Ok Shea… it might be time to stay off the internet for a little while.

Former Ole Miss and current Michigan starting quarterback Shea Patterson took to Twitter late on Sunday to bash his head coach and arch rival Ohio State. Or did he?

“Patterson is going to be the best QB in the (conference), Fields hasn’t even played a snap yet that kids so overrated,” the deleted Tweet from Patterson’s account read. “Shea would have won the Heisman last season if Harbaugh had let him call the plays.”

Replying to a critic, it seemed at the time that Patterson had tweeted from his real account when he wanted to tweet from a “burner” account – a profile classified as temporary or disposable, often used to remain anonymous. The tweet was deleted soon after, but the profile College Football Quotes (@cfbquotes) had a screenshot and a graphic of the deleted tweet.

https://twitter.com/cfbquotes/status/1147976312910274560

Here’s the kicker, though. College Football Quotes may not be super credible. They’re the only account online with the deleted tweet, and they have a history of making up quotes for engagement. Patterson, effectively, seemed just to be upset that the controversy interrupted his golf outing.

“The tweet sent around twitter today with a graphic making a bunch of ridiculous statements about another QB and my head coach did not come from me or anyone close to me,” Patterson wrote later on Twitter. “I would never disrespect another player or my (head coach) for that matter. I do not have a ‘burner account’ either. I guess someone thought they could try and ruin my day or make me look bad. That attempt failed and I even finished up the evening with a birdie on the 18th (hole), so it was a good day after all. Better luck next time. Go Blue!”

Patterson may have been hacked. However, it’s not exactly unbelievable that Patterson could have actually done this. Patterson previously went after the Ole Miss coaching staff on Twitter for misleading him about the severity of the NCAA investigations when he was trying to transfer to Michigan.

Athletes having burner accounts also isn’t a new phenomenon. NBA superstar Kevin Durant had a similar issue arise in 2017, something he later confessed. Philadelphia 76ers general manager Bryan Colangelo also had a burner account, which he used to trash his own players.

Quarterbacks and NBA superstars might just be thin-skinned. They’re people just like the rest of us. But hey, if you’re going to have a burner account, maybe don’t go after your own head coach. And definitely remember to tweet from the real burner, not your verified account.

 

---