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One of the Sooners' primary football recruiters appears to have made a boo-boo, but some Oklahoma writers claim his Twitter account was hacked.
Earlier Tuesday, tweets giving out the phone number of Oklahoma Coach Jay Norvell and inviting prospects to the Sooners' junior day were sent from Norvell's twitter account. The tweets, which are a potential minor NCAA violation, have since been deleted. Now, writers regularly covering Oklahoma recruiting are speculating that Norvell's account was hacked. Here's Josh McCuistion of Sooner Scoop:
I'd say it's a near certainty. RT @BPrzybylo: All of @CoachJayNorvell's tweets are saying #OU Jr. Day is 3/4 when it is 3/3, account hacked?
— Josh McCuistion (@JLMcCuistion) February 21, 2012
Listing the incorrect date for Oklahoma's junior day certainly would be out of the ordinary for a coach sending out invites.
Being hacked is the excuse du jour when inappropriate tweets or messages are sent from the account of a celebrity, but this might be the first time the claim has been made as it relates to coaches tweeting at recruits. Who would have motivation to hack Norvell's account? Crazy college football fans are likely the prime suspects, but you can't completely rule out the enterprising graduate assistant gunning for Norvell's job.
Interestingly, when Rashaad Samples, a top recruit out of Dallas Skyline High School was asked about the legitimacy of the tweet, he responded that Norvell send him the same message via Facebook.
@CookLike_aSheff nah he sent me that on fb too
— Rashaad Samples (@10justscored) February 21, 2012
If that is true, it would mean that the hacker hacked both Norvell's Twitter and Facebook account! An impressive feat, unless Norvell has the same login information for both accounts.
Oh, the perils of social media. College coaches probably wish they could just go back to the days of U.S. Mail and the telephone. Oklahoma coach Jay Norvell likely does, after he apparently failed to understand the difference between tweeting at a recruit and sending the recruit a direct message. The direct message feature of Twitter is private, but tweeting at an unsigned prospect is both public and a potential NCAA violation, though minor. Let's take a look at Norvell's tweets:
@10justscoredThis is Coach Jay Norvell from Oklahoma. Cel (405) 431-9954 Would like to offer you a Full Scholarship to Oklahoma. Call me!
— Jay Norvell (@CoachJayNorvell) February 21, 2012
That's Norvell tweeting at Rashaad Samples, a receiver out of Dallas Skyline High School. Norvell is considered an excellent recruiter for his work in Texas and California. He coaches offense for Oklahoma. And he's also going to need a new cell phone number after tweeting his out. The tweets have since been deleted, but not before screencaps were grabbed.
For more on OU football, visit Oklahoma blog Crimson And Cream Machine.
Jay Norvell's Twitter Account: Hacked Or Not Hacked?
by Jason Kirk
The college football debate of the afternoon, other than whether Davonte Neal is a real football player or not: Was Oklahoma Sooners offensive coordinator Jay Norvell's social media presence hacked when he apparently sent public tweets to a number of recruits? To the casual fan, it seems unbelievable that a coach would break NCAA rules in careless fashion, but those of us who've been exposed to Mark Richt's mastery of the minor butt-dial violation see genuine coachcraft all over this one.
However, one of the players to whom Norvell appeared to have tweeted has declared himself #TeamHacked:
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Feb 21 1:58p