Joey D. Richards

Abilene Reporter-News

When Danieal Manning left Abilene Christian for the NFL following his senior season in 2005, he still needed 38 hours to complete his degree. It was even the jersey number he wore for most of his nine-year pro football career.

Now, the Corsicana native has put away his cleats and jersey, and he’s back in the classroom at ACU, keeping a promise he made to himself more than a decade ago.

“I just feel like a degree can’t be taken away from me,” Manning said. “I experienced that in the NFL. I had two injuries, one major injury I missed the whole season with, and football can be taken away. I know no one can take a degree away from you. I’m that type of guy — I like to hold onto things.”

Manning, a standout defensive back with the Wildcats from 2003-05, became the second-highest draft pick in ACU history when the Chicago Bears took him in the second round of the 2006 draft as the 42nd pick overall. Manning, also a standout kick returner, would end up spending five seasons with the Bears and four with the Houston Texans, playing in 128 games, including 96 starts.

He retired after the 2014 season with the Texans and spent the last two seasons working as an ambassador for the team.

Manning, 34, said the transition back to the classroom hasn’t been a problem so far.

“It’s been good,” said Manning, who is taking 15 hours this semester. “I haven’t had a lot of challenging moments. Mostly, I’m enjoying it. It’s a different perspective now. I’m older and I’ve accomplished some things in my life and with my family. This is a big goal now. It isn’t just an obstacle to get by to get to the NFL. I was thinking like that once before. You’ve got to go to college to get to the pros. That was my thought process at the time.

"God had a different agenda for me, and I’m glad I’m coming back and finishing up my degree. It means so much to me now.”

Pro football requires good study habits, and Manning said he’s able to apply the habits he learned in the NFL to the classroom.

“Everything has crossed over from when I was a professional in the NFL," said Manning, who is taking two business classes and three communication classes. “I’m a professional student now. That’s the way I look at it. You have to put in time. You have to translate that over. They say football is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. That’s just the way it is. The classroom, I’m looking at as another opponent. I’m not just knocking it out to get it out of the way.

"You study this stuff, and it becomes a part of your life. When I was a young, 18 years old and left here at 22, I didn’t understand that. My thought process was on a different level. I was just getting by (in the classroom). Something else I wanted to get was more important than school.”

In many ways, Manning said he’s a better student.

“I’m still the same old guy, but I know how to manage my time,” he said. “In the pros, they’re going to demand way more of your time. As a kid, you can’t understand that until you go through it. If they’re paying you do something, they don’t care about anything else in your life. They need you to perform.”

Manning hasn’t just returned to ACU as a student. He’s also become a teacher, in a manner of speaking. He will serve as a grad assistant with the football team.

Manning, however, considers himself a student when it comes to coaching, too.

“I don’t really classify myself as a teacher yet,” he said. “I respect every coach that’s out there.”

That's something Manning learned from Keenan McCardell, the receivers coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars who spent 17 seasons as an NFL receiver.

“He says, ‘Man, whenever you coach, don’t disrespect those who are already coaching,’” Manning said. “I’ve never tried to (disrespect a coach), and I understand why he’s saying that. You don’t want to come in with an arrogant attitude. That’s one sure way to get you out (of coaching). It’s different from being coached to play and coaching to play. It’s different. A big difference.”

Manning, who will work with the safeties, said he’s enjoying working with ACU defensive backs coach Ray Brown.

“I think it’s a good partnership we’ve got right now,” Manning said. “He’s really into helping me out with the small things and coaching me what I need to know. I think I know ball. It’s just a different terminology.”

Manning said he’s confident in his knowledge of the game. He just isn’t sure he can translate it to the players.

“The ball part is not the issue,” he said. “The issue is making the transition from being a player to a coach. How to articulate it and knowing how to get it to the kids in the right way so we can be successful.”

Manning, a fierce competitor, also has to adjust to being on the sidelines and not in the game.

“I’m closer to the playing side than the coaching side,” he said. “I’m still a competitive player. When I hear a coach here say he’s going to be the best coach in this conference, I understand what he’s saying. But I still feel like a player. Man, I’ve got to be a coach. I think that might be the toughest struggle, understanding I’m a coach, not a player.”

Manning, who spent his last four seasons with Houston, said he was ready to walk away from the game when the Texans didn’t re-sign him after the 2014 season.

“When the game isn’t being fun, it’s time to get out,” he said. “I feel like I did enough and there wasn’t anything else I needed to do. I definitely didn’t want to play for another team. I liked the Texans organization. I was thankful and grateful that Chicago drafted me, but the Texans gave me an opportunity to live and play another dream of mine and that was to play in front of my family and in my home state of Texas.”

As for the timing of Manning’s return to ACU, it’s just a coincidence it happens to come as Adam Dorrel begins his first year as the Wildcats football coach. Manning said he made the decision to come back long before his friend and former coach, Ken Collums, was fired after the 2016 season.

When ACU made the break with Collums, who had coached at ACU the previous 12 season, the last five as the team’s head coach, Manning was taken aback.

“I’m a big fan of Coach Collums,” Manning said. “He coached my last semester here, and we grew to be friends over the years. When that happened, I was like, ‘Man, what direction are they going?’”

Ironically, Manning finds himself part of the new regime while taking a new path in life, eating up those 38 hours needed to graduate and learning how to be a successful coach, too.

“Since I was young, my dad had a philosophy of being the best you can be,” Manning said. “One of his examples was, ‘Son, if you’re going to be a bank robber, be the best bank robber you’re going to be.’ I was like, ‘Wow, why would you tell me that?’ But he took that thought process to get me to realize if you’re going to do anything, be the best. That’s how I approach things in life. I don’t ever want to come in and disrespect coaches and I don’t want to tell kids anything I don’t believe in.”

Dorrel believes Manning will do just fine as a coach and student.

“It’s great. He’s really good," Dorrel said. "What I love about him is he has really good people skills. He’s going to be great with the kids, mentoring them, talking to them and putting things in perspective. He believes in the Christian element here and being a student-athlete. He’s walking that walk. He’s coming back to get that degree.”

Manning, who has three children, daughter Anaria and sons Jamauri and Trey, is majoring in interdisciplinary studies. He wants to get his masters, perhaps in business communication, after he graduates.

As for coaching, he’s going to use his time at ACU to find out if it’s the right fit for him.

“This is for the enjoyment of being a good person, giving back and being a role model,” Manning said. “The biggest thing is, I want my kids to understand anything you want to do, you can do it. Just look back at what daddy did. I went through a lot of challenges in making it to the pros.”

And now he’s taking on a different set of challenges as a student and coach.

“I love a challenge,” Manning said. “If you’re not being challenged, I’m like, ‘Man, what else do I do with myself?’”