Johnny Manziel spent just two weeks in the Alliance of American Football before the league suspended operations this week, but he quickly made an impression on quarterbacks coach David Lee.

Lee, who worked with Manziel with the Memphis Express, said the 26-year-old erased the preconceived notions he had of him.

“I’m hoping and praying he gets another chance. My short experience with him was tremendous,” Lee told the Toronto Sun. “I really, really like Johnny as a person. Boy, he’s got a fire in his heart. He loves football. Gosh, he loves it. And he wants to be good.

"He had been through hell and back from the time he left Texas A&M until the time he rolled into Memphis.”

Manziel spent last season with the Montreal Alouettes, but the CFL terminated his contract in February for violating terms of his agreement with the league. Lee said the former first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns came to the AFF ready to improve.

“I can say this. After being drafted into the NFL by Cleveland, and after his two stints up there in Canada, shoot, he came in through our doors very humble, and very willing to listen and be coached.”

Playing in limited capacity in two games with the Express, Manziel was 5 for 8 passing for 28 yards with 38 rushing yards. He was 2-6 as a starter with the Alouettes last season, completing 106 of 165 passes (64.2 per cent) for 1,290 yards with five TDs and seven interceptions.

“He can still play,” added Lee, a six-time quarterbacks coach in the NFL. “I can’t say what happened at his other three (pro stops). Probably it was him. He didn’t have his mind right, or his heart right, or something. All that crap he went through maybe got him to that humble point."

All AAF players have been released from the contracts and are now free to sign in any league.