Subtweeting is the most passive-aggressive, 2016 method of either getting back at someone or trying to dig at them without anyone noticing. Everyone subtweets in one form or another, and some are better at it than others. Turns out, subtweeting has had quite a use for college football coaches trying to get the attention of potential recruits.
Take this tweet Texas linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary during an in-home visit with a four-star recruit Jeffrey McCulloch, who’s nicknamed “the Shark”.
A meal fit for a Shark!!! pic.twitter.com/59ppHxicaN
— Brian Luc Jean-Mary (@luc_brian) January 22, 2016
Under NCAA rules, coaches could not directly tweet at prospective recruits. But now, a new NCAA rule will bar coaches from subtweeting recruits too, because tweets like the one above are so dangerous to the integrity of high school athletes.
The #NCAA says using PSA's nickname = not permissible in public messages when context suggests the message is referencing an unsigned PSA.
— Brad Barnes (@TAMUCompliance) February 24, 2016
PSA means “prospective-student-athlete”. So now coaches cannot tweet at recruits directly or indirectly, but they still can tweet about a prospect’s physical stats (height, weight, etc.) and where’s he from without violating any rules. That makes sense.
Also not banned are “bat signals” from coaches Twitter accounts when a player commits, such as this example from Maryland’s new offensive coordinator Walt Bell.
— Walt Bell (@coachwaltbell) February 3, 2016
No word yet on whether coaches subtweeting the NCAA about this ridiculous new rule would garner any special punishments, like being banned from Twitter for any length of time. Everyone subtweet Mark Emmert, he’ll never notice!
