Johnny Manziel says 2012 arrest helped him win Heisman Trophy award

While a superstar quarterback at Texas A&M, Johnny Manziel hit rock-bottom at one point during his collegiate career. However, if the former Heisman Trophy winner never experienced being arrested prior to the 2012 season, he believes his success never would have came.

During the first episode of his "Ball Don’t Lie" podcast, Manziel said that his June 2012 arrest impacted his redshirt freshman year.

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"In 11 days, I won the (starting) job doing these sprints, doing the whole thing. At the end of the year, I rushed for 1,500 yards. I outrushed Todd Gurley in the SEC. Nuts. My redshirt freshman year, the year I won the Heisman," Manziel explained.

He continued: "I believe all that was directly correlated to me running those sprints at the beginning of the year and being in the dumbest shape on the team. ... Without a doubt. I got punished and I won a Heisman for it. It's crazy. The bad doesn't always turn out so bad down the line."

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Manziel was one of the quarterbacks competing for the starting job after Ryan Tannehill left for the NFL. Head coach Kevin Sumlin named Manziel the starter, and as a freshman, he led Texas A&M to an 11-2 record, and he threw for 3,706 passing yards, piled up 1,410 rushing yards, and 47 total touchdowns, which earned him the Heisman Trophy award.

Manziel was arrested for getting into a fight and having a fake ID card. He was hit with three misdemeanors, including disorderly conduct, failure to identify and possessing a false identification card.

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In July of 2013, Manziel pleaded guilty for failing to identify himself. He was handed a $2,000 fine and he had to pay court costs but his other charges were dropped.