The campus at the University of Georgia was rocked last Thursday by the news of Todd Gurley's suspension. Initially, the reaction was that of confusion and sadness as fans in Athens tried to figure out exactly what was going on. As the news of a NCAA violation for selling autographs came to light, some started to point at Gurley as selfish and foolish for even thinking about doing something like breaking NCAA rules and jeopardizing the Dawgs' season. But then something happened.
As the news spread around the country and was picked up by numerous news sources, the criticism changed from Gurley to the NCAA. People began to think about the rule that he broke and decided it was incredibly hypocritical for there to be a rule forbidding him from selling his signature, his own name, while the University, major TV networks, and the NCAA made immense profits from his performances. That's when the fans took to social media.
The biggest backlash came on Twitter. The NCAA twitter page (@ncaa) was flooded with comments calling out the NCAA for having ridiculous rules and punishing student athletes instead of helping them as stated in its mission statement. Gurley began trended on Twitter as support arose from celebrities, news anchors, ESPN announcers, and even fans of rival schools. #FreeGurley began popping up on tweets constantly and is now showing up on campus. Links to articles in favor of Gurley filled Facebook news feeds. He had support coming out of the woodwork.
The problem was that this support didn't seem to change anything. He was still out against Mizzou. Reports still claimed he was done for the season. It seemed hopeless. But gradually, the reports began to change. Suddenly there were claims that Gurley could come back immediately. It was reported that he was practicing with the team. It's still too early to say whether any of this is true or not, but it's undeniable that people coming together on social media have had a huge impact on the situation.
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