Quote:<p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(55,55,55);font-size:13px;">Manziel was harder to tackle on scout team than Baylor’s RGIII

<p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(55,55,55);font-size:13px;">Former Texas A&M defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter was a member of the recruiting staff that found Johnny Manziel in high school.

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<p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(55,55,55);font-size:13px;">DeRuyter, now the head coach at Fresno State, worked with Manziel during his redshirt season in 2011 and was recently asked what the Heisman winner was like during his time in Aggieland.

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<p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(55,55,55);font-size:13px;">“I knew when he was our scout team quarterback he was pretty special as an athlete,” Deruyter told FootballScoop.com.

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<p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(55,55,55);font-size:13px;">DeRuyter said that while Ryan Tannehill was the starting quarterback, Jameill Showers had the better arm. Behind those two were Matt Joeckel and Manziel.

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<p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(55,55,55);font-size:13px;">While Manziel was a longshot at being A&M’s quarterback any time soon, DeRuyter thought he could use him at safety.

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<p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(55,55,55);font-size:13px;">“I was kind of in the back of my mind thinking if he’s not going to be in the mix at quarterback I want him as a safety because he’s an athlete, as you can tell,” he said. “He’s a competitive winner, which I loved.”

<p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(55,55,55);font-size:13px;">DeRuyter appreciated Manziel’s skill and impressive speed while preparing for Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III.

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<p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(55,55,55);font-size:13px;">Manziel was the scout team quarterback for A&M preparing for RGIII.

<p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(55,55,55);font-size:13px;">“I remember getting frustrated at our defense because we couldn’t tackle him (Manziel),” Deruyter said. “Yelling at our guys saying, ‘If you can’t tackle this little freshman, how in the world are we going to tackle RGIII?’

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<p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(55,55,55);font-size:13px;">“After the game our guys are like, ‘Coach, I’m telling you, that guy was harder to tackle during our week of practice than RGIII was.’ I think RGIII had about 50 yards against us running the football [he had 12 rushes for 15 yards]. Manziel probably had 600 during the week.”

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<p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(55,55,55);font-size:13px;">With the success Griffin has seen in the NFL the news of Manziel’s success against A&M’s defense before he was truly developed is scary.

http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/...giii.html/