAA lost its lawsuit against Ed O’Bannon and adopted a “pay for play” model, Big Ten schools might “take steps to downsize the scope, breadth and activity of their athletic programs.”
One alternative, Delany wrote, was a non-scholarship Division III model.
The Big Ten commissioner elaborated on his stance this week, saying: “We don’t want to go to Division III. We want to be Division I.”
He also said he expects the O’Bannon vs. the NCAA case to “go all the way” through the federal court system and that there is no compromise stance.
Delany pointed out that the Big Ten has pushed for $2,000 annual stipends for studentathletes to supplement the millions of dollar awarded in scholarships, Pell Grants and the NCAA’s student assistance fund.
He mentioned Wilt Chamberlain in asserting that no player is bigger than his school: “If Johnny Manziel was playing Arena football tomorrow, what is (his) uniform worth?”
SEC: The Southeastern Conference and ESPN have announced a 20-year agreement to operate a SEC network that is scheduled to debut in August 2014.
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said Thursday the SEC network will produce 1,000 live events each year, including 450 televised on the network and 550 distributed digitally. Slive says the network will carry approximately 45 SEC football games “and a depth of content across all sports” each year.
No financial terms were released for the deal, which continues through 2034.
NOTRE DAME: “The House that Rockne Built” could be getting a new look.
University officials announced Thursday a feasibility study to determine whether it makes sense to make better use of space at Notre Dame Stadium, which is used fewer than 10 times a year for football games, commencement and recreational events.
The school is looking at attaching buildings to the stadium that could house a conference center with classrooms and meeting space, a media center, a visitors’ center and other uses. They could also include about 3,000 new club seats to watch games.
TEXAS TECH: Strong winds have damaged part of a light tower at Texas Tech’s football stadium and forced evacuation of some nearby buildings as a precaution.
LSU: The attorney for LSU running back Jeremy Hill says a brief mobile phone video showing Hill punching another man does not show important events that precipitated the fight.
“There’s no denying he’s on the video, but the video is 15 seconds long and certainly doesn’t tell you everything that happened that evening,” Marci Blaize said Thursday. “In my experience and the cases I’ve had, there’s usually a reason why a person will strike another individual and I can tell you that’s the case here.”
Hill was arrested early Saturday morning and booked on misdemeanor simple battery charges after a bar fight, which could cost the leading LSU rusher his sophomore season — if not more.