What impresses me about Emerson’s piece on the offensive linemen’s APU protest last Saturday is how thoughtful and respectful the responses are.
From the head coach:
… Georgia head coach Mark Richt didn’t appear overly concerned on Tuesday, three days after the protest, saying he was “still trying to figure out the whole deal.”
“I was probably like a lot of people, seeing it on the (ESPN) ticker after the game,” Richt said. “I just have to educate myself a little better with what it’s all about.”
Richt did indicate he had sympathy for the overall sentiment of APU.
“We have the freedom of speech in our country, but the question is what’s the most appropriate way of doing it, so that’s the only thing,” Richt said. “Based on what I read about, what their concerns were seemed like pretty legitimate concerns. Whatever they are trying to accomplish is being done in a respectful way, so that’s all I really know.”
From Lynch:
“They bring so many people in here to educate us about the NFL, and there’s some guys who will never see the NFL. If you’re a college athlete, whether it be soccer, track or basketball, the NCAA needs to fund and require representatives to go to schools, public or private in the U.S., and really educate them as to what you’re actually doing when you sign your letter-of-intent,” Lynch said.
“I’m signing away the same rights I basically have when I sign with an agent at the end of the season. Obviously there’s differences, the compensation, this and that. But I’m signing away our name and our rights is something parents and the prospective athlete needs to understand a little bit more about. Because I was just happy to get a full ride, I wasn’t really looking too much into the details about it. I just knew that when I signed that name I got to go play football and go to school for free. And I was like: Yeah, that’s tight, sign me up.”
There’s more there worth reading. I wonder how much of the attitudes expressed are the result of suffering through the Green and Houston suspensions. Probably a fair bit.