Johnny Manziel's mentor: Browns QB will make 'heckuva recovery' after rehab

Josh Peter | USA TODAY Sports

Earlier this week, Johnny Manziel said he reached out to famed orthopedist James Andrews about tendinitis in the Cleveland Browns quarterback’s right elbow. But Manziel has said nothing publicly about who he called after entering an alcohol and drug treatment center in January.

Few NFL fans would recognize the man’s name — Julius Scott.

Scott, quarterback coach and offensive coordinator at Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas, when Manziel played there, said he heard from Manziel last spring. And that at the time, Scott added, Manziel was finishing a stay of approximately 75 days at an undisclosed treatment center from which he made a request.

Manziel asked his former coach to move to Ohio, and into Manziel’s spacious house on a golf course.

By mid-April, Scott, 55, quit his job, kissed his wife and said goodbye two his two grown children. Then he headed for Ohio at the behest of his former star quarterback.

“We all come to a point in our life where we need somebody to stand by us and to be with us,’’ Scott told USA TODAY Sports. “You face some perils in life, you made mistakes, you’re trying to rectify them and get back on the right road. We all need somebody like that.

“I was proud to do it.’’

While Manziel recently declared he and his sore throwing elbow will be ready to play against the New York Jets when the seasons opens Sept. 13 — a game in which Josh McCown is expected to start at quarterback — Scott reflected on what he saw during before and after his two-month stay with Manziel.

When Manziel wasn’t working out at the Browns complex during that stretch between April and June, there was plenty of golf, fishing and football.

“Just what hillbillies from Texas would do," said Scott, adding that he and Manziel “naturally" had heart-to-heart talks, too, but he declined to discuss specifics.“We laughed and joked just kind of like we did in high school."

What apparently had vanished by April, like Manziel’s infamous money sign, is Johnny Football’s party ways. Scott said the treatment center from where Manziel called him before they connected in Ohio seemed to have an impact.

“It must be a good place because it seemed to get him grounded," Scott said. “I assure you, given the chance, he’s going to make a heckuva recovery and do real well. Not only in football, but life."

Manziel declined to comment for this story, and Scott declined to discuss Manziel’s initial phone call and what he said when asking Scott to move in with him. But two of Manziel’s former high school teammates said Scott, a disciplinarian, was the right person to call — someone who would hold Manziel accountable rather than enable him.

Charlie Kinnison Jr., a backup quarterback on Manziel’s high school team, said with Scott in charge of the quarterbacks, Manziel was not exempt from push ups, up-downs and other forms of discipline.

“If you got caught skipping class or you got in trouble in class, you wouldn’t even be able to practice that day,’’ Kinnison said. “You’d have to up-down the whole two hours. I’ve been a part of that, and Johnny’s been a part of that. …

“I think coach Scott held Johnny to a higher standard because he was the leader of the team."

But Parks McNeil, another backup quarterback on Manziel’s high school team, said the relationship between star quarterback and coach was special.

“I just think that it’s good for Johnny to realize he needed somebody to lean on," McNeil said.

But the relationship involved a rocky start

One day, Manziel was playing middle school football when he scored a touchdown and set the ball on the turf. Scott, then overseeing the middle school program on top of his high school duties, said he made a beeline for Manziel.

“I grabbed him and I said, ‘Look, you hand the ball to the official here. We play with class.’ ” Scott recalled saying.

While Manziel passed for 7,626 yards and 76 touchdowns in three years as starting quarterback in high school, it’s also worth noting this: He rushed for 77 touchdowns, and each time dutifully handed the ball to the official.

But football conversations between Scott and Manziel could get animated, said McNeil, a former teammate.

“Julius was a master of getting us all fired up," McNeil said. “Some of (Manziel’s) best games were when him and Julius would get in an argument about the way coverage was run or the what plays were good being called.

“Johnny would just be on fire and run a 90-yard touchdown, hurdle somebody, and he comes off the sideline and Julius is the first one there to hug him and smile and slap him on the helmet and say, ‘Get ready. Let’s go back out there and score another one.’ ’’

At Texas A&M, when Manziel was up for the Heisman Trophy award, he invited Scott to the ceremony in New York. Manziel won the trophy and broke down when he saw Scott.

While Manziel struggled on and off the field last year, Scott watched from afar. He has some theories about the most famous quarterback he had in 32 years of coaching.

Namely, Manziel struggled while adjusting from life as a celebrated Heisman Trophy winner and first-round NFL draft pick to struggling NFL rookie.

“Anybody is going to be somewhat shell-shocked, so to speak, from that,’’ he said. “To recover from that, I think when you talk about a mental state, I think that might play as big a part in his recovery as anything."

While Scott said he doesn’t feel qualified to discuss the relationship between Manziel’s past on-field and off-the-field struggles, he notes that Manziel has drawn praise for his on-field performance at a time he appears to be steering free of trouble off of the field.

Before the elbow tendinitis flared up and sidelined him this season after the second preseason game, Manziel completed 17 of 29 passes (58.6%) for 160 yards and one touchdown without an interception. He also rushed for 33 yards and a touchdown on five carries and earned praise that Scott said he heard starting during workouts in April.

But Scott said he heard effusive praise when he attended team workouts between April and June.

“The Browns were extremely happy,’’ he said. “I talked to various coaches, and they told me every time they were extremely happy with his progress, his professionalism and those types of things.

“If you look at his progress on the field, he looks like he’s much more acquainted with with the professional game. You know, last year he kind of looked like a deer in the headlights.

“I think a year ago maybe his confidence was rocked a little bit. I think he’s regaining that. I sense that in the way he approaches the game.’’

The housemates parted ways in June.

The Browns had completed offseason workouts and Manziel had commitments across the country. Less time to golf, fish and talk with his old coach. Scott returned to Texas and found another job coaching high school football.

Sometimes, Scott said, he’s not exactly sure what did for Manziel. But it sounds like Manziel knew at a time Scott was trying to figure out his own future.

“He said he thought my calling was to coach and to help people,’’ Scott said.