End of the Off Season means the Social Media Ban Hot Takes are Back!

As Mushu might say, I liiiiiiiive!

Ideally there would have been regular Clemson news roundup posts even during the off-season, but I wanted to try to pivot to video. Didn’t work out. Turns out there’s already something that does that called, well, the news.

It’s August, and that means that official scholarship letters are going out. Here’s what Clemson’s letter looks like:

Goal #1 - Education. Love it. And, speaking of education, this is pretty impressive:

Clemson had the most early entrants in the NFL draft last year with their degrees at 4 players (Artavis Scott, Wayne Gallman, Mike Williams, Deshaun Watson). Context - only EIGHT early entrants overall in the 2017 NFL draft had their degrees.

Christian Wilkins is a likely early entrant in next year’s draft, and he’s well on his way to having his degree before then in only 2.5 years. Wow.

Also, yes, it’s August, and so the hot takes are out there again regarding Clemson’s ban on social media. This year features none other than DarrenRovell. I hate to give this guy publicity because I think he’s awful, but look at this:

First of all, it’s a voluntary ban enacted by the players themselves.

Second, everyone’s probably better off not being on social media to begin with. People on the internet are crazy. Just look at people tweeting at recruits.

Third, Clemson fans thought of themselves over the player’s best interest? Hmmmm. Does the social media ban benefit Clemson fans? Not really. Does it benefit Darren Rovell? No. Does it hurt Darren Rovell? Maybe. It sucks for someone like Darren Rovell who is a brand robot, I mean a “Sports Business Reporter” that Clemson players aren’t putting anything juicy/controversial on social media during the season. There’s some real irony: a guy who thinks Clemson fans are selfish because they are fine with the team’s player’s deciding whether or not they want team members to post to social media during the season is the same guy that potentially stands to benefit if that ban weren’t in place. Who’s the one really thinking of their own self-interest over that of the player’s, hmmm?

Honestly, does he think we wouldn’t love to see our guys tweeting/instagramming it up during the season? I would have frickin’ loved to see some stuff during the run to the national title last season. It would have definitely been in my best interest for that stuff to be posted.

Finally, even if you consider it not voluntary because of “peer pressure” or something, these guys were not forced to sign for Clemson. At this point it’s not like it’s a surprise to anyone signing with the Clemson program that the players choose each year to voluntary self-ban from posting on social media during the season. Additionally, pretty much anyone good enough to get a scholarship at Clemson can get a scholarship at a comparable school (with some exception....), so if it’s a big enough deal for someone, they can simply choose to sign elsewhere and still get a great education on a great football team.

Woah, is this social media ban the reason why a number of recruits didn’t show up to the All In Cookout and the reason why we missed out on Anthony Cook and Quindarious Monday? We need some answers QT!

Anyways, moving on:

This DeAndre Hopkins guy seems pretty good. If he had a good quarterback that team might go places.

I lied, I’m not moving on yet. Jake Bentley gets harassed by elderly old ladies on twitter, apparently. Maybe USC needs a social media ban.

Finally, and most relevant to the upcoming season, Tigernet has the weigh-in numbers from yesterday.

Some notables:

Tavien Feaster is up to 222lb from 207.

Shadell Bell is up to 230lb after making the switch to TE.

TJ Chase is up to 185lb from 164.

Diondre Overton is up to 209lb from 196.

Amari Rodgers weighed in at 210lb (at 5’10!)

Tre Lamar is up to 250lb from 236.

Looks like the heaviest guy on the team as of yesterday’s weigh-in is Tyrone Crowder at 338lb (DexStar is at 337) and the lightest guy on the team is Brian Dawkins Jr. at 166. I would have guessed Amir Trapp but apparently he wasn’t at the weigh-in.