Power 5 players held late-night call to save football season. Clemson duo organized it
College football players from around the country are coming together to push forward for there to be a college football season this fall under certain conditions.
Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence and running back Darien Rencher are a big part of the “WeWantToPlay” movement that’s taken over social media and is aimed at saving the upcoming season. The effort gained steam, in part, because of national reports that every conference’s fall sports seasons, starting with the Big 10, are moving toward being postponed.
Rencher helped organize a call with 13 players representing all five Power 5 conferences late Sunday night, Stanford defensive lineman Dylan Boles told The State.
The call was needed to show unity because some players felt like they were being “unfairly pitted against each other” after Lawrence released a series of tweets Sunday afternoon in support of having a college football season this fall.
Rencher reached out to Boles online Sunday night. The two exchanged numbers and then connected via FaceTime video, with Lawrence joining in.
“He, myself and Trevor all spoke for a time hashing out our objectives,” Boles said. “We came to the same determination we were unfairly pitted against each other and wanted to clear that up through establishing unity.”
After the call between Rencher, Lawrence and Boles, other players around the country were looped in and a 13-player Zoom video call was organized where the details of the movement were decided upon.
In addition to Rencher, Boles and Lawrence, other players on the call included Ohio State’s Justin Fields, Oklahoma State’s Chuba Hubbard, Alabama’s Najee Harris, Washington State’s Dallas Hobbs, Utah’s Nick Ford, Michigan’s Hunter Reynolds and Oregon’s Jevon Holland, Penei Sewell, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Johnny Johnson III.
“Unity was the primary concern,” Boles said.
At about midnight Monday morning, Lawrence, Fields and other stars in the sport tweeted out a graphic with the hashtag #WeWantToPlay. The ACC, Big 10, PAC 12, SEC and Big 12 players joined together to state that they all want a college football season to take place this fall under the following conditions:
1. Establish universal mandated health and safety procedures and protocols to protect college athletes against COVID-19 among all conferences throughout the NCAA.
2. Give players the opportunity to opt out and respect their decision.
3. Guarantee eligibility whether a player chooses to play the season or not.
4. Use our voices to establish open communication and trust between players and officials: ultimately create a college football players association.
The #WeWantToPlay movement released early Monday morning came after PAC 12 players started a “We Are United” campaign and Big 10 players had a “Big 10 United” movement earlier this month. The #WeWantToPlay movement was started to bring all Power 5 conferences together with one common set of goals.
Clemson started preseason practice Thursday. The ACC season is scheduled to begin Sept. 12.
Lawrence was asked last week about the “We Are United” campaign started by the PAC 12, where several PAC 12 players threatened to sit out workouts and games if their demands were not met.
He said he did not agree with everything on the PAC 12’s list, but that he respected their players taking a stand and fighting for what they believe in.
“I think some of the good stuff they brought to light was the safety phase for COVID. We’ve had talks with coaches and everything and we feel safe. We feel like good protocols are in place as far as medical coverage if something were to happen. We feel safe now. We just had to clear those things up,” Lawrence said. “Let’s just all make sure that we’re covered and we’re safe if something happens, because we’re risking our health by playing. But we all are assuming the risk. It’s our choice. But we just wanted to make sure we’re covered and safe and I feel like we’re in good hands.”
It now appears that Lawrence and players throughout the country are united and pushing forward for there to be college football this fall.
This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 8:26 AM.
