Did Miss. State fans' Facebook obsession drive a 5-star LB to Ole Miss?

Just to clarify the headline, I'm not saying hyped Philadelphia (Miss.) linebacker C.J. Johnson was dissuaded from his long-standing commitment to attend Mississippi State by Bulldog fans going Fatal Attraction on his Facebook page. C.J. Johnson is saying that:

Whether it was the "crazy inboxes" of desperate MSU partisans (I can't help but picture packages whose contents that would make the creators of "Se7en" squirm uncomfortably), or the untimely departure of Mississippi State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz for Texas, or some combination thereof, Johnson said for the first time today he's "100 percent solid" to sign with rival Ole Miss next week. And if the Facebook stalking didn't necessarily cause his defection from the Bulldogs, it certainly didn't help:

On Tuesday, however, while Johnson was excited about his decision and looking forward to the future, the prevailing emotion he was feeling was relief. Since announcing that he was re-opening his recruiting, his Facebook.com page had become a haven for fans of several schools, and all of the messages weren't exactly positive.

"It's been awful," Johnson said. "Just the rumors about me and my family, it hasn't been a great experience at all. The rumors didn't weigh into my decision at all, but all the speculation and all the talking made me want to get over with. I talked to my mom about it and prayed about it. I felt confident in my decision and wanted to get it over with."

While Johnson has developed bonds with fellow Mississippians/Ole Miss targets such as Greenwood cornerback Jermaine Whitehead and Batesville wide receiver Nick Brassell, he said he won't be doing any recruiting over the next eight days. "This is not a time to be doing any recruiting," Johnson said. "I don't want to hear the word 'recruiting' again."

Johnson said he has ambitions of becoming the next Patrick Willis in Oxford, and actually projects along those lines, which is the good news for Ole Miss. The bad news: The Rebels' most celebrated instate commitment prior to Johnson, receiver Tobias Singleton, was charged today with felony malicious mischief and misdemeanor domestic violence for allegedly punching his 16-year-old girlfriend in December, then helping his father and two brothers inflict more than $3,000 worth of damage on her Chevrolet Impala. By kicking it, apparently.

Singleton texted a Jackson Clarion-Ledger reporter today that "It's not TRUE" – he had initially called police on Dec. 13 to report a hit-and-run, telling them his former girlfriend had hit his car with hers and left the scene – but didn't elaborate. As a rule, any recruiting story that includes the phrase "My attorney advises me no comment" is probably not going to end well for anyone involved.

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Facebook screencap via Red Cup Rebellion.
Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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