Days after expulsion, Yuri Wright picks major college program, returns to Twitter
On Jan. 18, fans across the country were introduced to top cornerback prospect Yuri Wright in the most controversial of circumstances, when outlets like RivalsHigh revealed that the senior star had been expelled from Ramsey (N.J.) Don Bosco Prep because of explicit messages transmitted across his Twitter account.
At the time, some questioned whether Wright would be able to land at a significant college football program after the likes of Michigan stopped recruiting him because of his expulsion. Now, less than a week later, he has already committed to a major program, accepting a scholarship offer from the University of Colorado on Tuesday. Perhaps more incredibly, he chose a rebuilding Buffaloes program over Notre Dame and in-state Rutgers, both of which continued recruiting him despite his Twitter issues.
"He's a good kid that just like every other 17-year-old makes bad decisions in life," Bergen (N.J.) Catholic football coach Bill Tierney, who was Wright's first high school coach, told Rivals.com's Mike Farrell. "But he's moved past that. He knows he'll have to work harder moving forward to prove his character and he's ready to do that. The Twitter thing is dead, now it's time to focus on his career at Colorado."
Yet, there remains a question whether Wright's Twitter habit really is dead. According to the Bergen Record -- and confirmed via his new account right here -- Wright has signed back up for Twitter, rejoining the social media site with a new username after the initial backlash to his expulsion died down.
Clearly, the entire episode proves that limitless talent can also buy some recruits a nearly limitless leash when it comes to their off-field behavior. If you haven't seen some of the truly off-color tweets which earned Wright a ban from a Catholic school, you can see a rather complete collection right here. Beware, a number of them are truly graphic.
Of course, Wright is hardly the only teenager to make controversial and off color statements on Twitter. In fact, hes not even the only football player who was recruited by Michigan to make such public statements on the social media network. One of the school's highly touted incoming offensive line recruits, Carlsbad (Calif.) La Costa Canyon High star Erik Magnuson, has had Tweets flagged multiple times in recent months for using a brutally inappropriate homophobic slur.
At the same time, behind all the doubts, all the concerns over Wright's social media behavior is a sense that the entire incident may belie the teenager's true nature. In a previous interview with RivalsHigh national analyst Dallas Jackson, Farrell called Wright "very polite, very respectful. Shy in a lot of ways."
Perhaps Colorado will provide an ideal opportunity for Wright to tap back into that previously pristine public persona, away from the spotlight that likely would have remained on him at Rutgers in New Jersey or at Notre Dame.
Regardless, his commitment will now make some raise questions about Colorado and its own decision to continue pursuing a player with quite public social media problems … and who apparently refuses to cut himself off from those social networks even after those issues emerged.
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