In my experience, the recruit or his circle is usually the direct source, but the story is run with before that recruit wanted the word to get out. Probably what happened in the Mack case, doubt anyone related to the program said anything.
We did have a couple of instances over the past few years where guys on here accidentally gave away too much information that got into the online pubs and caused recruits to get really upset with the program. It's usually related to kids who are UVing in secrecy. At least one kid claimed the early announcement was the reason they backed off coming here, hence why all our insiders are super cautious in sharing commitment details before they break elsewhere.