The Real Story Behind My Deshaun Watson Tweet

What I am about to tell you is something that I have held onto for over 10 years.

I did not see Deshaun Watson on a recruiting visit in Auburn.

Yes, you read that right. But before you think I did this all on my own for clicks and clout, keep reading. The details might be a little hazy, but the story is 100% factual, despite what your brother that has a Rivals subscription or what the hive mind of #AuburnTwitter has told you.

It has been ten years and two coaches since this happened, which I believe exceeds the statute of limitations, so I’m ready to tell my side.

The year was 2013. The month was May. The day was 24. It was Friday, the first day of Auburn’s big recruiting push known as Big Cat Weekend. As we still see today, the internet and all of #AuburnTwitter was ablaze with names of who would supposedly be in Auburn that weekend.

I was sitting at work, checking Twitter, and deciding which visitor I was going to be most excited about when I received a text message.

The text message was from someone on Auburn’s coaching staff. Not the head guy, but a guy. He and I would talk here and there, but this was somewhat out of the blue.

I don’t remember the exact wording of the text, but the request was clear. Quite simply, I was asked to tweet that I saw Clemson commit, 5 star dual-threat QB Deshaun Watson in Auburn.

Why? Because Dabo Swinney was known to have a policy that he would pull scholarship offers for Clemson commitments if they visited elsewhere after their commitment was made.

The thought was simple: this Auburn fanboy with a decent Twitter following tweets that he saw Deshaun Watson in Auburn with Auburn coaches, it spreads through #AuburnTwitter and then #CFBTwitter, Dabo Swinney catches wind of it and pulls Watson’s offer, leaving it wide open to pick him up.

But I’m not that easy. I asked questions like where this request came from and if Auburn’s program as a whole would be okay with it. It came “straight from the top” is what I was told.

Does this mean Gus Malzahn told this staffer to get @WarBlogle to tweet that he saw Deshaun Watson? Probably not. If I had a guess, one of the assistants or staffers had the idea and ran it by him.

And what would it hurt if some Twitter account said something that could’ve easily been true and it caused another coach to use his policy allowing a 5-star quarterback recruit to land in Auburn’s lap? If it doesn’t work, who cares? He was going to Clemson anyway. And yes… he was going to Clemson anyway. We’ll get to that shortly.

So, we worked out a few details, I came up with something that looked natural, and ran it by him. He said they all agreed it looked good and I posted this tweet.

So yeah, Big Cat Weekend just got real. Just spotted 5-star #1 dual threat QB Deshaun Watson downtown with Kodi Burns and Lashlee. #auburn

— War Blogle (@WarBlogle) May 24, 2013

To be honest, I don’t remember it blowing up immediately. As you can see, 10 years later it only has about 60 likes, 40 or so retweets, and just 11 replies. According to Twitter’s analytics, over the last 10 years, it has been seen 173K times. That’s not a ton. And honestly a lot of that has probably come since I pinned the tweet to the top of my Twitter profile in response to those that don’t know what they don’t know and the reason I am writing this out.

Like I said, it wasn’t huge. I don’t remember anything groundbreaking, but as the day went on, I did start to notice a few negative responses like this:

@WarBlogle Seriously???
Wonder if it was supposed to be secret, since none of the AU recruiting gurus have said anything?!?!?!

— WDE (@stuman4au) May 24, 2013

Hmm, that’s an interesting outlook on a simple tweet about seeing a public person in public. It almost sounded forced or misled.

That night I went to dinner at a friend’s house and I got a DM or a text from someone in Auburn’s recruiting department. Not a coach. I had a phone call with them and they basically asked me to take the tweet down. I explained that someone on the coaching staff specifically asked me to tweet it. They said “was it <coach’s name>?” I said yes. They said “oh, well, okay then.” He didn’t sound totally happy, but that was it.

So this person didn’t think it was a great idea for some reason. Was there a disconnect between coaches doing the recruiting and the guys managing the recruiting? Was it because that like the person in the tweet above, Auburn’s “recruiting gurus” were posting in their message boards that I had singlehandedly ruined Auburn’s chances at getting Deshaun Watson?

I won’t post where this was coming from. Yes, I will. It was Jay G. Tate of Rivals. He led his Bunker (the Auburn Rivals.com message board) to believe that I should’ve known it was supposed to be a secret and I ruined it. I ruined Auburn’s chances at getting Deshaun Watson. Dumb ol’ Blogle.

