Mississippi offensive lineman Austin Golson (73) gets honored before the Grove Bowl game in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, April 5, 2014. (photo/Ignacio Murillo)
It’s happening again.
Some Ole Miss football fans are showing their asses on social media, embarrassing all of us. Usually, it happens around National Signing Day.
Here’s a very toned-down example of what a tweet may say.
“Hey (insert recruit’s name here), come to our school. We really need you!”
When that recruit signs with another school, the same person will often tweet something off-putting in response.
“Hey (insert recruit’s name here), you suck anyways. Hope (insert rival school’s name here) cuts your scholarship before the season starts.”
In the past couple of days, as I’ve scrolled through my Twitter timeline, I’ve noticed some similar rumblings. This time, it has nothing to do with a recruit. It involves current Ole Miss sophomore starting offensive lineman Austin Golson.
Media outlets reported earlier this week that Golson, who played in every game last season except for the Music City Bowl, is considering transferring from Ole Miss due to personal reasons.
In multiple interviews, Golson said he wants to be closer to his grandparents who live in Prattville, Ala., because they are going through what he called “some hard times.”
In somewhat typical SEC super-fan fashion, some Ole Miss fans decided to make this a big deal.
Prattville is a Montgomery suburb about an hour away from Auburn, and some Ole Miss fans assume this is a sly attempt by Auburn to steal one of our top offensive linemen.
The NCAA allows players the opportunity to transfer and apply for a hardship waiver, which, if granted, would allow the transferring player to play at another school immediately. If the waiver isn’t granted or filled in the first place, the player usually must sit out for one full school year before playing for a new school.
Ole Miss head coach Hugh freeze told the media that he would “probably” not try to block a release of Golson to another school.
Social media and the sports message boards have been on fire since the story broke. Some fans, determined to believe that Auburn is behind all of this, have said and written some incredibly nasty things about Golson and the situation.
“This whole homesick excuse is a load of horsesh**… F**k that (three-word expletive),” one poster wrote on an Ole Miss message board (which was then screen grabbed and tweeted word for word to Golson’s Twitter account, so I’m not releasing any information Golson has not already seen).
“Now he is saying he isn’t one-hundred percent sure he is transferring. Honestly, f**k this kid…and by God, do not f***ing let this kid go to an SEC team,” another poster wrote.
This was also tweeted to Golson.
Others on social media and message boards are being very civil, encouraging him to stay on the team. Unfortunately, as is often the case with social media, the negative outweighs the positive.
I don’t know Golson’s situation.
I don’t know him at all, and I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting him.
Does he really deserve this?
If his family is really going through a rough time and he truly wants to be in Alabama with them, I feel awful for him right now.
Even if this is a ploy by Auburn to get him to play for them, he still doesn’t deserve any of what I’m seeing.
I’d like to think we as Ole Miss fans have higher standards than very publicly trashing our own players.
When it comes down to it, he is a student athlete trying to get an education while showcasing his football talents. He isn’t trying to hurt Ole Miss in any way. He’s doing what’s best for himself.
As a college student myself, I would do the exact same thing.
Austin, if you’re reading this, please don’t take this hateful and hurtful stuff to heart. If you need to transfer, do it (although I know we would all like to see you in red and blue next season). If we aren’t so fortunate, I wish you the best of luck no matter where you’re playing.
On behalf of the seemingly mindless minority of Ole Miss fans out there that are saying some of this stuff, I’d like to apologize to you. We don’t all think like that.
For those of you who think it is okay to hide behind your computer screens and taunt a college student for doing what he needs to do, please stop. You’re making all of us look bad.
