Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel among freshmen making immediate impact all around SEC

ST. LOUIS – Cam Newton's Southeastern Conference record for career rushing yards by a quarterback is in danger. It should come as no surprise that the player mounting the challenge will be a teenager for only another month.

Precocious, prolific and elusive, Texas A&M redshirt freshman Johnny Manziel is third on the list with 922 yards. With four regular-season games plus a bowl game to go, he's just 85 yards shy of becoming No. 2 overall and is in striking range of the 1,473-yard standard set by Newton, the No. 1 overall NFL draft pick out of Auburn in 2011.

Manziel's far from the only instant contributor in a conference that has produced the last six national champions and has seven of the top 11 schools in this week's AP Top 25. To those in charge of the depth chart, it's simply a sign of the times.