Texas A&M football's regular Tuesday news conference was anything but regular on this Tuesday, with a throng of media wanting answers to questions Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin was instructed not to answer.
Aside from questions not pertaining to the NCAA's investigation into whether star quarterback Johnny Manziel profited from thousands of autographs for memorabilia dealers, Sumlin didn't see too many pitches. But around the 14:40 mark of Texags.com video, there was one fastball close to the chin from ESPN's Mark Schwartz. He essentially challenged Sumlin to publicly assess the weight the school's honor code will have in the decision of whether to play Manziel Saturday at home against Rice.
Sumlin passed on the chance.
Question: Given the Aggie Code of Honor, that an Aggie does not lie, does not cheat, does not steal, and does not tolerate those who do, what is your decision, the university's decision, to name Johnny Manziel your starting quarterback saying about your belief that he is telling the truth in this story about profiting from autographs.
Sumlin: "I think we just covered that earlier. You're asking me about the decision for Johnny to play and we're not discussing that. I thought we went over that from the beginning."
Follow-up question:My question was about the code of honor, and whether the code of honor has everything to do with how that decision will be made.
Sumlin: "I can't talk about how that decision's going to be made and what goes into that decision. I said from day one, the first day, that there are a lot of people involved in that decision. What goes into that, I can't discuss."
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.
