In anticipation of the College Football Playoff first-round game between Texas A&M and Miami, the popular ESPN pregame show "College GameDay" had to alter its plans last minute, scrapping the feature on former Heisman Trophy-winning Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.
Johnny Manziel no-shows ESPN's College GameDay
The broadcast, which was live from College Station, Texas, intended to have Manziel as its famous guest picker. But those plans changed relatively close to airtime, as he was notably absent from the show's start. Host Rece Davis announced that the guest picker would instead be two-time NBA Champion, College Station native, and former Aggie point guard Alex Caruso.
Johnny Manziel’s Instagram story the night before he was supposed to be College GameDay’s guest picker for his former school’s first playoff appearance #CFPplayoff pic.twitter.com/TRMvSQL5GD
— Leah Vann (@LVann_Sports) December 20, 2025
On Friday night, Manziel posted from ringside at the Joshua-Paul fight in Miami. While this was not given as the official reason, multiple outlets reported that it might have been why he did not make it to College GameDay. The show airs on ESPN at 7 am Central (8 am Eastern) and usually runs until 11:00 am, just before the game kickoff, with fans gathering at Aggie Park as early as 5 am this morning.
Additionally, Manziel made headlines last week when a photo circulated on social media showing him doing the signature Miami hand signal, the "U," at a Miami bar just a couple of days before he was scheduled to participate as the guest picker.
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