VALDOSTA — An intriguing recording depicting a conversation purportedly involving a Valdosta State baseball coach and a player regarding the player’s hair has taken the internet by storm.
The footage seems to have initially surfaced on TikTok before proliferating across various social media platforms. While the individual in the recording remains unseen, accounts describe the speaker as a Caucasian coach engaged in a dialogue with Asher Akridge, a Black baseball player at VSU. Allegedly, the coach asserts that Akridge’s hair fails to meet the criteria for team participation.
The TikTok video bears the watermark “asherthegreat24” and resides on the same account, under the hashtag #valdostastateuniversity. Accompanying captions have likened the university’s environment to the year 1945 rather than 2023.
Valdosta State University released a statement acknowledging the video’s existence and announcing an ongoing review of the situation.
At the outset of the video, an image displays a VSU baseball player whose hair extends to his shoulders. By Wednesday morning, the video had garnered more than 30,000 likes and elicited 5,200 comments.
Throughout the recording, the player and the coach delve into a conversation encompassing not only the aesthetics of Akridge’s hair but also the adherence of other players to the same regulations.
Presented through the lens of a smartphone’s video feature, the recording fails to depict the participants or their surroundings, suggesting a covert setting. Remarkably, the conversationalists abstain from using each other’s names throughout the dialogue.
It is pertinent to note that The Valdosta Daily Times has not independently verified the video’s origin or the identities of the individuals involved.
Online discourse has ignited a barrage of accusations, ranging from claims of racial bias to charges of differential treatment directed at the player in question.
Interestingly, the player ostensibly at the center of the hair-related dispute with the coach is conspicuously absent from VSU’s baseball roster for 2023 and 2024. However, official box scores published by the university on its athletics website do feature Akridge. Baseball Reference, a platform collating baseball statistics for college and professional teams, reports Akridge’s involvement in just one game for VSU in 2023.
This unfolding narrative is bound to evolve, and further updates will be provided as developments occur.