Although Texas A&M’s record sits at 5-2, the Aggie twittersphere has reacted with sharp criticism towards the players and coaches. Since the offense posted just three points last week and accounted for three pick-sixes the week before, Kyle Allen and offensive coordinator Jake Spavital continue to take blows on social media.
However, the Aggie coaches and players refuse to allow the negativity to hamper their preparation for Saturday’s home matchup against South Carolina.
“I don’t listen to the outside, so I could care less what they say,” wide receiver Ricky Seals-Jones said at Tuesday’s news conference. “Our team, we’re going to focus on us and get ready for this week’s game.”
Sophomore safety Armani Watts, who recorded a whopping 20 tackles last week against Ole Miss, echoed a similar statement.
“It’s just all about what we feel like in the locker room, nothing matters outside of the locker room,” Watts said. “If we stick together then we can really take it forward.”
Spavital has received the majority of the disappoving tweets, and the hashtag #FireSpav can be dated as early as the 2014 season. But when head coach Kevin Sumlin was asked about his offensive coordinator, he said Spavital would retain his play calling duties.
“It’s been up and down. Up until week five there was not any question,” Sumlin said. “It’s not one person. It’s not just one guy. It’s not one situation. Can we be better? Yes. That’s why we are making some [schematic] changes. That’s all part of it.”
The social media uproar has highlighted what the issues are and Sumlin said they’ve made changes to fix those problems.
“In this business you’re only as good as your last outing,” Sumlin said. “Our last two have not been very good. We’ve made some changes, we’ll get rolling and we’ll see. We’ll see five weeks from now what the thought process is.”
Senior offensive lineman Joe Cheek said the reason not to place any value on social media is plenty of fans are just the “fair-weather” variety — they support the Aggies when they are winning but are negative when A&M is struggling.
“Starting from the beginning of the season, it seemed that a lot of people weren’t with us from the start,” Cheek said. “I don’t even know what’s going on. I know people aren’t happy, but it doesn’t change. They weren’t with us from the start. Why does it matter now? You can’t listen to that — it can affect you if you get too into it, but definitely don’t listen to it.”
Despite the negative online feedback, the team is focused on only one thing right now — winning against South Carolina.
“No offense, but social media is part of media — they’re gonna say what they want to say,” senior cornerback Brandon Williams said. “Stuff like that, we don’t let that affect how we play or what we do. A family does not let outside rumors and stuff like that affect what we’ve got going on inside, so it’s not a big deal.”
I started this game playing “Drink every time Spav calls a good play.” My beer is now warm and still full. #FireSpav
— Jingle (@Jingle4Heisman) October 25, 2015
that face when you’re in the middle of football and chill and Kyle Allen is still in the game pic.twitter.com/akp6KUNCPI
— elderly gambino (@jfcmsb911) October 25, 2015
