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How to lose recruits with 1 Tweet: Timeline of the Texas A&M debacle

Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports

Quarterbacks leaving Texas A&M seems to be common place these days in the college football world.

Whether it be by transfer or by decommitment, the exodus from the most important position on the field is troubling for Aggie fans alike. The latest highly-ranked pivot, the 2017 recruiting class' No. 3 quarterback, broke the news on Twitter late last night, and all hell broke loose.

It started with Martell's announcement on Twitter at 11:30 p.m. ET.

Six minutes after Martell broke the news on Twitter, Texas A&M wide receiver coach Aaron Moorehead sped to his mobile device and fired off the following subtweet, clearly directed at the recruit.

A laughable stance taken by the former Indianapolis Colts wideout, and here's why; in seven years as a coach, Moorehead has been at FOUR different programs. Not exactly the best candidate to be pontificating about loyalty now is he? He quickly tried to walk back the comments just 24 minutes later, sort of.

Moorehead has over 10,000 Twitter followers, including Texas A&M receiver commit Mannie Netherly, who quickly became former Texas A&M receiver commit Mannie Netherly. An hour after Moorehead dropped his subtweets, Netherly announced he was decommitting from the school due to the coach's comments.

With Texas A&M now playing in the SEC, the rivalry with Texas certainly isn't as fierce as it used to be, but potential Longhorn commit Jeffrey Okudah is doing his best to change that. The talented safety turned to D.J. Khaled to poke fun at the Aggies.

Four-star receiver Tyjon Lindsey then promptly announced he was no longer considering Texas A&M as a choice for his college program.

Moorehead continued to reign down on the youth of today from his Twitter soapbox well into the night.

At this point it's clear that someone in public relations for the university got a hold of Moorehead, because an apology quickly followed.

Aftermath

Recruits verbally commit, and also decommit, many times throughout a cycle. It's important to remember that these kids are 16 and 17 years old and are prone to making rash decisions. Martell committed to Washington as an eighth-grader before taking that back during his sophomore year in high school. Nobody from the Huskies program went on a Twitter rant condemning the young man.

Martell's decision sparked a much greater response likely because it's the latest proof that there's a major problem going on at Texas A&M with the quarterback position. His choice marks the third top-ranked quarterback since December to transfer or decommit from the program. Kyle Allen, the No. 1 pocket-passing quarterback in the 2014 class, left for Houston. Kyler Murray, the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the 2015 class, followed suit just days later, ending up at Oklahoma.

It's clear Kevin Sumlin has a problem on his hands, and a fire-breathing Twitter rant towards teenage athletes likely isn't helping that to go away anytime soon.

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