Recruits becoming numb to angry tweets
It didn't take a botched punt to remind people that Twitter can be a hostile
environment for college athletes. When things are good, total strangers can laud
Advertisement
you as a conquering hero. When things are bad, those same strangers can tell you
to "kill yourself."
Michigan punter Blake O'Neill experienced the ugly latter
after his fumbled punt attempt was returned for a game-winning touchdown last
weekend. In the aftermath of the play, Michigan State fans celebrated,
Michigan fans bummed and a handful of faceless social media commentators fired off 140-character bursts of hatred.
Recruits, as they do, also took notice of the cyber scene as it unfolded. But
it's not as though any top prospect was stunned. This has been a part of the
student-athlete experience since the rise of Twitter. Four-star defensive back
Stanford Samuels, just a junior in high school, has already tasted the
sour side of social media.
The Pembroke Pines (Fla.) Flanagan High School standout knew the stakes long
before anyone muffed a punt in Michigan.
"Sometimes, fans will call out players on a college team during a game," Samuels
said. "They'll tweet to me and say, 'See, that's why we need you to replace
him.'"
Samuels says he does his best to block that sort of stuff out of his mind. He
says those sorts of tweets are mostly inconsequential to him. Still, he's one of
few players that admits that too many instances of such tweets can add up to
something that matters to his recruitment, be it only a bit.
"Seeing that stuff can change what you think about a program a very little bit,
but that's all," Samuels said. "I mean, loyal fans are a plus to any program."
Baylor commit Kameron Martin, a four-star running back, has a
bit of a stronger take than Samuels. Could seeing something like that effect his
recruitment? He certainly won't rule it out.
"Man, I saw the Michigan fans talking really bad about the punter and the head
coach," Martin said. "In some ways, that can affect us as recruits because it's
easy to look at it and see that being you."
Then, there's the other side of the issue. At this point, at least some of the
recruiting subculture has become numb to such tweets.
A transfer demand here, a name called there -- some players are starting to see
such things as the cost of doing business.
Five-star receiver Nate Craig-Myers can muster only a
shoulder shrug when asked if such things would make any impact on his impending
decision. To him, Twitter and the things written on it, good and bad, are
inconsequential.
"Everybody gets bashed by fans sometimes," Craig said. "That stuff doesn't
really bother me much. It's going to be the same everywhere. Fans like certain
people and they don't like certain other people."
Four-star Auburn commit John Broussard agreed with
Craig-Myers. As did most other prospects polled. There are isolated cases, sure.
But the prevailing thought is that, in 2015, an aggressive tweet or two comes
with your scholarship.
What that means and if it's troubling is a different conversation. What's clear
now, however, is that it isn't going to stop. It's a fact with which most
prospects are coming to terms.
"The fans go either way from week to week," said three-star running back
Otis Anderson. "If you do great, they love you. If you do bad, they
hate you. I would never let that influence my recruiting. They're just fans. You
can't count a school out because of fans."
Click Here to view this Link.