Players react as potential college football cancellation looms

With the college football season appearing to be in jeopardy, players across the country took to social media to voice their desire to play.

On Sunday night, reports began to surface that the Big 10 university presidents were close to moving to cancel the 2020 fall sports season, including college football. The news came after the Group of Five’s Mid-American Conference announced that it was canceling all fall competition earlier in the day.

With the college football season appearing to be in jeopardy, players across the country took to social media to voice their concerns and desire for a season to be held. It started with Clemson quarterback and projected first-overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft Trevor Lawrence, who posted a series of tweets pointing out that players may be safer at school with the program than some would be at home, if university policy dictated they could no longer be on campus.

Players nationwide followed Lawrence’s lead, posting their support for the “We Want to Play” movement. That list included Florida running back Lorenzo Lingard, who is eligible this season after transferring from Miami, and defensive lineman Kyree Campbell.

Campbell, a senior in 2020, is expected to see a bigger role on the team than he has in the past. If the season were to be canceled, its unclear what the course of action would be in terms of eligibility relief. Though the NCAA is currently allowing players to opt-out of the season and retain their eligibility, its unlikely such a provision could be guaranteed to all players should all competition this year be nixed.

Tight end Kyle Pitts also joined his teammates in voicing his support for a season in the fall on Monday morning.

After news broke late Sunday night that the Big 10 administrators would be having an impromptu meeting to discuss the season, Lawrence posted once again, this time sharing a graphic of joint demands between the “We Are United” movement (started by Pac-12 players to ensure safety standards, compensation and other improvements for student-athletes) and the “We Want to Play” movement. Among the list of demands Lawrence posted was improved open communication between athletes and officials, with the ultimate goal of forming a college football players association.

Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, currently the projected No. 2 pick in next year’s draft, also tweeted his support for these demands.

On Monday morning, it was reported that at the meeting Sunday night, Big 10 presidents voted 12-2 to cancel the season, with Iowa and Nebraska reportedly being the dissenting votes. Dan Patrick reported Monday that the Pac-12 will follow the Big 10’s lead shortly.

Though the SEC, ACC and Big 12 are currently holding firm and hoping to see how the return of students to campus in the coming weeks, ESPN reported Sunday night that those leagues could be forced into action by decisions from the Big 10 and Pac-12.

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