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New NCAA Social Media Rules Mean More Recruit Retweets in Your Feed

The days of cryptic college coach tweets about recruit commitments are officially over.

By Sean Keeley
Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Do you follow all of the Syracuse Orange football coaches on Twitter?

Well, good news. Your feed is probably about to become a nonstop parade of recruit tweets, too.

The NCAA has updated it's social media policy and the new rules went into effect overnight. The key to these new rules is that coaches can now directly RT and Like recruit tweets as well as Like a recruit's Facebook status.

If you've enjoyed Syracuse OC Sean Lewis's cryptic Drake GIFs, they're able to get a whole lot less cryptic because he can just RT it when a recruit says he's coming to Cuse.

The overriding rule appears to be "click don't comment," so when it doubt coaches should assume that they can acknowledge a recruit but they can't have any kind of discussion with them or about them specifically. So let's break down what's now legal and what's not.

Coach RT's a recruit and adds an emoji or comment about him. NOT ALLOWED.

Coach RT's a recruit. Then, separately, tweets emojis or comments without mentioning the recruit by name. ALLOWED.

Coach shares an article about a recruit on their Facebook page. ALLOWED.

Coach tags recruit in that article post. NOT ALLOWED.

Coach likes a Facebook post by a recruit. ALLOWED.

Coach comments in a Facebook post by a recruit. NOT ALLOWED.

Coach likes a recruit's Instagram photo. ALLOWED.

Coach comments on recruit's Instagram photo. NOT ALLOWED.

Coach RTs recruit while they are on campus during an official visit. NOT ALLOWED.

Coach RTs recruit as soon as they have left campus following an official visit. ALLOWED.

Confusing? Somewhat. Arbitrary? Definitely. The point is, coaches and recruits are already communicating on social media, this just removes a veil of silliness that gives us cryptic tweets we all know the reason for anyway. As for what recruits think, many interviewed by SB Nation back in April love the idea because it gives them an immediate sense of who is paying attention.

"I guess now we can see how much love these schools genuinely have for us (laughing emoji)," said Jamyest Williams, an elite Atlanta cornerback recruit.

"Sounds good with me, because I really want to see how much interest they have," said Tyrone Truesdell, a three-star defensive tackle from Georgia.

Of course, whatever the rules, remember Rule Number One for Syracuse fans, especially those who give money of any kind to the university or sports programs. Don't tweet at recruits.

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