Goforth surprised by fake Twitter

While Coach Mora didn't hold back (well, actually he probably did) when discussing his thoughts on the fake twitter comments attributed to Randall Goforth, the freshman DB was more reserved today.

From Chris Foster in the LATimes:

Goforth was a little more subdued. He said he did not even possess a Twitter account.

"It was shocking," Goforth said. "My teammates got my back. Older guys came and talked to me. They let me know what is going on. They told me to brush it off and focus on this weekend's game and my school work."

Goforth said he has never met Woods.

"I'm just a freshman, I have no reason to be talking," Goforth said. "I have tremendous respect for all those guys at USC. I'm trying to stay in my place and do my job."

Props to Randall for saying exactly the right stuff here. Hopefully this artificial drama will die off and Randall and the rest of the Bruins can get back to worrying about WSU. There will be plenty of time for real drama with *$c next week.

Mora Blasts the Fake Twitterer

Before he began to address today's practice, Coach Mora came out firing. Here is the entire transcript:

Good morning. I just want to address one thing and that's the false twitter stuff going on there that someone attributed to Randall Goforth. It is absolutely 100% not Randall. I've talked to Lane Kiffin. He's talked to his guys. I've talked to my guys. It's a total non-issue. Some knucklehead's out there trying to stir it up So it's been shut down. Randall was in tutoring session when this idiot was tweeting. It's ridiculous. The power of the social media is amazing and when it's used for negative, in a negative way it's sickening. So that's it

(Media - Chris Foster: How do you really feel about it?)

I think it's a frickin' joke that somebody would do that. I think you're the lowest form of lifeform if you would portray yourself as a young man, an 18 year old young man trying to do his best. Trying to stir it up like that. Attributing comments to him that aren't his. I think he ought to go to jail. That's how I feel. I think you're a scumbag.

(Media: what do you think would be an appropriate sentence?)

Bring his ass out here.

(Media: You'll put him to work?)

We won't put him to work. He won't make it very far with this team.

(Media - Foster: I think you're limiting your chances of him actually showing up)

Yeah, because he's a coward That's what cowards do, cowards hide behind print.

(Media - Foster: Print? Excuse me?)

That's what Twitter is, right? It's print.

(Media - Foster: Maybe be a little clearer on that , please)

You know what I meant

(Foster laughing: I know)

Yeah, I challenge that guy to come on out here. Whoever he is. He won't though. He's a coward. Or a girl, whoever it is.

I was pretty surprised at how strongly Mora felt about this and how strong his comments were relating to the person/s behind this. I kind of thought Mora would like this to just go away, and he still probably would, but it's clear he wanted to make sure he took up for his freshman player, and that he had the absolute last words to put this subject to an end. After watching this, I am very happy with how Mora addressed this, and I pity the fool who started this mess.

I also enjoyed Foster's sudden "Wha?" moment when Mora said that cowards hide behind print. I think the exchange shows that Foster and Mora have a pretty good relationship so far, and it's been reflected in a lot less snark from the LAT's daily coverage.

The media and Mora moved on to actual football stuff at this point, but Mora wasn't in a particularly joking mood at this point. When a reporter prefaced her question by noting Washington State wasn't showing much, Mora disagreed, pointing out that WSU is improving every week, complimenting their coach and QB, and and calling their defense, especially against Oregon, impressive. It's obvious that Mora is working to keep the focus on this Saturday, and not the one after.

Mora also brushed off comments about the Bruins' current ranking with this beauty:

Rankings don't matter now. Rankings matter at the end of the year.

Coach Mora has his head screwed on right. I trust he will get this message across to the players. I also trust that, while we can be proud of the progress we have made to this point, the fans will understand why we aren't celebrating anything just yet.

Jim Mora on Fake Twitter Impostors: “Scumbag,” “Coward,” “Lowest Form of Life-Form”

Coach Mora had some choice words about the impostor today:

Saying that it was "absolutely 100 percent not Randall" and that it was "some knucklehead out there trying to stir it up," Mora had some choice words for the impostor.

"I think it's a frickin' joke that somebody would do that," Mora said. "I think you're the lowest form of life-form if you were to portray yourself as an 18-year-old young man who is out here trying to do his best. Trying to stir it up, attributing comments to him that aren't his, I think he ought to go to jail. That's how I feel. I think you're a scumbag."

Goforth was at a tutoring session when this coward was posting all those fake tweets. Mora added:

"I challenge that guy to come out here," Mora said. "He won't, though; he's a coward. Or girl, whoever it is."

We feel the same way about clowns who have nothing better to do thank screwing around on internets pretending to be someone else.

Mora also diffused a potentially explosive situation/distraction:

Mora said he called USC coach Lane Kiffin to explain the situation. He said Kiffin has talked to the Trojans team and Mora talked to his team and "it's a non-issue." Now, Mora said, he'd like to talk to the person responsible for the fake account

Good moves all around.

The Perils of Social Media - The Fake/Hacked Randall Goforth Twitter Account

We have impostors!