Being the best player one can be is all some professional athletes ask of themselves, and indeed, all anyone can ask of them. For Johnny Manziel, according to former Texas A&M offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, the determination goes far beyond that.
"... being around him, he's the most competitive kid I've ever seen. He wants to be great, first and foremost -- he wants to be the best to ever play the game," Kingsbury told KTTX-FM radio in Austin, Texas, Tuesday. "So as an owner or a GM those are inherent traits that you want in one of those top picks."
The 2012 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback won't get anywhere near that rarified air, however, unless he does something at the NFL level that he hasn't done before: win a championship. In his appearance on "Gruden QB Camp," Manziel conceded that his failure to win a championship at either the high school or college level has been a continuing source of his motivation. In two years as a starter at Texas A&M, the Aggies posted an impressive record of 20-6. But the game's greatest quarterbacks on the NFL level are frequently judged on Super Bowl success.
"I'm tired of not winning a championship. I consider myself a winner, and I hate losing," Manziel told Gruden. "Yeah, I've had a decent record, but it's not up to par. It's not up to where I want it to be. It's not acceptable. It doesn't sit well with me."
Whether Manziel can be a winning NFL quarterback can't be known until he hits the field. But if his self-described mentality is accurate, the right mindset is certainly in place.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread.*
