Tigers Blocking Out Social Media Commentary, Ready to Flip Script on Negativity
No one could have imagined this Clemson team getting off to this kind of start.
Four games into the season, the Tigers currently sit at 2-2 and after the most recent loss, a 27-21 double-overtime defeat at NC State, Clemson has tumbled all the way down to No. 25 in the polls.
While the defense has played at a high level to start the season, the offense has seemingly been stuck in reverse. Clemson currently ranks No. 121 in the nation in total offense, No. 115 in passing yards and No. 106 in points scored. It is unfamiliar territory for a program that has prided itself on elite-level play on the offensive side of the ball.
With the team no longer having a social media ban in place during the season, the slow start has brought out the hate mail, something offensive lineman Paul Tchio said he and the rest of his teammates just can't afford to get caught up in.
"I'm definitely on social media," Tchio said. "But I learned that from a young age that like you can't really listen to all that because of human nature. Social media's just people going out there to show their frustrations, it's just basically negativity. You can't really listen to it. I think I do a pretty good job of just blocking all that out and just focusing on myself."
Tchio is no stranger to social media hate. The 6-foot-5, 310-pound player was one of the top offensive linemen in the country in the 2020 recruiting class. Hailing from Georgia, many had the elite-level prospect destined to be a Bulldog. However, when he eventually chose Clemson, Tchio started to receive some blowback due to his decision.
"I was a pretty highly recruited guy, so I saw a bunch of all that negativity," Tchio said. "Especially when I didn't choose to go to my hometown state (school) of Georgia and I came here. I saw a lot of negativity. I just chose not to listen to all that. Definitely seen some hate messages, especially because for the longest time everybody thought I was gonna go to Georgia. Like, I thought I was. I definitely received some hate messages and stuff like that."
Tchio said the key was to take the high road. To block it all out, just keep moving forward, and most importantly to always remember that none of those people know him personally.
"You just got to be the bigger man," Tchio said. "Just don't respond to it. Like I don't know those people, they don't know me. Like they don't, they're not with me every day, they don't know the type of person I am."
However, Tchio said that there is always the opportunity of turning all of the negativity into motivation, something he said this team has every intention of doing, starting this week against Boston College.
Definitely, cuz I'm a big guy, I like to prove people wrong," Tchio said. "So a lot of people that already like have us written off and everything, I think it's gonna be amazing to see how we flip the script going the rest of the season."
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