Message Board Idiots React to C.J. Hampton's "Commitment" to Ole Miss

It's recruiting season! Okay, technically it's bowl season, and we'll get to that soon enough, but it's also recruiting season! And there is nothing that brings out the SEC's most paranoid conspiracy theorists, insecurity projecting message board warriors, and illogical crusaders of e-justice quite like college football recruiting. This installment of Message Board Idiots will take a peek at a few of these 'crootniks and their ill-conceived opinions in the wake of the C.J. Hampton re-commitment, which marked the end of the recruitment of one of Mississippi's top players.

Hampton was committed to Ole Miss, but de-committed last week, and seemingly in strong favor of the Alabama Crimson Tide. However, instead of donning an Alabama cap during his signing ceremony (he is a December graduate of Meridian High School, so he is enrolling early at Ole Miss) he picked the Rebs... again.

This upset a lot of people. This post will highlight some of those people.

First up, Alabama fans, many of whom vented their frustration with C.J. Hampton with a sense of entitlement that only the Crimson Tide fan base can possess. Check out some of the comments from the Bama 247Sports forum:

none of this is making any sense. staff please give some kind of insight on what is going on

"none of this is making any sense" = "I'm not getting what I want"

I smell Freeser odor.

HAHAHAHA THIS GUY MISSPELLED FREEZER /cheapshot'd

I never ever bash a kid's college decision, but turning down Nick Saban for Ole Miss? Lol. I'm sure by him "wanting to play instate", he actually means "I want to enjoy the cash deposit the OM boosters deposited into my bank account." Much like every other top prospect out of Mississippi.

These are the same people that, during Alabama HATE WEEK, will mock Ole Miss for being in Mississippi, a state they generally regard as being full of poor, stupid people. Obviously, those circumstances magically change in recruiting.

Every year we tout the opportunity to have the best class in recent CFB history, and every class, it falls apart. We kind of set ourselves up for a fall, especially if we are EVER counting on a Mississippi kid to leave the state. The money is too good in state to leave for free.

Yeah, this was a pretty common refrain.

Hugh Freeze and Ole Piss are buying players flat out!

Dude, it is pretty obvious to everyone who has followed recruiting. Ole Miss (especially Hugh Freeze) plays ball. How else could you explain them getting numerous top 100 prospects every year at the very last minute?

Something fishy is going on at Ole Miss. You don't get these great players at Ole Miss. They don't have the type of staff that warrants these great recruiting classes like last year. Something is just not right about it.

Yes, a guy from Mississippi who was committed to Ole Miss for something like 18 months, and who was never actually committed to Alabama, re-affirms his commitment to the Rebels, and that's somehow reasonable grounds for suspicion. That is the reasoning we're going with.

A lot of fans cannot fathom why anyone would dare spurn their beloved football team (I'm not going to say Crimson Tide, because this very shallow level of thinking isn't exclusive to Alabama at all) for someone else. They offer all sorts of reasons that they, as fans, like their football team to justify their claim, and even offer reasons that they dislike other teams as reasons for players to not play there. What these fans fail to realize is that what the players want out of their football experience is not the same as what we fans want. Yes, wins and losses are very important, which is why Ole Miss isn't out-recruiting Alabama across the board. But on a player-by-player basis, things like relationships with coaches, trust in their family and friends, and local ties can make a huge difference. Hugh Freeze has been playing that game as well as anybody, meaning that, regarding the C.J. Hamptons of the world, Ole Miss can and will be a factor.

Deal with it.

Also, I love the "THEY'RE TOTALLY PAYING PEOPLE" argument. First, offer proof that's not anything more than "hey, just think about it," because that line of thinking is nothing more than your fan biases masquerading as actual rational thought. Then prove that the NCAA is actually credibly capable of doing something about it. Then ask yourself "hey, if college football recruiting is nothing more than a bidding war (WHICH IT FUCKING ISN'T EVEN THOUGH IT IS MORE OR LESS LITERALLY THE ARGUMENT YOU ARE MAKING) then why are you losing out to the second-smallest school in the SEC which is located in the poorest state in the country?"

I mean, really, if that's the game we're playing, and you're losing to us, then that's your damn problem.

What I would like to know is being that Hootie has not even been to OM why would you choose to go there? If he is going to OM just because CJ is that lets me know he is a follower not a leader. May be best he doesn't come to the good guys. I know Hootie is a great player w/much potential but if he is a follower I don't think we need that.

Ah yes, character assassination of 18-year-old strangers. "If he's not on our team, then surely he's got some sort of personal flaw." We'll explore this later.

