Najee Harris and Trevor Lawrence among CFB players saying: We want to play
As we enter what looks to be a pivotal week for the 2020 college football season, future NFL first round draft picks from across the nation are taking to social media with the hashtag #wewanttoplay
Media members well connected in the college football landscape have been hinting at a college football cancelation over the last 48 hours from Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde who shared that a prominent industry source told him that fall sports will be postponed in all conferences to Stadiums’ Brett McMurphy who shared that a source told him the college football season is done because of the long term impact of Covid and liability issues involved.
According to a report Sunday evening from ESPN, commissioners of the Power 5 conference held an emergency meeting about whether or not the college football season could be played this fall because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While, no official decision has been made, the outlook does in-fact look grim for having a season this fall.
The MAC announced the postponed of their season on August 8 with league commissioner Jon Steinbrecher stating the following, “There are simply too many unknowns to put our student athletes in these situations. This is simply a miserable decision. I am heartbroken we are in this place.”
On Sunday afternoon, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence who has an implied probability percentage of 20% to win the Heisman trophy award and a much higher percentage to be the first pick in the 2021 NFL Draft came to social media in what sounded like a voice of reason.
“Let’s work together to create a situation where we can play the game that all of us love. Not divide and argue. There is a way forward,” said Lawrence through his personal twitter account.
Lawrence continued:
Players being safe and taking all of the right precautions to try to avoid contracting covid because the season/ teammates safety is on the line. Without the season, as we’ve seen already, people will not social distance or wear masks and take the proper precautions. Not to mention the players coming from situations that are not good for them/ their future and having to go back to that. Football is a safe haven for so many people. We are more likely to get the virus in everyday life than playing football. Having a season also incentivizes People are at just as much, if not more risk, if we don’t play. Players will all be sent home to their own communities where social distancing is highly unlikely and medical care and expenses will be placed on the families if they were to contract covid19.
Alabama running back Najee Harris then followed up on his twitter account by posting a graphic that holds the hashtag #Weareunited #Wewanttoplay which contains the following statement.
We all want to play this football season
Establish universal mandated health and safety procedures and protocols to protect college-athletes against Covid-19 among all conferences throughout the NCAA.
Give players the opportunity to opt out and respect their decision.
Guarantee eligibility whether a player chooses to play the season or not.
Use our voices to establish open communication and trust between players and officials; ultimately create a college football players association.
Representative of the players of all Power 5 conferences.
One hour after Harris posted the #Wewanttoplay graphic, Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields posted the same graphic on his timeline.
NFL network analyst Ian Rapoport was critical of the NCAA and lack of uniformity on Sunday in a tweet that read the following, “Imagine if college football had the kind of leadership that the NFL and the NFLPA showed over the last few months to put the league and its players in position to play a full season amid a pandemic. Just the incredible hours of work and teamwork. And the NCAA is the opposite.”
While we do not know what the week of college football holds, we do know that the college football players from across the country are starting to come together to work together which seems like a great idea. Maybe it’s too late to salvage this season, but the hope is that the players play a role to save the long term future of college football.
Kyle Henderson is the managing editor of BamaInsider.com. E-mail him at Kyle@Bamainsider.com, follow on twitter
