Heisman Winner Manziel 'Feels Like Justin Bieber'

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By Sam Laird2013-07-18 00:29:06 UTC

An online-only class schedule. Petty spats with Internet trolls. A short-lived resolution to quit Twitter altogether.

It's been an eventful off-season for Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, who last December became the first freshman ever to win college football's vaunted Heisman Trophy for individual excellence.

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Since then, the young man known as "Johnny Football" hasn't been able to avoid the Internet's harsh glare. Between rumor-mongering fans, page-view hungry publishers and his own rather rambunctious lifestyle, Manziel's quick ascension to worldwide fame has come with some harsh lessons.

The noise reached a peak last weekend when Manziel was reportedly sent home from the prestigious Manning Passing Academy. He missed a meeting and many speculated that he was hungover after reportedly being spotted out partying the night before. He denies that was the case and says the decision to leave camp early was mutual.

No matter, the subsequent explosion of bloviation — Johnny's throwing his life away! Leave Johnny alone! Johnny needs to quit Twitter! — epitomized what's become a circus-like off-season for the best player in college football.

It's enough to make Manziel feel like another, and even more scrutinized, young media magnet.

"The spotlight is 10 times brighter and 10 times hotter than I thought it was two months ago," Manziel told reporters Wednesday. "I guess I feel like Justin Bieber or something. I never thought it would really be that way."

Beiber, of course, regularly incites Internet scorn, deserved or not. He caused one controversy last week by peeing in a mop bucket, and another by simply posing for a photo with the Stanley Cup.

Is social media too much for young athletes to handle? Give us your take in the comments.

Image: Scott Halleran/Getty Images

Topics: college sports, Entertainment, Sports