In the deluge of social media posts and design critiques of football scholarship letters recruits began receiving on Aug. 1 were a pair of unusual retweets by Baylor coach Matt Rhule.

The new Bears coach retweeted offers to Baylor commitments from two other schools, including one from Auburn to 3-star tight end Ben Sims and the other from fellow in-state and Big XII program TCU to 3-star offensive tackle Jackson Kimble.

Baylor coach Matt Rhule retweeted Auburn's offer to Bears 3-star tight end commit Ben Sims.

Even in the bizarre world of college football recruiting, in which the NCAA began allowing coaches to endorse or republish (i.e. like or retweet) public postings of recruits last year, for a coach of a major program to essentially highlight the workings of another program, particularly in the same conference and state, stood out as highly unorthodox.

Imagine the fallout if, for example, Gus Malzahn retweeted an Alabama or Georgia offer to an Auburn commit, or if Jim Harbaugh retweeted Ohio State offers to Michigan commits or Tom Herman liking Texas A&M offers to Texas commits.

Rhule explained his approach to recruiting on social media.

"We feel like if a kid commits to us we want to celebrate any accolades or recognition he gets," Rhule told AL.com. "Our job isn't to hold him back but to have his back."

Malzahn, whose rare retweets are typically from Auburn-affiliated accounts, was unaware Rhule had republished Auburn's offer.

"That doesn't bother me at all," Malzahn said. "We just worry about ourselves."

TCU coach Gary Patterson declined comment for this story.

Auburn offensive line coach Herb Hand is one of the more active college assistants on Twitter. Hand knows Rhule, a former Penn State linebacker, from his time coaching with the Nittany Lions when Rhule was at Temple, but probably won't be employing the same tactics anytime soon.

"I'll let Matt Rhule do Matt Rhule," Hand said. "He's a good dude; I like him. Obviously, everyone has their own philosophy and that sort of stuff and how they manage it."

Auburn defensive line coach Rodney Garner, consistently one of the program's better recruiters, was also unaware of Rhule's retweet of the Tigers' offer.

Asked if he'd ever retweet an Auburn commit's offer from another school, Garner said, "I'm doing things I never thought about doing before. I mean everything - you got to be able to evaluate and adjust really."

There's no denying that some of the method to Rhule's strategy is to point out other schools desire Baylor's commitments.

Should the day ever come that a Baylor commit flips to a school Rhule essentially promoted by retweeting its offer to that player, he said it won't stop him from continuing the practice.

"I will always do it," Rhule said. "It should all be about the players. If a kid decides that this isn't the best place for him, then we always support kids doing what's right for them."