Ex-NCAA Official Thinks Manziel Should Sit

No news is good news in the Johnny Manziel investigation.

The only really interesting piece of information came from former NCAA enforcement director Mark Jones, who told a San Antonio newspaper that he doesn't think Texas A&M should play Manziel until the investigation is over.

“No one wants to play an athlete who’s later determined to be ineligible, especially such a high-profile player,” said Jones. “You don’t want to risk having to vacate those games later on.”

Sounds like Jones is sending a polite warning to the Aggies by basically saying if you care about your season, you'd sit Manziel until this investigation is over. 

Other schools have done just that when an ongoing investigation was happening. Georgia benched wide receiver AJ Green a few years ago when he sold a jersey.

Auburn was briefly forced to declare Cam Newton ineligible by NCAA decree during their incompetent investigation of his dad's recruit-for-hire campaign, but that only lasted one day. Alabama suspended offensive lineman André Smith for reportedly dealing with an agent.

Texas A&M should give serious thoguht to following those schools' examples ... and not that of Ohio State, which let several of their players play while knowing they should have been ruled ineligible.

If Aggie head coach Kevin Sumlin is smart, as we think he is, he'd listen to the warning. No player should ever be bigger than the program. And do know where there's smoke, there's always a chance of the dreaded 'lack of institutional control' sanction putting a team on ice for a year or more.

The question is this: what's going to be more important to Sumlin: saving a season or saving the program?