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We asked the question in this space as well as on social media: could Wolverines fans get behind a Buckeye?
With Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields creating an online petition and asking fans to support players in the Big Ten who want to see the fall season reinstated, it seems there’s equal part ‘yes, we want football,’ to ‘whatever Ohio State is up to, surely we won’t support it.’
But don’t tell that to Michigan defensive back Hunter Reynolds, the team’s most prominent voice through all of this, as he reportedly signed the petition.
Reynolds, along with former Wolverines cornerback Benjamin St-Juste, created Big Ten United, and was part of the ‘We Are United’ campaign popularized last week by Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence and OSU’s Fields. He’s made the rounds since before the season postponement, going on CNN after the Big Ten’s schedule reveal nearly two weeks ago, and speaking on Fox News this past week after the season was upended.
According to ESPN’s Tom VanHaaren, Reynolds did sign Fields’ petition, while further clarifying what he and his Big Ten brethren are looking for in all of this.
“I did see it, I did sign it,” Reynolds told ESPN’s Tom VanHaaren. “And I maintain the stance that other players sand I want to play in a situation that is made as safe as possible and work with the conference and NCAA in order to determine a solution that addresses the concerns that college athletes have and finding a way to ensure that every school is adhering to a uniform set of protocols.”
Benjamin St. Juste and Hunter Reynolds, co-presidents of the College Athlete Unity group, said they both signed Justin Fields petition.
They both explained their stance and position in quotes below. pic.twitter.com/NFwsrqzCEM
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) August 16, 2020
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It’s certainly not unreasonable. The players want to play and they want the conference to standardize protocols so that they feel capable of doing so.
However, the conference at this time doesn’t feel like it can pull it off, clearly, though it hasn’t provided any explanation why it canceled the season outside of ‘health and safety reasons.’ Given what Michigan and others were doing, it’s safe to say that many within the conference felt that their schools were handling the pandemic the right way.