Don Bosco's Yuri Wright, a possible Rutgers recruit, expelled for graphic tweets
Published: Thursday, January 19, 2012, 10:32 PM Updated: Friday, January 20, 2012, 5:59 PM
By Mike Vorkunov/The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger
In what is another example of the expanding scope that social media now holds, it created its first well-publicized casualty in high school recruiting.
Don Bosco Prep cornerback Yuri Wright, who has listed Rutgers among his final suitors, was expelled from the school Wednesday for comments he made on Twitter. The tweets — which began in July, spanned the football season and continued until as late as Jan. 7, according to a screen grab of his feed posted on several websites — were sexually graphic and racial in nature. His account was subsequently taken down and phone calls made in an attempt to reach him were unsuccessful.
“He’s a good kid and I think he has a bright college future and I wish him the best of luck,” Don Bosco coach Greg Toal said. “There is no question Don Bosco had to do what it had to do.”
Toal said he had cautioned his players multiple times about their use of social media and that there would be consequences.
Wright’s credentials are impressive. The No. 3 player in The Ledger 50, Wright is ranked as the 40th best recruit in the country by ESPN, while Rivals.com lists him as 85th and the third best at his position.
Wright was supposed to make an official recruiting visit to Rutgers on Friday, but those plans are now unsure. As of tonight, Rutgers had not yet decided if the visit would take place, according to a person close to the program who requested anonymity because schools are not permitted to publicly discuss recruits before they sign a national letter of intent. A decision would be made this morning, the person said.
Wright, who lives in Spring Valley, N.Y., also was deciding between Colorado and Notre Dame, where Don Bosco teammate Elijah Shumate recently committed. Several reports indicated Michigan has stopped recruiting him as a result of his tweets.
“This could be the first … example of Twitter really hurting a (top-flight) kid,” said Mike Farrell, Rivals’ national recruiting analyst. “The shame of it is that I know every kid was warned. I know conversations occur — especially at Don Bosco.”
The effect of social media postings on the status of these prospects with the schools recruiting them has been an issue for several years.
“Coaches monitor Facebook and Twitter,” said JC Shurburtt, national recruiting director for 247Sports.com. “That’s all part of the evaluation process. You have 85 scholarships a year, 25 that you can keep in your program. You can’t make too many mistake or you won’t have a job.
“Absolutely coaches pay attention to these types of things. You have to kind of crawl inside a player’s head and see how he reacts inside your program.”
Other schools have lost interest due to unsavory tweets and comments, Shurburtt said. Aside from visiting high schools and talking to people on the ground, social media is the next best personality assessment for many schools.
Now recruits have their clear warning.
“It’s unfortunate. Kids don’t realize that everything they say can be heard everywhere these days,” Don Bosco Prep defensive coordinator Danny Marangi said. “They have to realize that they’re held to a higher standard, not the like the average student.”
Though Wright’s image was tarnished by this recent incident, Farrell said it will not prevent him from landing somewhere. Some schools will choose to stop trying to recruit him, while others will not turn away.
Still, the damage has been done. According to Farrell, Michigan was Wright’s dream school. Elsewhere, interest in him may also wane.
“Not yet, but its starting to gain momentum,” Farrell said. “There’s starting to be a lot of attention being paid to it. There have been kids that have done much, much worse and gotten college scholarships and gone to schools. It’s not going to ruin him.”
Mike Vorkunov:
mvorkunov@starledger.com; twitter.com/Mike_Vorkunov
Darren Cooper of The Record, Tim McClain of the Dorf Feature Service and Star-Ledger staff writer Tom Luicci contributed to this story.
