No coach wants to find out a player is making headlines like Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel. The Heisman Trophy winning quarterback has drawn the wrong kind of attention during the 2013 offseason with his Twitter account and with allegations he received cash for signing autographs.
Gophers coach Jerry Kill, whose team started summer practices last week, is doing all he can not to have similar problems. “We educate our kids during two-a-day (training) camp,” he told Sports Headliners. “We bring in people from Facebook (and) social networking. We have what I call a player personnel book that we go over all those things.
“We’re teaching those things all the time so that we don’t get caught up in something like Johnny Manziel. But even if you teach it, sometimes things happen. I know (A&M) coach (Kevin) Sumlin is a good football coach and good man.
“We live in a different world. It’s just that sometimes kids get caught up in things they don’t understand.”
The power of Twitter was evident last fall when Gophers wide receiver A.J. Barker tweeted he was quitting the team and referred followers to Tumblr where he let loose with an emotional criticism of Kill. The episode was there for the world to see and despite the incident Kill won’t try to tell his players they can’t tweet, although Boise State coach Chris Petersen (and perhaps at least a few other coaches) has banned Twitter accounts.
“I am not a big Twitter guy because I guess I am older and whatever, but I am a reality person,” Kill said. “Reality is it’s a part of our world. It’s a part of their (the players) world. Whether you say you’re not going to allow it or not, they’re going to do it.
“We don’t want any football information (leaked)—those kind of things going out on it. But we monitor Twitter, we monitor Facebook, and if there is anything on there that is not good, that’s not gonna be good for them (the players).”
Kill doesn’t ban Twitter even during the 12-game regular season which this year begins at home on August 29. “I don’t care what Boise State or anybody says, they’re (the players) going to use Twitter,” Kill said. “It’s like telling everybody they can’t drink a beer. You can’t (completely) control that. …
“We educate them on (using) Facebook that you never get those statements back. That’s a lifetime on there, so you better understand what you’re doing and how you do it.”
Gophers quarterback Philip Nelson, a sophomore like Manziel, gave up his Twitter account. “Once I got here and realized some of the things that happened, I deleted it right away,” Nelson said. “It’s not even worth it because it’s all about football here. You just gotta watch yourself. We’re held to a different standard as football players.”
Gophers senior safety Brock Vereen has a friend at Boise State so he is familiar with Twitter policy there. “I am not sure how many issues we’ve had with Twitter, but at the end of the day guys here have to be adult about it,” Vereen said. “They have to be mature about it. Think before you tweet. That’s what coach Kill always tells us.”
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