Head coach Charlie Strong once called social media “the downfall of society.”
Twitter could be the team’s downfall if players continue to find trouble on social media. At halftime against TCU, freshman cornerback Kris Boyd retweeted a tweet asking him and freshman linebacker Malik Jefferson to transfer to Texas A&M.
“Kris Boyd did apologize to the team,” head coach Charlie Strong said. “Sometimes it’s just immaturity … I don’t know when it happened, but, yes, we will handle the discipline from within.”
The social media mess continued Monday when freshmen took to Twitter to air their frustration. At Monday’s weekly press conference, junior safety Dylan Haines said the younger players weren’t putting in enough work.
“A lot of [the freshmen didn’t] have to watch film in high school if you’re recruited at that level,” Haines said. “You don’t have to go out there and put in extra work. They just want to go out and play on Saturday. They don’t want to put in the work on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.”
Some of the freshmen took offense to Haines’ statement and expressed that on Twitter.
Freshman defensive end Charles Omenihu tweeted, “People get in front of cameras and just talk they [sic] heads off always remember think before you speak (100 emoji),” in a tweet that has since been deleted.
Wide receiver DeAndre McNeal tweeted an assertive screenshotted message after Haines’ message.
“We’re supposed to be a team, but instead we’re bashing on each other,” McNeal wrote. “If you don’t want to be here at Texas then kick rocks … And us ‘FRESHMAN’are go getters and we don’t accept mediocre ANYTHING. We are here to pull Texas out the drought so you can either get with it or get lost.”
After Monday’s debacle, senior cornerback Duke Thomas said the players have to learn to keep things inside the program.
“[The freshmen] don’t really understand the effect they have of being here in the position they’re in,” Thomas said. “We just got to teach them and let them know a lot of things they do or have done isn’t acceptable.”
