Ahhh, the vagaries of recruiting in 2014.
Hand is Penn State's offensive line coach, and while we won't speculate on which recruit was dropped (there's enough of that on other sites, along with criticism and derision), you have to applaud Hand and Penn State for doing what they think is right. It would be naïve to think other schools haven't stopped recruiting other prospects for the same reason. The difference is Penn State is publicizing its decision, which has led to some of the derision for a perceived "holier than thou" attitude.
Social media is filled with teens -- and adults -- showing their immaturity. If Hand and the Nittany Lions' other coaches think a recruit's actions on social media bode ill for the future, why not stop recruiting him? If a recruit is producing twinge-worthy tweets and/or posts now, might he also do so in the future?
Truthfully, that works both ways: That a recruit doesn't do stupid things now is no guarantee he won't do stupid things in the future.
Again, though, why criticize Hand and Penn State for deciding a prospect's social media actions make him unfit to recruit for the Nittany Lions? They're not deciding that no one recruits the prospect; they're just saying they're not going to recruit him.
Hand, who was brought to Penn State from Vanderbilt by new coach James Franklin, fired back at some of the critics with another tweet.
Michigan reportedly dropped national top-100 recruit Yuri Wright in 2012 for inappropriate tweets; indeed, Wright was kicked out of his private high school for the tweets. Wright ended up signing with Colorado, where he will be a sophomore this season.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
