The first goal of the #WeAreUnited and #WeAantToPlay movement, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence said Monday, is to ensure college football is played in 2020, but he proposes a future in which players also have a seat at the table on other issues .
Lawrence and teammate Darien Rencher worked with nearly a dozen college football players from across the country late Sunday night to write a message asking the sport’s leadership not to reduce the season amid safety concerns raised by the coronavirus pandemic. However, the long-term goals could be even greater.
“I’m all for some of the things that can be beneficial for athletes along the way, like name / image / image, and there’s a time and place,” Rencher said Monday. “But I know if we do not play, there will be no compensation. If we play the game, we can get more on the table.”
The pair put together a Zoom call with players from each of the Power 5 leagues at 10:30 a.m. ET Sunday and created a concise list of requirements for athletes, including a universal protocol for health and safety, extensions for qualifying players who choose from the season and, most importantly, the formation of a players association.
Lawrence and Rencher were among four Clemson players who organized a protest on campus in June against police brutality, and Rencher said he was connected to several players from other campuses in the process. As they began to slide into the 2020 season, Rencher and Lawrence realized that a united voice could carry some weight.
“We realized we needed to do something fast, and we need to do something that people will read and listen to,” Lawrence said Monday. “All the momentum went the wrong way for us. We just started talking, and we all agreed: the number 1 priority for us was that we all wanted to play.”
Lawrence said Clemson’s leadership has been good about the players’ involvement in decisions, and the security protocols work in place, but he is frustrated by the lack of communication elsewhere. He hopes the #WeAreUnited movement could help address some of the key concerns about playing a season amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“We just feel like the NCAA can talk and put together a plan on what we need to do to be safe. I feel like we can do it,” Lawrence said. “Here, we’re safe so we can do it.”
Clemson had a result of positive COVID-19 tests in June and early July, but coach Dabo Swinney said Monday that just one person has tested positive in the past month.
While the united front on play in 2020 was the easy part, Lawrence said there were talks about how a potential players’ association could fight for other changes in the long run. Rencher invoked name / image / image rights and suggested sharing revenue could be a problem in the future.
“Every generation has a responsibility to bring about change, and we want to bring about change,” Rencher said.
Swinney has been a vocal critic of directly paying players, but he suggested Monday that he would be a proponent of a players’ association.
“I think it would be great to have a players’ association, but that’s different than a union,” said Swinney, who last week suggested he would be open to sharing revenue if it’s tied to graduation. “But having a players’ association – that’s what we have here. All these players, we have a lot of communication. That’s how we made a lot of decisions, and a lot of great things came through our players to our program.” Voice That would be great on a larger scale in all of college football. ‘
Lawrence hooked up closer to the #WeWantToPlay line, saying his priority is back on the field. Lawrence noted that he has a big NFL payday waiting for him, and name / image / image will be an issue coming up soon in college football, but he said the consensus among players he spoke to is that all starts with making sure that the voices of athletes are heard.
“When decisions are made for us, it helps us tremendously to have a player’s voice,” Lawrence said. “It just makes for better decisions when we understand them and they understand us. We are all adults making decisions for ourselves.”
Swinney said he fully supported the work of Lawrence and Rencher, and he reiterated the need to play football in 2020.
“We all know there’s a risk, but it’s entirely my belief that these guys are safer here,” Swinney said. “If you told me if we canceled football that no one would get the virus, I would be the first person to sign up. That’s not the reality. The virus is not going away, and it will still be here in the spring. “We have done a good job here of reducing and finding a way to live with and do things in a safe way so that we can do what we love to do.”
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