Dynamic on and off the field and now online, linebacker Jabrill Peppers is in the spotlight of a popular parody Twitter account made by LSA sophomore Bennet Sakelaris.
The account was created in September this year, and has followed developments of the football team’s players throughout the season.
Sakelaris wrote in an email interview that the idea for the account began after a friend of his bought a pet fish and named it Jagill Peppers. After finding this amusing, Sakelaris started to play around with other puns related to Peppers, photoshop different memes and photos of Peppers and later on, add other University of Michigan football players into the mix as well.
“Not too long ago I was walking down the spices aisle in Meijer and saw a jar of Turmeric and thought to myself ‘Oh Turmeric Magnuson might be a good one for Erik Magnuson,’ and surely it was,” Sakelaris wrote. “Sometimes people give me suggestions like just last week someone suggested Gerbil Peppers, which I was quite frankly shocked to have not thought of myself.”
The account has also followed the progression of player injuries, with puns to recognize when players get injured and return to play. After starting three games at cornerback, Jeremy Clark suffered a season-ending ACL tear that the account dubbed as the end of the “Lewis and Clark Expedition,” referring to Clark as well as Clark’s fellow cornerback Jourdan Lewis.
The account has gained recognition from at least one football player — Lewis.
On National Taco Day, Sakelaris tweeted a video of lineman Taco Charlton, photoshopped with an actual taco, tackling opponents. On Election Day, the account endorsed “Franklin Delano Hill” for president.
Most recently, there was a tweet citing the loss at Iowa last weekend as a tough “Khalid Pill” to swallow, in reference to fullback Khalid Hill.
Sakelaris said he will continue to update the account daily, but will likely write less during the offseason.