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Doc Five: Spring game revelations – No. 2, Johnny Manziel is ready for his encore

This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. It's the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss.

SPRING GAME REVELATIONS

NO. 2, JOHNNY MANZIEL IS READY FOR HIS ENCORE

There are a few people – repeat, a curious few, who likely hate Texas A&M for whatever reason – who strangely believe that Johnny Manziel hasn't proven anything yet. That he was a fluke, for some reason.

We know because the comments show up on our Facebook page or in the comments at the end of our Manziel posts. Mostly deal with the odd notion that Manziel hasn't proven himself as a passer yet. He threw for 3,706 yards, 26 touchdowns and completed 68 percent of his passes last year. As a freshman. For a SEC team.

The skeptics are wrong, of course. Manziel didn't turn out the greatest freshman season ever for a quarterback by some stroke of luck. He's a great player, his freshman season is all the proof we need of that, and most people who watched him understand that obvious fact.

But, just in case, it seems this spring that Manziel is ready to put any remaining doubts to rest. He looks like he has improved since the end of last season.

The reports on Manziel from Texas A&M's practices have been similar. They mention how well he's throwing the ball, from the pocket and on the move as well. Here's a good report from Mark Passwaters of AggieYell.com:

"It became pretty evident early in spring practice that the incumbent Heisman Trophy winner was throwing the ball harder than he had at any point last season. Not only that, he'd added some muscle since he had last been seen on the football field. So Texas A&M now has a quarterback who's stronger, has better mechanics and is more accurate than he was a year ago -- and he's still as fast and creative with his legs as he was in 2012."

Basically, Manziel is making the freshman-to-sophomore improvement that most college players make. He just happens to be the only freshman ever who won the Heisman Trophy.

If you don't believe Manziel is locked in, he completed 24-of-30 passes for 303 yards in Texas A&M's spring game. Of course it's easier to do that in a controlled practice when there's no concern of getting hit, but he threw the ball well. He was sharp from the pocket, and when he had to move, even making a couple of nice throws moving left. The YouTube user Bruce W Rose kindly posted his video of Manziel during the spring game, so you can see for yourself:

There's nothing Manziel can't do at a high level. He can even block, as he showed during the spring game on a cutback run, when he got out in front and threw a downfield block. That did not sit well with the coaches that just want to keep him healthy.

"I told Johnny, don't ever do that again," offensive coordinator Clarence McKinney said, as shown on a video at AggieYell.com.

Previously on the "Doc Five"
No. 5, Oklahoma, USC, Florida State undecided at QB
No. 4, The injury bug hits a few teams
No. 3, Irish filling the Manti Te'o void with Grace

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