ESPN obtains photo of Johnny Manziel signing autographs, ESPN's Darren Rovell has obtained a photo of Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel signing photos of himself for South Florida autograph broker Drew Tieman in early January, the website is reporting.Two sources have confirmed to ESPN that the photo is authentic. In the photo, Manziel is shown signing potos while Tieman is standing next to him overseeing the process.
Sources tell ESPN the photo was taken in Tieman's Fort Lauderale apartment where he was living at the time.
ESPN's "Outside the Lines" reported last month that Manziel signed more than 1,100 autographs for Tieman over a two-day stretch while Manziel was in Maimi for the BCS title game. Sources tell the network Tieman paid more than $10,000 to authenticate those autographs with James Spence Authentication.
ESPN reported Manziel signed 4,400 autographs for Tieman, two brokers in Connecticut at the Walter Camp Awards and Kevin Freistat, who had two sessions with Manziel to sign autographs — one in January in South Florida and another in Houston later in the month.
Tieman didn't respond to interview requests by ESPN. Manziel hasn't been made available to the media for interviews this week prior to Saturday's game at home against Alabama.
Manziel was suspended for the first half of A&M's season opener against Rice. The university and NCAA decided on the punishment because of an “inadvertent violation” of NCAA rules on autograph signing. The NCAA determined that there was no evidence Manziel "received monetary reward in exchange for autographs,” but should realized that autographs will be sold when as many are signed as Manziel reportedly signed.
