Gator Tweets of the Week: 6/25/12

Tweets are 140 characters of no-holds-barred social media meets 5-hour Energy shots. Anyone can become a Twitter member and follow anyone from friends and family to celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and even President Barack Obama, who ends tweets actually made by him — instead of some aide — with “-BO”

Athletes also are big on Twitter. Proessional, college and even high school stars see their follower numbers climb because of what they can do with a ball. That is, if they’re on Twitter. At the college level, more athletes are tweeting every day. It gives fans a peek into the personalities of players, beyond the quotes offered through traditional media coverage.

Colleges are increasingly nervous about players’ posts. North Carolina’s NCAA investigation that led to significant infractions began because of a player’s tweet. A few schools have banned the use of it. Mississippi State and South Carolina are two Southeastern Conference schools that have reportedly placed restrictions on athletes’ accounts.

Without further ado, GatorCountry.com debuts a new feature called “Gator Tweets of the Week,” a compilation of some of the more interesting tweets from current and future Gators’ football players. Please be aware that some of the tweets have language that may not be suitable for children, although we opted not to use tweets that used some of the more flagrant words. Also, please note that the tweets are unedited and in the original form in which they appeared.

HOME SWEET HOME

Football players were allowed to head home on Friday and several of their tweets, such as this one by receiver Quinton Dunbar, displayed their excitement.

“Home Sweet Home MIAMI!!” Dunbar tweeted at around 3 p.m. on Friday. Earlier he tweeted this message: “Heading to Miami pray for me and forget the non believers because we believe in ourselves. #GatorNation”

Defensive back Ben Peacock also made a strong case for why college athletes should be paid when he came up short on his trip home to Bradenton, Fla.

“My broke ass ran out of money for the tolls guess I’m taking the sun pass route” Peacock tweeted just before 3 p.m. on Friday.

Peacock had another interesting tweet about his drive earlier in his drive home: “Trooper shooting a radar just scared the hell outa me goin 95 on I-75”

This week is the one-week “break” between Summer A and B sessions.

PARKING VIOLATION

Cole Gilliam, an offensive lineman at Florida, had this funny observation on Wednesday:

“Just seen a guy cussing loudly bc he got a boot put on his car bc he parked in a handicap spot w no permit… What did he think would happen” tweeted Gilliam.

Perhaps Gilliam saw Damien Jacobs, who had a series of tweets after he discovered a boot on his ride. However, the timing didn’t match up, so Gilliam obviously wasn’t referring to his teammate.

“I need a ride home, parking enforcement got me again,” Jacobs tweeted. That was followed up with, “120 just to get the boot off,” and “I gotta get this boot of my car.” He then tweeted, “If I was in Gibson that boot woulda been gone.”

A little later, Jacobs wrapped it up with: “The bus got me home since everybody else left me stranded.”

CLOTHING OPTIONAL

Long snapper Drew Ferris apparently likes riddles. Check out this tweet.

“Where the one place in public where you can start undressing and no one will say a word…” Ferris tweeted on Friday afternoon. He hadn’t posted an answer to the riddle as of Monday afternoon.

RETWEETS

Defensive lineman Earl Okine may have had the best RT from the past week when he reposted this that was originally tweeted by someone named “@DREAMGURL1”:

“If u tryna find a man & cant cook I suggest u stop looking!”

Speaking of retweets, it’s a common practice for fans to ask players to “RT” them in an effort to grow their number of followers. However, players — such as Drew Ferris — apparently try to do the same thing.

“RT for a #gator? @ErinAndrews it would make my life complete,” Ferris tweeted on Wednesday. Too bad for Ferris that it doesn’t appear as if Andrews, the UF alum and sideline reporter for ESPN, obliged.

MOMMA JOKE

By all accounts, Leon Orr is a funny guy. His twitter account backs that up, too.

“You ever see a chick a know she’d be better with you ? , that’s how I feel bout yo momma ! haha,” Orr tweeted on Thursday.

TOUGH WORKOUT

Before heading home, it sounds like players were put through a rigorous Friday morning workout.

“My legs feel like jello!!!” tweeted offensive lineman Jon Halapio.

“That workout just took a toll on me, now I gotta get behind this wheel” tweeted defensive lineman Damien Jacobs.

DON’T DRINK THE WATER

Brothers Clay and Trey Burton, basketball players Patric Young and Will Yeguete and a few more UF athletes are heading to Africa on a mission trip. There were dozens of tweets about it over the weekend as well as this one from receiver Stephen Alli offering advice.

“Wishing my boy @TreyBurton8 a safe trip! Help make a difference out there. Don’t drink the water!!” tweeted Alli.

FRESH TWEET

Several of the Gators’ Class of 2012 signees tweeted about packing their bags and such as they’re all heading to campus for the Summer B session. Marcus Maye may have had the best tweet of the bunch about it:

“yall want to go to miami. not me i wanna go to GAINESVILLE…got things to handle myself #determined #mindonrings #UF #gatornation #grind.” Maye tweeted on Thursday.

Tight end Colin Thompson, who’s from Warminster, Pa., had several sentimental tweets about leaving home.

“Let me know if anyone wants my mailing address to send me some phily goodies that I can’t get in FL #Porkroll,” Thompson tweeted on Monday morning.

TARZAN TWEET

Leon Orr on his search for his soul mate: “I’m jus a wild man , lookin for my Jane ….”

SPELLING OPITONAL

Jafar Mann has one of the more entertaining twitter accounts to follow as far as current Gators players and signees. The 2012 signee tweets multiple times daily and sometimes pokes fun at himself.

“I be wantin to tweet certain stuff, but ion no how to spell certain words, I be like danm

mikecapshaw
Mike Capshaw brings a wealth of experience to the Gator Country team. He’s been overseeing all editorial aspects of GatorCountry.com and Gator Country magazine by managing our team of staffers, interns and freelancers. He is now moving into a bigger role as a reporter by covering the football and basketball beats as well as providing coverage of all sports on campus. Mike’s 15 years in the business has included more than six years of covering SEC sports and recruiting at a daily newspaper in Arkansas. He has also helped launch a newspaper, magazines, websites and even a sports talk radio show. Because Mike puts family ahead of his career, he left the place where he was established when his wife received an opportunity to further her career at UF. He took a leap of faith that he could find a job in the Gainesville area and worked for a year at a newspaper group before joining the Gator Country family in November, 2011. Mike has won Florida Press Association awards for Best Sports Game Story and Best Sports Feature Story in the past two years as well as a company-wide award at his former newspaper group that includes some 60 publications, for Excellence in Sports Reporting. You can follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeCapshawGC.