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Near the end of Michigan’s loss to Notre Dame in Week 1, former Wolverines receiver Braylon Edwards made the always-correct decision to tweet through his emotions.
Edwards called UM center Cesar Ruiz “weak,” quarterback Shea Patterson “scared,” and the entire program “trash.” He deleted the tweet a short time later.
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The tweet became a problem for Edwards, because he started a job in 2017 as an analyst for the Big Ten Network. Calling active players “weak” and “trash” may or may not violate policies at other media outlets, but it definitely didn’t play well at the Big Ten-funded TV channel that signs Edwards’ checks. BTN indefinitely suspended Edwards on Monday “due to a violation of the network’s social media guidelines,” the channel said.
That suspension came after Jim Harbaugh’s press conference on Monday. There, the coach took exception to Edwards’ comment. Via the Detroit News:
“No. 1, first of all, (what he said) is not true. It’s not factual. There’s nobody in our program who thinks those things about any player on our team. Let alone the two players he described,” Harbaugh said. “On another level, it’s disappointing that a member of the Big Ten Network would choose to attack the character of two of our players. That’s disappointing.
”If somebody wants to attack character of anybody on the ball club, come after me. Not the youngsters.”
Edwards has only continued to tweet through it:
So funny that everyone is worried my tweet as opposed to the real issue, 0-17 on the road against ranked opponents, 1-6 against rivals and the one win was against a 3-9 MSU. Last thing i will ask and really think about this before you get mad...is Michigan better than Iowa?
— Braylon Edwards (@OfficialBraylon) September 3, 2018
Harbaugh is 0-4 in road games against ranked teams. Michigan hasn’t won such a game since 2006, one of the longest droughts in the Power 5.
Didn’t have to be drunk to understood what i watched last night. Pay attention to Michigan being outcoached. Not my tweets or spot on insight.
— Braylon Edwards (@OfficialBraylon) September 2, 2018
Later Monday, Edwards wrote:
I would like to address the tweet from this past Saturday. I should not have attacked Ruiz and Patterson that hard or period individually. I apologize as a former student athlete and NCAA analyst. With that being said UM football still needs to step up so no apologies there.
— Braylon Edwards (@OfficialBraylon) September 3, 2018
Edwards had 3,541 receiving yards and 39 total touchdowns during a career at Michigan that ran from 2001 to 2004. He finished 10th in ‘04’s Heisman voting.