Gators' Joker Phillips has unique recruiting approach

Published May. 6, 2013 11:12 a.m. ET

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College football coaches know where the recruits are these days — on social media.
While the NCAA doesn’t allow a coach to mention a recruit by name, it hasn’t prevented head coaches and assistants from being creative on Twitter. Often, they will tweet out an area code or county that they are visiting. Or a few words of inspiration.
New University of Florida wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator Joker Phillips has taken the creativity to a new level, and he’s amassed more than 30,000 Twitter followers, @JokerPhillips. 
His tweet from Monday morning shows an astronaut on the moon next to a Gator flag as spaceships of other SEC schools fly around in the distance. “#Gators are leaders, not followers #comeplaywrforthejoker”

And his March 27 Tweet was a classic: “IT’S TIME TO COME PLAY WR FOR THE JOKER!” and included a Photoshop of Heath Ledger as the joker from “The Dark Knight” in a Gator blue suit.

Recruits still likely pick schools based on location, facilities, coaches, playing time and, hopefully, academics. But the Florida staff is catching attention with its increased presence on Twitter and Instagram.
And recruits enjoy seeing the comments.
“I think it’s cool for them to have a Twitter and Instagram. It shows a different side to them and they’re having fun with it,” George Campbell, a 2015 receiver prospect from Tarpon Springs East Lake, told the Gainesville Sun. 

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