Johnny Manziel's best friend made up he came from oil money to mislead NCAA

The Netflix documentary chronicling Johnny's Manziel's football rise and fall has delivered many surprises, including a fictional tale which, until now, had been widely believed. 

At the height of Manziel's star, he was investigated by the NCAA on allegations of violating its rules by signing autographs in exchange of payment. 

There was insufficient evidence to prove this, though, Manziel did receive a paltry half-game suspension for failing to prevent the commercialization of his name.

During this portion of the 72-minute documentary which premiered Tuesday, Manziel's then-best friend/publicist/agent Nate Fitch explained the plan which helped distort reality. 

'How are you gonna explain why you are wearing Rolexes and driving new cars and flying in private jets?,' Fitch rhetorically asked.

Nate Fitch, Johnny Manziel's former friend/publicist/agent invented a lie that the Texas A&M legend came from an exceedingly wealthy family who had made its money in the oil industry

Manziel reiterated that the myth was indeed concocted to avoid punishment from the NCAA

'As a freshman, you weren't allowed to talk to the media, but they (the media) were allowed to talk to me,' he said, referencing the rule imposed by then Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin. 

'And so, the biggest spin that still exists today, I invented a narrative that his family was vastly wealthy.'

This misnomer of the Manziel family profiting beyond imagination from oil money - in a similar vein to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones - was invented by Fitch, and propagated by the mainstream media.

'We sold a little bit of a dream that my family had more money than they actually did,' Manziel added. 

Then, a mashup of various journalists appeared, illustrating how the lie became words spoken as truth. 

'Here's a kid who doesn't need money,' a sportscaster on News8 in Connecticut said at the time.

'He comes from oil money,' FS1 host Colin Cowherd said in an aired clip.

'A kid who came from oil money,' Skip Bayless remarked while discussing the NCAA investigation.

Manziel's grandfather, according to Manziel himself, helped the Heisman Trophy winner by giving him checks so as to help avoid leaving a cash trail for purchases such as flights.

The ex-Browns QB, known as Johnny Football or Money Manziel, became a living legend in TX.

Following the cessation of Manziel's suspension, he and Fitch went back to indulging in the once-unauthorized activity.  

'And we went right back to signing articles,' Fitch said. 'We're not doing anything criminal. We're just not abiding by the NCAA bylaws on which you're not allowed to make money.'

The Manziel documentary is, as of the time of writing, is the No. 1 trending movie on Netflix.