Wednesday night was obviously a rough one for Texas A&M and the Aggies’ receiver coach Aaron Moorehead.
As if losing a commitment from five-star quarterback Tate Martell wasn’t bad enough, Moorehead posted a series of strange tweets directed at high school prospects. Thanks to those tweets, four-star receiver – and Texas A&M commit – Mannie Netherly also decommitted from the Aggies’ 2017 recruiting class. Unbelievably making matters even worse, five-star receiver Tyjon Lindsey eliminated A&M citing Moorehead’s tweets as the reason.
According to ESPN’s Sam Khan Jr., Netherly was considered a strong commit until last night’s tweets were sent:
Re: Netherly — Sources close to his recruitment told me A&M was in good shape before tweets. If not for that, he’d still be committed today
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) May 5, 2016
How much longer would Netherly have been committed? I don’t know. Obviously he took visits. But that’s what I was told from several folks.
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) May 5, 2016
Moorehead has since apologized for the tweets but the damage has clearly already been done. Thankfully for A&M, National Signing Day is so far away that relationships can be mended and new prospects can be brought in to replace those who have decommitted.
Wednesday night should serve as a lesson to every assistant coach how impactful a series of tweets can be. These days it’s not just the players that make mistakes and can be made to look foolish on social media.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
