Don’t expect DeShon Elliott and most of the Texas coaching staff to be exchanging Christmas cards this holiday season.
Elliott in late November announced that he had decided to skip Texas’ bowl game in order to begin preparing for early entry into the 2018 NFL draft. “Coach [Tom] Herman has been amazing, and I’m really excited about what he’s building here,” Elliott wrote in his statement regarding the Longhorns’ head football coach.
Fast-forward eight months, and Elliott has done an about-face as he issued a blistering Twitter rebuke of Herman, accusing the head coach and some members of his coaching staff in a series of tweets of privately criticizing his and his teammates’ decisions to leave Austin early for the NFL. The only individuals spared from Elliott’s social media wrath were Craig Naivar, the safety’s position coach and special teams coordinator; cornerbacks coach Jason Washington, who also serves as UT’s recruiting coordinator; and defensive quality control coach Kyle Coats.
The others? You’re on Elliott’s spit list.
Elliott intercepted six passes, returning two for touchdowns, en route to being named a Jim Thorpe Award finalist in what turned out to be his final season with the Longhorns. The Baltimore Ravens selected the defensive back in the sixth round of the April draft.
As of this posting, neither Herman, who will be entering his second seasons as UT’s head coach, nor the football program have responded to Elliott’s accusations.
