NCAAF teams
Darren Rovell, ESPN Senior Writer 11y

Photo shows Manziel signing

College Football, Texas A&M Aggies

A photo of Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel signing for South Florida autograph broker Drew Tieman in early January has been obtained by ESPN.

It is the first visual representation of Manziel signing for Tieman. In the photo, which two sources have confirmed as legitimate, Manziel, in a long-sleeve maroon shirt, is standing over a covered pool table signing photos of his image while Tieman oversees the process.

The photo, according to sources, was taken in the Fort Lauderdale apartment in which Tieman was living at the time.

ESPN attempted to reach Tieman through his company and was told he was not immediately available for comment. Texas A&M has not made Manziel available for interviews this week prior to the No. 6 Aggies' game against top-ranked Alabama in College Station. Neither Manziel's attorney, Jim Darnell, nor a Texas A&M official returned calls seeking comment.

Last month, sources told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that Manziel signed more than 1,100 autographs for Tieman over a two-day period in South Florida while in Miami for the BCS title game. Sources say Tieman paid more than $10,000 to authenticate those autographs with James Spence Authentication, whose officials told ESPN that they stand by their opinion that every signature is authentic.

All told, sources told "Outside the Lines" that Manziel signed at least 4,400 autographs for Tieman, two brokers in Connecticut at the Walter Camp Awards and Kevin Freistat, an autograph broker who had at least one signing session with Manziel in South Florida in January and another in Houston later in the month.

In late August, the NCAA and Texas A&M released a joint statement that said an NCAA investigation was unable to find evidence that Manziel received payments for signing the autographs "based on information provided by Manziel."

Manziel did not play in the first half of the team's season opener against Rice because he violated NCAA bylaw 12.5.2.1, which states that student-athletes cannot allow products with their names and likenesses to be sold even if they do not profit from it.

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