Rick Zamperin: The Manziel-mania meter is just starting to move in Hamilton

I’d be lying if I said Manziel-mania has arrived in Hamilton. It hasn’t, yet.

Yes, it’s true that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and their rookie QB (at least in CFL standards) are the talk of the league right now, garnering attention from ESPN and other American media outlets in addition to the usual Canadian reporters who cover the three-down game.

But we are just a handful of days into training camp and nothing really happens until the first preseason game rolls around — in Hamilton’s case, that is June 1 vs. the Toronto Argonauts.

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Manziel, the polarizing former Heisman Trophy winner who spent the first two years of his professional football career with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, will most likely play in that game against the Argos at Tim Hortons Field.

Between now and then, he should have enough of a grasp of the playbook, and the CFL rulebook to suit up and get a sense of where he’s at on his learning curve.

Depending on how he performs, the Manziel-mania meter will move up or down.

Jeremiah Masoli is the Ticats’ incumbent starting pivot heading into the 2018 season, and deservedly so.

But when he has a bad series, or quarter, or half, or game — it happens to every QB — it will trigger the Manziel-mania meter.

And if “Johnny Football” comes into a game, whatever the circumstances — a blowout win, a blowout loss, or God forbid an injury to Masoli — we’ll be firing up the Manziel-mania meter once again.

At every turn, in every scenario — before, during and after every game — that meter is going to be wiggling.

Masoli and Manziel will be asked all season long about their QB competition and head coach June Jones will have to deal with the same query before and after nearly every game.

But come the first blip, the first sign that Masoli is struggling or regressing, the Manziel-mania meter will go off.

Jones, Masoli and Manziel must be on the same page when these situations arise — and they will — otherwise, the Manziel-mania meter may become too hot to handle.