Mark Fox lifts Twitter ban on his players

It was a seemingly innocuous tweet. Early on Tuesday afternoon, Marcus Thornton of the Georgia men’s basketball team posted “I’m feelin I’m back” on his Twitter account.

But if you checked Thornton's account, you saw that his previous tweet was more than 11 months ago, when he announced: “I won’t be tweetin fill further notice … so long twit fam.”

That was because at the time Thornton’s new head coach, Mark Fox, forbid his players from using the popular social media tool. But the Twitter rights have been re-instated, apparently as a reward to the players.

"The twitter ban was indeed lifted, but only after the team’s academic performance and ‘other criteria’ were met,” team spokesman Tim Hix said, after speaking with Fox.

The Bulldog players have embraced their newfound freedom.

Junior forward Connor Nolte posted this on Tuesday:

“Admittedly giddy to be back on Twitter after a year long hiatus... My last tweet was exactly 366 days ago. People still use Twitter right?”

They do, including teammate Donte Williams, who like Thornton just completed his freshman year. ("Back in Atlanta," Williams announced on Tuesday night.) Guard Gerald Robinson just opened an account last month, posted Tuesday: "Man I almost forgot what a beautiful city Nashville is. Feels good to be home!!!"

One of the first things Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie each did after declaring for the NBA draft in April was resume their tweeting. Senior Jeremy Price also re-appeared after the season.

Ironically, Fox has been a rather prolific tweeter throughout the year. He commented on games, complimented co-workers or rooted on his Kansas City Chiefs. On Tuesday he congratulated Nolte, Price and Chris Barnes for earning their degrees.

“Had a great time with our 3 graduates today,” Fox tweeted. “Lots of laughs about the journey. I am very proud of them.”