The Johnny Manziel era in Montreal is starting now.
Manziel, who has been the Alouettes backup for six games, will be making his first CFL start Friday night, Montreal coach Mike Sherman told Canadian reporters Tuesday.
Manziel will face his old team, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who traded the quarterback on July 22 for a package that included two first-round draft choices. He didn’t play in the Alouettes’ game last Thursday, their first game after the trade.
“It’s good to be back in here,” said Manziel, who didn’t know until a few moments before Tuesday’s news conference that he would get the start. “I felt like the thing I’ve been missing, even over the course of this year and a couple years, is reps. And as you guys have seen the last couple days, a chance to get with the 1s and get some reps is what I feel like I really need and what I’ve talked to a lot of people about.
“So I feel very blessed to be in this position, to be back in a situation where I’m starting again. It’s good. It’s a quick turnaround. But at the same time, I’m excited for the opportunity.”
Manziel, who had a 2-6 record as a starter during his two seasons with the Browns in 2014-15, said he hasn’t mastered the Alouettes offense yet, but is “getting there.”
“I think there’s some good things. There’s some good flashes,” he said. “Football’s a game of inches and little things and little mishaps that can make a play go awry. So we’re just trying to clean up the little detail things that I think we’re missing here that we’ll get on top of and hopefully be able to go out and perform. But I’m still learning it as we go, and I feel fortunate enough to be going against a defense that I’ve seen more than any other defense since I’ve been in the CFL.”
Manziel, whose latest bit of controversy came when he recently defended Jimmy Garoppolo for going on his infamous dinner date with adult film actress Kiara Mia, said he knows his tumultuous past can be a distraction for a team, but added that he is in a better place right now.
“It can cause a little bit of chaos,” Manziel said. “But if you get a chance to really know me and know what I’m about, I don’t feel like there’s a lot of that anymore. And I appreciate the support that I do get, being in a completely new, different place. The support and everything that I’ve gotten and the messages and the amount of people that have been encouraging throughout my journey of life to get back to this point today has been — it’s been really nice.”
