SEC Extra Points: Coaches, Stop Subtweeting Recruits

The advent of social media has given everybody with access to electronic devices a microphone to the world.

Evidently, some college football coaches have chosen to use that access to subtly troll high school football players.

One month after Texas A&M wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead got in hot water for subtweeting recent decommitment Tate Martell and setting off a social media firestorm, another SEC assistant did the same.

After 4-star quarterback Mac Jones flipped from Kentucky to Alabama, Wildcats quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator Darin Hinshaw let loose this tweet quoting James E. Faust:

Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin retweeted Hinshaw—an excellent form of subtle trolling we all should embrace—and Jones responded on Twitter before deleting the tweet.

"Nothing but respect to the program," Jones wrote, according to CollegeSpun.com, which grabbed a screen shot of the tweet, "yet an old man is acting like a 12-year-old."

Let's just ignore, for a second, the fact recruits talk to each other, and the subject of which assistants/recruiters treat prospects like grown men probably comes up in their conversations from time to time.

What are you doing, college assistants?

Grown men are supposed to act like the adults in recruiting. Sure, at times that means acting a little childish, like Michigan's Jim Harbaugh did when, according to CBSSports.com, he climbed a tree with one prospect and had a sleepover with another earlier this year. Or when former South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier, according to Fox Sports, hearkened back to his more nimble days and danced with Marcus Lattimore's mother. 

Subtweeting recruits isn't the same thing.

It's a childish, immature reaction to being scorned, similar to that time you spread that viscous rumor about your ex around middle school.

Be better than that.

Jones was right: Hinshaw's not-so-subtle subtweet is something a 12-year-old would do. 

Adults acting like adults isn't an unreasonable request.

Dobbs Over Kelly?

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

As is tradition, AL.com (and prior to the consolidation of Alabama's newspapers into one website, the Birmingham News) released its All-SEC team as voted on by the SEC's sports information directors.

There's a curious pick at the top.

Tennessee dual-threat senior Joshua Dobbs was pegged as the SEC's first-team quarterback according to the SIDs, ahead of Ole Miss senior quarterback Chad Kelly.

Are you kidding me?

Look, I like Dobbs a lot and think that he can contend for the Heisman Trophy in 2016. 

I know Kelly can.

Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press

The Buffalo, New York, native is fresh off a season in which he posted the third-most prolific offensive season in SEC history. Kelly produced 4,542 total yards as a junior, behind former Texas A&M star Johnny Manziel's 5,116 in 2012 and 4,873 in 2013.

Kelly had more total yards than former Auburn quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton (4,327 yards) in 2010 and former Florida quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow (4,181 yards) in 2007.

Nothing against Dobbs. He's an incredibly talented dual-threat quarterback, is much better on the ground than he gets credit for and should be the centerpiece of a Volunteer offense that is incredibly difficult to stop. But he had a 127.01 passer rating last year (as opposed to Kelly, who boasted a 155.86 rating), tossed 15 touchdowns to Kelly's 31 and is not nearly as accomplished a passer as his position mate in Oxford.

That's not to say Dobbs can't get there. He can. I'm a firm believer in Tennessee's passing problems being more rooted in an underdeveloped and under-coached wide receiving corps than with Dobbs.

But having him over Kelly prior to the 2016 season is a joke.

Crossing The Line?

Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen and members of his staff joined Michigan's Jim Harbaugh and other coaches from across the country at a satellite camp at Pearl (Mississippi) High School on Wednesday.

Evidently, it went well.

So well that Mullen went full-Harbaugh and trolled the second-year Michigan head coach on Twitter following the event.

Coaches, please do more of this.

I'm sure even Harbaugh would appreciate the effort and Mullen's "attacking the day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind."

After all, Harbaugh is the same guy who called out Alabama's Nick Saban last week and has had dust-ups with Tennessee's Butch Jones and Georgia's Kirby Smart, among others, this offseason. If he can dish it out, he should be able to take it.

Of course, Harbaugh wasn't the Wolverines' head coach during Mississippi State's Gator Bowl romp following the 2010 regular season, and surely he will bring that up if and when he's asked about Mullen's tweet. 

That doesn't matter. It's the offseason, and a little fun on the internet never hurt anybody.

A Needed Return

John Raoux/Associated Press

After six months away from the Florida program, wide receiver Antonio Callaway has been allowed to return to classes on campus and use the football facility after his suspension was amended this week, per Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun.

"He’s allowed to use the athletic facilities, and he will be around the program," Florida spokesman Steve McClain said.

While that isn't a full reinstatement, it's good enough.

"Around the program" is still vague—perhaps purposefully.

But even if Callaway doesn't participate in optional throwing sessions with the quarterbacks, at least he's around the team, can work out with the strength and conditioning coaches and focus on the upcoming season rather than worrying if he'd be a part of it.

Callaway had a team-high 678 receiving yards and four touchdowns and added two punt returns for touchdowns, including one in the SEC Championship Game loss to Alabama. With either Luke Del Rio or Austin Appleby taking over at quarterback following the Will Grier/Treon Harris experience of 2015, it's important for Callaway to be as comfortable as possible with his new signal-callers prior to toe meeting leather in the season opener versus UMass.

Florida has a stellar defense and should be better along the offensive line after the youngsters were thrown into the fire last year, and having a traditional pocket passer should benefit head coach Jim McElwain—who couldn't seem to get things going when Harris replaced Grier following Grier's suspension last year. 

Make The Call

Scott Halleran/Getty Images

On Tuesday, former Georgia Bulldog and Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward continued his campaign to get back to Athens.

"I’m dead serious. I want to coach at Georgia," Ward told DawgNation.com's Brandon Adams. "I’ve expressed that to Kirby. I haven’t had any talks with him about what all goes into it, but I think I’ve put it out there. I’m serious. I want to give back to my alma mater."

This comes on the heels of his appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show on SEC Network in December.

When a spot surfaces within the program that makes sense for Ward, head coach Kirby Smart needs to make that call.

No, Ward doesn't have experience as a coach at any level other than, perhaps, his cameo on The Bachelorette with former Vanderbilt quarterback Jordan Rodgers earlier this month. 

Who cares?

Ward is widely recognized as one of the main cogs of a Steelers team that won two Super Bowls, was named MVP of Super Bowl XL and has made the transition to the entertainment realm after his appearance on Dancing with the Stars. 

He is one of the most recognizable former Georgia players on the planet, along with 1982 Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker and Detroit Lions quarterback Matt Stafford. If he's interested, Smart would be crazy not to at least explore different ways to get Ward involved with the program.

Quick Outs

• Tennessee could haul in close to $4 million for its part in the Battle at Bristol against Virginia Tech, according to WNML's Jimmy Hyams. This on top of the $294.1 million (an average of $42.0 million per home game) to the state economy and $292.1 million ($41.7 million per home game) to the local economy that the football program generates, according to a school report released this week. College football is big business, and there has to be a way to legally funnel more of that revenue to the players while keeping amateurism intact. 
• Auburn announced late last week via email that former 5-star running back Roc Thomas will transfer. With Kerryon Johnson likely gobbling up carries as the edge threat to complement power rusher Jovon Robinson, there was simply no room for Thomas. On top of that, if John Franklin III wins the starting quarterback job, he'll likely be a threat off the edge as well. 
• Just another reminder, coaches, not to subtweet recruits. I hate that I have to write it twice. 

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.