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An unusually quiet offseason is now winding down following Big 12 Media Days this week, but former Texas Longhorns safety DeShon Elliott stirred things up on Wednesday with a series of critical tweets:
I’d really appreciate it if anyone on the current staff at the University of Texas Football team besides Craig Naivar , Jason Washington or Kyle Coats would keep my name out of there mouth and continue to bad talk me or any other junior that decided to leave early.
— DeShon Elliott (@OfficialShon_4) July 18, 2018
We lead your team the best we could before making a decision to better our families. Which I believe you would do the same.
— DeShon Elliott (@OfficialShon_4) July 18, 2018
If you really “loved” your players the way you portray then you wouldn’t continually talk bad about them behind closed doors. Bad mouthing us to our brothers who we played for and cried and sweat for way before you stepped on campus.
— DeShon Elliott (@OfficialShon_4) July 18, 2018
Kept my mouth quite about this, it’s the complete opposite of my personality but it has to come to an end. It’s been a continuous thing for far too long. - Da Joker
— DeShon Elliott (@OfficialShon_4) July 18, 2018
Based on Elliott’s accusation that the coach doesn’t actually love their players, it sounds like Elliott is talking about head coach Tom Herman. Last season, there weren’t any public indications of Elliott’s unhappiness, but he did declare for the NFL Draft before the bowl game and wasn’t with the team for the Texas Bowl.
Perhaps it’s not especially surprising that Elliott had an issue with the new staff — he is dating Charlie Strong’s daughter and was perhaps closer to Strong than any other player on the team.
Here’s some more context for Elliott’s statements from Barking Carnival:
No doubt Elliott is frustrated and his desire to better his family economically is real. He also considers himself a good citizen and a program guy who got word that the Texas coaches used the fact that he and other players chose to skip the bowl game as a motivational tool for their current team. He also learned that some of his teammates bought in on that narrative wholeheartedly. So he unloads in anger, with a real sense of betrayal. Understandable. But he’s thinking as a college kid; which he stopped being the day he declared for the draft. He needs to start thinking like a pro.
Former All-American offensive tackle Connor Williams expressed some solidarity with Elliott, which would seem to support the take from Scipio Tex;
I hear you brother
— Connor Williams (@cwill) July 18, 2018
So, it seems as if Elliott, Williams, and the coaching staff need to air some grievances and resolve this situation.