The mother of one of the state’s top college football prospects will be sharing her thoughts and perspectives about the recruiting process with the AJC over the next year. Darnisha Allen-Jackson is the mother of Cedar Grove High School linebacker Bryson Allen-Williams, who committed to South Carolina over Alabama and UGA, among others.

In recruiting, something interesting is almost guaranteed to happen on a daily basis. On Monday, something crazy happened.

This was a new one for us. A fan of a rival school (we assume it was a Clemson fan but we don’t know for sure) created what was supposed to be a parody Twitter account of Bryson.

It really wasn’t a parody, though. It was a person who was taking pot shots at Bryson for no apparent reason.

Bryson and his friends – (fellow Georgia recruits) Deshaun Watson, Demarre Kitt, Milan Richard and Andrew Williams -- were doing what they normally do, play on Twitter. Deshaun, Demarre and Milan are all Clemson commits, and Bryson is a SC commit. Andrew is still open, so all of the guys are trying to convince Andrew why their schools are the best.

Some overzealous fan created a fake Twitter account as Bryson. Initially, we thought it was kind of comical. I mean, he’s 16 years old, hasn’t played a down of football in the NCAA and this person is extremely upset, because Bryson is telling Andrew why he should consider the No. 9 defense versus the No. 63 defense.

As the day went on the person who created the account, got nastier and nastier, saying things that bordered on homophobic and just plain crazy things. I got a little angry because I felt like he was threatening Bryson. I exchanged some barbs and zingers with the person. It’s my job to protect my kid. Again, he’s 16 years old. He wasn’t being nasty or rude on Twitter, so why should he have to accept someone being nasty and rude to him?    

I think the person singled Bryson out because he has been very vocal about where he’s committed. When Bryson saw the fake account, he laughed and said “Well, I better get used to it.”  He tried to reason with the person, but he realized it was futile. A lot of Bryson’s Twitter followers and my Twitter followers reported the account to Twitter administration because it was quite offensive and rude. Things like this have a way of growing and taking on a life of their own.

A lot of people were appalled that a person would create this account about a 16-year-old kid. I mean it’s not like he’s LeBron James or anything.   When I found out that the account had been deactivated 24 hours later, I was relieved. I don’t like to see all of the negativity about my son or anyone’s son for that matter.

As a parent all I could do was to report the account, defend my son as much as I could and to inject a little humor into the situation. I joked with him, saying “Dang, if this is how they feel about you and you’re just a senior in high school, I wonder, how they are going to feel once you start playing in college.” Bryson is a very funny, playful and passionate guy. He’s proud of where he decided to commit and doesn’t mind talking about the school as much as he can. All of the commits do it.

I think back to how recruiting used to be, when a guy had his LOI sent from his high school the morning of National Signing Day, and it was a surprise to everyone. Modern recruiting has become such a business. With the creation of Social Media, it has become where people are way too invested in the 140 characters typed by a high schooler.

Rivalries are great but leave the kid alone if he didn’t choose your school. Why follow them on Twitter unless you’re looking for an opportunity to engage them in an argument? There is never any need to talk to disparage a kid. People forget that they are real people and not just football players. They do have feelings and further more they are kids…

Social Media recruiting is getting a little out of hand. The kids create Twitter accounts to talk to the fanbases of the schools they are interested in, but they (the kids) fail to realize that some of these fans are serious about their teams. My thing is when a kid goes and commits to a school that isn’t the one you cheer for, then stop following them on Social Media sites.

A lot of his friends were taken aback by the fake account and they are all thinking of locking their accounts so they don’t get the same treatment.  The only lesson learned this time for me was that Bryson really should make his Twitter account private, but that’s an ongoing conversation. He likes being public, because he likes being engaging and talking to other people, but at the same time, it’s my job to protect him. 

What do you do? For us it is just another day in the recruiting cycle.