Manziel doubters will eat crow

— -- The only major surprise in the news that Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel will enter this year's NFL draft is that it took so long for the announcement to be made.

Everything about Manziel's behavior this past season pointed to the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner leaving college as soon as he possibly could. Now comes the more interesting part: Listening to all those skeptics who simply won't see how big a star this kid is going to become at the next level.

You have to imagine the haters began mounting their attacks the minute Manziel officially submitted his papers to the league office for early entry. We'll hear about how he's simply too small for the position. There will be plenty of people who will knock his video game college numbers (7,820 passing yards, 2,169 rushing yards and 93 total touchdowns) as a byproduct of the wide-open system coach Kevin Sumlin ran at A&M. There also will be the concerns about his off-field behavior, which already has the potential to fill a month's worth of content on TMZ.

What there won't be enough of, however, is a focus on all the things that have made Manziel great on the collegiate level. It's easy to write him off as a spoiled rich kid who had the good fortune of playing in an offense tailored to his skills. It's actually more sensible to consider all the ways Manziel made the most of the opportunities afforded him at A&M. The first thing to remember about Manziel: He earned everything he got at the college level.