It doesn’t take much investigation to know that almost everyone is on social media. This certainly does not exclude college football players. The question is whether or not all of this access is good or bad for the sport, and the players involved. Nebraska wide receiver Kenny Bell joked at Big Ten Media Days last month that easy access with fans has been both a good and a bad thing.

“It’s a positive thing in the sense that we can interact with fans, it’s a negative thing cause we get to interact with fans,” Bell said. “Any Joe Blow that’s never played a down in his life can critique how you played on Saturday, and you’ve got to take it with a grain of salt. You can’t make everybody happy.”

There is a lot of pressure put on student athletes without social media being added to the equation. Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller, who will be out for the season following a recent shoulder injury, has to deal with these added pressures all the time. 

“Its kind of tough when people are talking negative about you,” Miller said. “They watch you play, and it’s tough because you don’t want to do anything back to them, but I think that’s what their intent is — to make you mad and get to your head and make you the bad guy if you reply back. They want your attention, and I don’t want to give them that attention.”

Illinois offensive lineman Simon Cvijanovic beleives social media pages can also be there to help. 

“It’s like a public résumé, your Facebook, and your Twitter and Instagram, in my opinion,” Cvijanovic said. “It’s something that enhances you as a person and enhances what people think of you, puts your personality out there for people so they can get to know you when they can’t physically be there to know you.”

In the last two years, Cvijanovic has played for an Illinois team that has finished with records of 2-10 and 4-8. The lack of success led to poor stadium attendance. People began snapping photos of the nearly empty stadium this past season and just as you’d expect, those photos went viral. Cvijanovic is well aware of the negativity surrounding the program, but knows there’s only one way to change it. 

“I’ve been getting this question a lot, ‘How do you feel about the negativity?’ I feel negative myself,” he said. “I don’t like losing, I hate losing, I want to win, and it makes sense. You know if the stands are empty, and Twitter is being negative, you’ve got to win football games for that to change, it’s the only way”

Purdue head coach Darrell Hazell said social media has changed the way that college coaches do their jobs, including the recruiting process. 

When asked whether a prospective recruit’s social media pages can affect their recruitment, he said, “Oh absolutely. If it were over the edge, for sure it would affect that. You can find out a lot about a guys character by checking their social page. If we do that, we’ll definitely think twice about whether or not that’s a guy you want in your program.”

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer took the strongest view in either direction when it came to his players using social media. 

“I think it’s probably a negative overall,” Meyer said. “You know their schedules are so tight, and I see it with my children, I’ll walk in the house and there’s three people looking at their phones, and I get addicted to it sometimes.”

Meyer also questioned the reliability of sources that post information on Twitter.

“The worst thing is, and not being disrespectful, but anybody can be posting. I can say this about Braxton Miller or Urban Meyer and, first of all, who is this person? It’s not true, but regardless it’s out there.”

Social media will not be disappearing anytime soon. Its presence will only grow in our society. After speaking to coaches and players it is apparent that social media can be a great tool if used correctly, or a distraction if it’s not. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are here to stay, and college athletics seem prepared to take on whatever challenges social media will bring.

Sam is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected] and @Sam_Sherman5.