“I don’t think anybody that was ever there in the locker room with T.J. ever would’ve thought anything like that,” Manziel, who played with Johnson at Texas A&M during the 2012 season, told Northeast Ohio Media Group.
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Johnson is accused of hacking a 53-year-old jogger to death with a machete in Dallas on Monday morning. Police said Johnson told a responding officer that he “committed capital murder.” A passing bicyclist claims he saw the attacker repeatedly strike the jogger in the head, according to police.
Johnson remains in a Dallas County jail on $500,000 bail.
Johnson was a favorite receiver of Manziel’s in 2012. Two days after he caught two of Manziel’s passes during the Aggies’ 29-24 win at No. 1 Alabama on Nov. 11, 2012, Johnson went missing for several days. He never returned to Texas A&M’s football program.
“I haven’t heard from Thomas in quite a long time, and it was a very freak thing how he did leave the program,’’ Manziel said. “So I feel terrible for everyone involved and I don’t know how much more I can say than that.
“My thoughts and prayers go out toward whoever’s family it was.”