But yes, Deshaun was in Auburn. And yes, when Clemson found out (from my tweet), he was told to get out of there, which he did. So yes, if you didn’t know why the tweet was tweeted, you could blame me for Watson leaving and not getting the full Auburn experience. But as I’ve confirmed with multiple parties involved, he was never coming to Auburn anyway. They all knew that.

That’s why they resorted to telling the Auburn fanboy with a decent Twitter following to tweet something that might cause Dabo to pull his scholarship from a 5-star recruit. We’ve seen Dabo do some stuff, but we don’t really think he would’ve said “no thanks” to basically his best recruit ever because the kid went on a recruiting trip, do we?

Let’s take a step back. Say I’m Joe Superfan walking down College Street and I see Rhett Lashlee and Kodi Burns walking into Toomer’s with Deshaun. Would I and the other 500 people standing around be subject to a NDA about seeing a person walking down a public street?

Sure, I have an extremely popular website and more Twitter followers than most of these “recruiting gurus” combined so I should know better, shouldn’t I? And yes, Bunker member reading this, I paid for ALL of those followers with GoFundMe money.

Sorry, let’s get back on track. I just had to let 10 years of being the whipping boy out.

It never fails. Anytime a recruit is in town, anytime there’s some big weekend, I will get a tweet or 50 from people that have no clue what they are talking about telling me to not ruin Auburn’s chances. It isn’t their fault that they didn’t know the backstory. But in true internet fashion, it’s amazing how much the story has grown.

For example, did you know I posted pictures of Deshaun? I’d sure like to see ’em.

https://twitter.com/BigBarnerBrand/status/1251210590514638848?s=20

I understand they are just joining the hive mind which is infuriating for the advancement of our society. Or maybe they were 8-12 years old in 2013 and they just want to tweet about something they had no clue happened to appear cool. Again, it’s not their fault that they don’t know what they don’t know, but now they know.

Let’s take a look at a few more:

@WarBlogle thanks again for ruining our chances with Deshaun Watson forever ago #neverforget

— Drunk Aubie (@DrunkAubie) January 5, 2020

I remember bloggle ruining our chance at Deshaun Watson.

— Open Door Policy (@Mr_ODP) October 28, 2017

As soon as you apologize to the AU fan base for costing AU Deshaun Watson.

— Open Door Policy (@Mr_ODP) November 26, 2017

https://twitter.com/DimesByDan/status/931184358073032704?s=20

Deshaun watson. That was @WarBlogle 's best sabotage work yet.

— Red Stallions Enjoyer (@William_Heston) April 17, 2020

Hey you remember that time you screwed us out of getting deshaun Watson?

— OversOnly (@Overs_Only) April 1, 2018

You get the point, but recently it’s almost become a meme with spoofed versions of what they do not know:

So yeah, Big Cat Weekend just got real. Just spotted 5-star #1 dual threat QB Shohei Ohtani downtown with Kodi Burns and Lashlee. #auburn https://t.co/Vm4GKbR3Px

— brandie (@brandieeemac) December 8, 2023

So yeah, USC Weekend just got real. Just spotted Top 3 NBA player Lebron James downtown with Kodi Burns and Lashlee. #auburn

— kyle for dpoy (@wydkyle__) December 17, 2023

Note the dates. It’s still happening. I have willingly lived with this burden for a quarter of my life. Forgive them Lord, they know not what they do.

I know the never-wrongs will say I should’ve known better and refused to do it. Sure, you get a text from an Auburn coach asking you to tweet something harmless that they think could somewhat potentially help the program, and be like “Nah, bro. Recruiting gurus and Steve Hivemind Superfan are gonna blame me for this for 10 years.”

And I know this is going to be incomprehensible for many of you, but Twitter was different 10 years ago. Not EVERY SINGLE THING was under a microscope or cancelled or scrutinized with a hate-first, look at me, attitude. It was just a tweet.

In closing, this is nothing like the time I brought down Vegas in one tweet. But this has been such a slow burn over a decade where I’ve had to bite my tongue and let the dumb feel smart while not knowing they are the dumb. But now it’s out. I did what I was asked. People didn’t like that a dumb superfan website “scooped them,” had to put the blame on me, and I’ve lived with it for a decade.

I am now free.

P.S. I know my attitude and fake hubris about Twitter follower count and fake “scooping” is going to make people that have been proven wrong feel even more right, but that’s Blogle.

P.P.S. Auburn went to the national championship game 6 months later, so you’re welcome.

P.P.P.S. Also this, so you’re welcome again.