At least in our eyes at RTI, there hasn’t been much reason to even bring up the Peyton Manning-Jamie Naughright situation from 1996.
It was well-covered at the time and settled years ago.
But because it’s been a national story recently, thanks in large part to a story by Shaun King in the New York Daily News that went back and rehashed details from a 2003 affidavit filed by Naughright in a dispute over an alleged breach of a non-disclosure clause by the Mannings, it’s something that has certainly become a national storyline in the past month.
And while much has been written that has discredited King’s story, new information from a witness that came forward to The Monday Morning Quarterback, further proves that nothing went on in the training room in 1996 beyond what Manning said happened – an “inappropriate” mooning intended for another athlete.
“I won’t speak to my opinion of Ms. Naughright or of Peyton,” former UT linebacker Greg Johnson told The MMQB via an article posted on Wednesday afternoon. “I was in the training room fairly often. I don’t know why I was in there that day…
“[Former UT cross-country runner Malcolm] Saxon walks in, and Peyton was the kind of guy who had to be friendly with everyone; he wanted to include everyone, from his teammates to the cross country guy. He says hey to Saxon and pulls down the back of his shorts, and I saw one butt cheek, and then he pulled his pants up. And Jamie said something like, ‘Aw, you’re an ass.’ Then I left. Thought nothing of it.”
Johnson’s account lines up with what Manning has said all along and with what Naughright said happened at that point in time, before the story changed in 2003.
And where was Johnson during that time? According to the MMQB, he was “on an overseas tour of duty and unaware of the stateside news in the chaotic aftermath of 9/11 and subsequent invasion of Iraq.” Not a bad reason to be out of the loop.
There’s much more in this in-depth piece from the MMQB. Be sure to read it all.