The guys at 247Sports admitted that they indeed underestimated the recruiting abilities of Hugh Freeze and his staff. They picked Garrald McDowell to commit to LSU and C.J. Hampton to commit to Alabama. Both committed to Ole Miss, which they explore in this story here. Some of the comments from that story are deep fried dumbass gold:

Of course they beat it, $$$$$$$.

This is from a Florida State fan, who I can only presume is still upset over Austin Golson.

One of your biggest boosters(dickie scruggs) gets out of prison in dec 2012, and then in feb of 13 you guys pull tunsil, nkemdiche, treadwell, connor and golson. Four 5*'s and a high 4*, its just a coincidence though. Ole Miss is as dirty as they come right now.

Yep. Dickie Scruggs, who went to prison for bribing a federal judge, decided to buy football recruits for Ole Miss as soon as he got out of prison. You caught us, Message Board Idiot. How could we be so blatantly foolish with our 'crootin schemes.

If this did add up, and Dickie Scruggs were buying players, then he wouldn't need to be out of prison to do so. Most people, presumably unlike this poster, don't keep their money buried in Mason jars throughout their backyards. They have, you know, liquid assets 'n' shit. Launder it through a front, get it in somebody's hands in the form of cash, and then you can do whatever you'd like with it. It's not rocket science. I've seen the Sopranos. I know how this shit works.

Oh, Dickie Scruggs is back in jail now anyway, right?

I don't think the "Crystal Ball" takes in to account how much money some of these coaches are willing to throw at players.

Or maybe the Crystal Ball doesn't take into account how much money it's being bribed to offer false recruiting predictions. It's as shady as FIFA in this 'crootin website game.

Maybe with a little help in these 2 class they can get back to contending for the middle of the WEST

Is this supposed to be an insult? "Hey! Maybe with better players they'll actually field better football teams!" Yep, that's the idea. We too are thinking it should work.

Then, on EliteDawgs, everybody's favorite hangout of insecure dolts, there was this thread. First, let's just look at the title:

MSU=winners OleMiss=pathetic

I find it interesting that one could perceive Mississippi State, a school which was more-or-less completely uninvolved in C.J. Hampton's recruitment, as the "winners" in this situation. I mean, what exactly did State "win" when C.J. Hampton committed to Ole Miss? Oh, that's right, the moral high ground! Of course!

Today's demonstration with CJ Hampton was the most pathetic recruiting mess I have ever seen. Everyone called this play for play 3 days ago. Freeze is about as classy as a used car ssalesman. What a cheap douchebag.

Freeze is the ultimate douchebag for getting high school recruits to put on a damn flipping pageant every year. It's typical ghey shit from that program and fan base. They are an embarrassment to MS, the SEC, and society.

Hey, it's okay. He called it "ghey," which isn't "gay" but rather something less juvenile and less bigoted. Don't worry, y'all.

The whole thing did seem contrived...

Well it sure as hell wasn't spontaneous.

...but hey at the end of the day they got a good player. The real question should be why there was not a MSU hat up on the table.

Uh, no, that question doesn't matter. The question that does matter is how can we spin this into some sort of indictment of Hugh Freeze, C.J. Hampton, and Ole Miss in general. Duh. Get with the damn picture.

Speaking of character assassination, an Alabama fan pretending to be some sort of professional college football scout had a few choice tweets regarding C.J. Hampton's commitment. He deleted most of those tweets, but don't worry, I got a screenshot of a particularly juicy one:

Yes! That's it! The old familiar refrain that anyone who doesn't commit to the school you cheer for clearly has some sort of character flaw! In this case, C.J. Hampton is lazy. He doesn't want to work hard, and therefore chose Ole Miss because it's the easy way out. No sir, wouldn't even want him at Alabama because he doesn't even want to work hard anyway, right?!

And this isn't just some Alabama fan regurgitating unimaginative nonsense on a social media platform. This is a "Scout/Writer & Talent Evaluator in the SouthEast for Upcoming Talent for VarsityPreps.com," per his Twitter account. I don't know what's worse, that people actually think this way, or that some of the people who do think this way actually work in a profession where we should expect at least a modicum of objectivity.

But it doesn't end there.

The CJ Hampton situation is part of what's wrong with recruiting today. I sound like that old guy yelling at kids to get off his lawn now.

— Mike Farrell (@rivalsmike) December 21, 2013

Yep. The senior editor at Rivals.com, a network of websites whose lifeblood is college football recruiting, is decrying the lavish attention and media resources devoted to covering college football recruiting. Mike, you have met the enemy, and the enemy is you.