Manningham returns feeling tested
The former Warren Harding star is back with NY Giants
Mario Mannigham

Warren native and NFL wide receiver for the New York Giants, Mario Manningham, joins Ed Puskas and Kevin Connelly to talk about football and his …
YOUNGSTOWN
Mario Manningham hasn’t worn his Super Bowl ring since the summer after he earned it as a member of the New York Giants.
That was 2012.
Two years later, the former Warren Harding standout is back with the team that drafted him and he’s looking for more jewelry.
Manningham signed a one-year contract less than a month ago to return to the Giants after spending two injury-plagued seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. A torn ACL and PCL ended his 2012 season, and ultimately his career on the West Coast.
Appearing in just 17 games over two seasons with the 49ers, Manningham was ready to turn over a new leaf.
And his old team seemed like the perfect spot.
“I just felt like I was right at home,” Manningham said. “When I went back there for the interview, within the first couple of minutes we were all laughing and joking around like I never left.
“I always felt comfortable with those guys — the players and the staff.”
The familiarity may extend beyond just the locker room for Manningham, too.
Growing up in Warren, dreaming of playing in the NFL was easy. The path to get there was far more difficult.
One man who provided a road map for Manningham was his grandfather, Gerald Wayne Simpson Sr. He also set a standard that Manningham has made sure to uphold.
“He gave me decisions,” Manningham said. “When he thought I made the wrong decision, he’d tell me. He was fair and that’s what we respected about each other.”
The six-year pro said much of the same about the three head coaches he’s had since leaving high school — Lloyd Carr, Tom Coughlin and Jim Harbaugh. It’s that sort of no-nonsense relationship that Manningham feels he’s the most comfortable in.
“Old school, you know,”he said about the coach he’s back playing for in Coughlin. “He’ll give you that look, but he’ll get in your face if he has to and say a couple words to you.”
So when he tore the ligaments in his left knee during a game in December of 2012, the long rehabilitation process provided one of his toughest tests yet.
“You gotta have mental focus and not be worried about anything other than your injury,” he said.
That became especially difficult after Simpson died in September 2012. It’s been a difficult process, but Manningham feels he’s getting stronger — physically and emotionally — every day.
“Nothing lasts forever,” he said. “I try to think of all the things that he left me, telling me, as far as me being a good person and making the right decisions.
“I still hear him.”
The same voice Manningham’s grandfather provided him growing up, is what the 27-year-old is now trying to give back to the next group of kids with NFL dreams. This summer, Manningham will hold a two-day camp for local children to help steer them in the right direction. The camp will be held in June at Warren Harding.
“You never know what that kid is thinking,” Manningham said. “I’m just trying to get that point across that you can make your own road, you can take your own path, you don’t have to be a follower like most kids who don’t have guidance.”
Although Manningham likely won’t be flashing his Super Bowl ring to the kids, his desire to add another one remains.
“I know players who have went to a Super Bowl and never won,” he said. “So for me to be blessed to go and win, that’s a plus.”