{"id":381054,"date":"2026-01-01T04:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T04:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/381054\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T04:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T04:45:09","slug":"johnny-manziel-releases-statement-on-college-gameday-absence-says-im-good-with-espn-pat-mcafee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/381054\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnny Manziel releases statement on College GameDay absence, says ‘I’m good’ with ESPN, Pat McAfee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly two weeks after addressing his absence from ESPN\u2019s College GameDay, former Texas A&M<\/a> quarterback Johnny Manziel<\/a> released a new statement via social media Wednesday. He made it clear he\u2019s \u201cgood\u201d with ESPN and Pat McAfee after missing the show prior to the Aggies\u2019 game against Miami<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City Thunder guard and former Texas A&M basketball player Alex Caruso<\/a> filled in for Manziel ahead of the first-round matchup in the College Football Playoff<\/a>. While Manziel did not confirm a specific reason why he missed the show, he called out a \u201cfake narrative<\/a>\u201d in an apology.<\/p>\n

In a message posted on X Dec. 31, dated Dec. 30, \u201cJohnny Football\u201d made it clear he still has a good relationship with ESPN and McAfee. He added fans can trade via Kalshi on whether he will return to the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been plenty of speculation lately,\u201d Manziel wrote<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m good with ESPN. I\u2019m good with McAfee. If you want to keep guessing, you can now do it officially. Thanks to Kalshi, you can trade on whether I\u2019ll be back on College GameDay in 2026. The market currently gives me a 34% chance of being back on set next season. If you think that number\u2019s low, take the other side.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the Aggie fans \u2013 big things coming in \u201926. I\u2019m bullish on Texas A&M football and excited for what\u2019s ahead. Happy New Year.\u201d<\/p>\n

ESPN initially announced Manziel would be the guest picker for the second of two College GameDay shows to kick off the College Football Playoff. The show started out in Norman Dec. 19 for Alabama<\/a> vs. Oklahoma<\/a>, with Sooners legend Brian Bosworth serving as the celebrity guest picker for the standalone matchup.<\/p>\n

But after Johnny Manziel missed the show at Texas A&M, College GameDay host Rece Davis took an apparent jab about his absence<\/a>. He noted Manziel was at the Jake Paul\u2013Anthony Joshua fight the night before and called out an apparent \u201cbad breakfast\u201d the next morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cJake Paul\u2026 Anthony Joshua,\u201d Davis\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0on the\u00a0College GameDay Podcast. \u201cWhen you go to a fight like that, you\u2019ve got to be very careful about where you eat breakfast the next morning. Because it can leave you ill and give you difficulty in reaching the locals where you are scheduled to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I digress\u2026 I just wondered. Is that what the kids are calling it these days? A \u2018bad breakfast?\u2019 Anyway, wouldn\u2019t cast dispersion anywhere. For those that follow closely, you\u2019ll be able to read between the lines there. You have to follow a little closely.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly two weeks after addressing his absence from ESPN\u2019s College GameDay, former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel released…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,9753,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-381054","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-johnny-manziel-11-tivy","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}