The history of Clemson’s social media ban and why players can now speak out on Twitter
Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence and running back Darien Rencher helped start a social media movement to try to save the college football season over the weekend. The two organized the “WeWantToPlay” initiative that went viral earlier this week.
Lawrence’s Twitter message outlining the conditions under which college football players hope to have a season in 2020 had more than 15,000 retweets and 62,000 likes as of Wednesday afternoon. It was shared by President Trump on Monday, with Trump’s tweet receiving an additional 40,000 retweets and 136,000 likes.
A Clemson player having a social media post go viral during fall camp wasn’t even a possibility during the last nine years, thanks to a rule that’s been in place for nearly a decade.
It was during the summer of 2011 that Clemson leaders went to head coach Dabo Swinney with a plan to help limit distractions. As a part of that plan, they told Swinney they wanted social media posts banned from the start of fall camp until after the final game of the year.
But now, with social justice issues on the minds of many players and with the college football season in danger, Clemson’s student-athletes are being allowed to speak up.
“At Clemson, we’re all about less is more. We want to limit distractions. But I think as times have changed and guys have grown up more in this era of social media, we think we can handle it,” Rencher said.
“We created a new social media policy that Coach Swinney let us vote on that will still limit distractions on game day and the day before game day. ... This is the first year in a long time that we’re going to have social media during the season. And as we’ve seen, I think it’s been powerful for us to have it during this moment in time.”
Clemson social media policy was small part of big changes
So how did this ban that was in place for nearly a decade come about?
Clemson was coming off of a 6-7 season in 2010 and was searching for ways to improve the program when offensive lineman Dalton Freeman and a group of leaders pushed for the in-season social media ban.
“We were going to try to limit distractions, and part of that was social media, because in today’s age, you can see it. It can help you or hurt you. Our thing was, it’s probably going to do more harm than good,” Freeman told The State. “We were just going to keep our nose down. We were going to go to work every day.”
The idea of a social media ban really gained traction after a tweet from former Tigers quarterback Tajh Boyd.
Former South Carolina quarterbacks coach G.A. Mangus was arrested in Greenville in July of 2011 after urinating in public, and Boyd tweeted “like coach like QB” in reference to Gamecocks quarterback Stephen Garcia, who had his share of disciplinary issues during his time in Columbia.
“I was definitely behind it and one of the guys that was pushing it, but we were all brothers and we all bought in and we all wanted what was best. We all agreed it was more about we’re going to take this chunk of time and be completely unselfish,” Freeman said. “We’re going to put our teammates, we’re going to put this team and this university first. It’s not about us right now.”
The rule continued moving forward with seniors meeting with Swinney every year to reaffirm their position on it. But it became a controversial topic in recent years with former ESPN employee Darren Rovell being one of the policy’s most outspoken critics. Rovell and others argued that it was bad for players to be encouraged to stay silent. However, the results on the field are hard to argue with.
Clemson won at least 10 games every year the ban was in effect, including a pair of national titles. It was a small part of several changes that were made that led to the Tigers’ program taking off, Freeman believes.
“It was an interesting time for us because we had gone through the 2010 season, which to me is the turning point of Clemson. That was really what took us to the next level,” Freeman said. “I think everybody automatically assumes it was the LSU game (in 2012), it was the fourth-and-16, and that’s what catapulted us to the next level. And it was definitely monumental. But to me it was the learning process of 2010 and that season.”
Use social media properly, former Tiger says
The change in Clemson’s social media policy for this season comes at a time when college football players all around the country are speaking up and making their voices heard.
The eventual formation of a players association is a part of the “#WeWantToPlay” movement that Rencher and Lawrence helped start. Clemson players were also active on social media during the offseason with tweets about social injustice and the death of George Floyd.
Former Clemson offensive lineman and current ACC Network analyst Eric Mac Lain, who was on the Tigers team in 2011 when the ban went into effect, is in favor of players having a voice, but he warned that being on social media during the season can lead to distractions if not handled correctly.
Mac Lain cautioned that players should not tweet complaints about playing time or share confidential team moments on Instagram live, but overall he is in favor of the change.
“When you’re playing, that’s when you have the most pull, the most influence, the biggest voice for a lot of these guys. ... This is when you’re at your most popular moment. To not be able to take advantage of that I think hurt in some ways,” Mac Lain said. “I like to think that I’d have a lot more followers and interactions if I could’ve tweeted for the five years during the season that I was there.”
Freeman added that he is fully on board with the changes for the 2020 season.
“Whatever those guys decide, I will support 100 percent. I believe social media can be a great thing. These guys have an unbelievable opportunity and platform, and it’s been awesome to see what they’ve been able to do and how they’ve been able to bring people together,” Freeman said. “It can be a great thing or it can be a terrible thing, and as long as it’s used properly I want them to use every resource they have to do good.”
This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 4:26 PM with the headline "The history of Clemson’s social media ban and why players can now speak out on Twitter."
