ESPN’s top 25 players of the century egregiously omits Texas A&M football legend

ESPN leaves Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M football and SEC legend, off of top 25 players of 21st century

Look, I don’t often get riled up about the disinclusion of a Texas A&M football player on a list like this. Especially when you look closely at the criteria that the list-makers use, this or that omission usually isn’t quite as glaring as it might seem on first blush.

This one, however, is patently ridiculous. There’s really no excuse for it.

I’ve lauded ESPN’s Bill Connelly a lot on here, mainly for his advanced statistical profile SP+. I think the grounding for it is solid and makes a lot of sense, so it is my go-to when it comes to power ranking teams. But I really have no idea what he was thinking with this one.

Connelly put out a list of the top 25 college football players of the 21st century. That, on its face, is kind of an impossible task, as he himself has been acknowledging on his Twitter account.

That said, there are some names that simply should not be left off such a list. Johnny Manziel is one of them.

I have no idea what criteria one could use to disinclude Johnny Football from a list like this. He’s the first freshman to ever win the Heisman trophy. He broke the SEC record for total offense in a single season. He has signature wins and moments too numerous to count. He was a cultural phenomenon and ever-present storyline in every sports publication.

I get, for example, ranking Cam Newton and Tim Tebow ahead of Johnny. I can accept that. Baker Mayfield? I guess, sure! Vince Young? I wouldn’t personally do that, but I can see the argument. Ed Reed, Aaron Donald, Devonta Smith… these are all worthy inclusions.

But then you have… Justin Blackmon? Will Anderson? Bryant McKinnie?

Look, these guys were great at their position. But are they worthy inclusions to the exclusion of a Johnny Manziel? I think any argument for that would fall apart pretty quickly.

In the grand scheme of things, this doesn’t matter a whole lot. But to not have Manziel on the top 25—and, checking the bottom of the list, not even the top 35—is pretty indefensible, in my book.