Facebook turns recruiting experience into ‘living nightmare'

By Larry Hartstein

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

With National Signing Day less than a week away, rabid fans might want to watch what they write on the Facebook pages of prized recruits.

It's not uncommon for fans to hound blue chip athletes on Facebook, urging them, even begging them, to pick a certain school.

But occasionally the comments cross the line.

Exhibit A:  5-star linebacker C.J. Johnson of Philadelphia, Miss. He announced this week he was picking Ole Miss and quitting Facebook at the same time after a recruiting experience he called "a living nightmare."

Johnson had committed to Mississippi State as a junior, then changed his mind when defensive coordinator Manny Diaz left for Texas. The change of heart by the state's top prospect sparked a rash of angry messages.

"People on Facebook trying to tell him this school is this and that school is that," his mother, Linda Johnson, told the Clarion-Ledger. "Mississippi State fans posing as Ole Miss fans and Ole Miss fans posing as Mississippi State fans. It was just crazy. To me, that's a little too far. I was just surprised at some of the things adults were saying."

C.J. Johnson was upset by what he read.

"I saw rumors on the Internet with people saying I decommitted from Mississippi State because my momma has been working for this Ole Miss guy and she cleaned his house up for a year and she made $100,000," he told the paper. "If my momma made $100,000 a year, I wouldn't be driving the truck that I'm driving. I would have had a vehicle a long time ago. It's just the little stuff like that.

"I got a lot of trash talking by both schools on Facebook, but that didn't have a lot to do with it. But when you start getting my mom involved and my family involved, that takes it to a whole another level."

On Tuesday, C.J. Johnson said goodbye to Facebook with this post:

"This is my last Facebook post and I'm gonna leave facebook with this. Linda Johnson has never worked as a house worker making 100,000 dollars a year and I will not be a Mississippi state bulldog and I'm not considering Mississippi state anymore bc you have constantly comment on my page send me crazy inboxes and has made my recruiting experience a living nightmare. Goodbye facebook."