Tag: big ten protest

Braxton Miller joins fray to demand Big Ten transparency on decision to postponed season

Former Ohio State QB Braxton Miller is selling t-shirts to support the Big Ten protest. Proceeds benefit the Inside Out Youth Organization.

We’ve seen a ton of guys weigh on on the Big Ten’s decision to postpone the fall football season. From Justin Fields’ petition, to various parent groups sending letters to commissioner Kevin Warren, to open records requests from attorney Tom Mars, the avalanche of criticism has been persistent.

Now, you can count former Ohio State star Braxton Miller in the camp throwing his weight behind players having the opportunity to play.

Miller has been sharing tweets to ask for support at the planned parent rally at the Horseshoe, and to offer you the opportunity to purchase some limited time t-shirts that ask the Big Ten for answers, but where the proceeds benefit a good cause. The money raised goes to the Inside Out Youth Orgainization.

From Miller on the Charg!ng the B1G webiste that sells the shirts.

“If I didn’t have the opportunity to play my 5th year after switching positions and the season was cancelled..I wouldn’t have experienced some of the best moments of my life. I had the opportunity to show I was able to play wide receiver and get drafted. The way the B1G TEN Conference has handled the postponement of the season lacked transparency, communication, and unprofessionalism. The student-athletes worked too hard for this to be taken away from them!! #WeWantToPlay”

Remember, Miller went down before the 2014 season with a shoulder injury. He then got the one year after rehabbing where he changed positions to wide receiver and was drafted by the Houston Texans in the 2016 NFL Draft. Without that season, he likely never becomes a third round draft pick.

Click on the below and get a tee for this worthy cause benefitting youth.

WATCH: Father of Wisconsin RB Julius Davis speaks at Big Ten protest

The father of the Badger RB was on hand at the protest in Illinois

Yesterday at the Big Ten offices in Illinois, parents from multiple schools gathered to express their frustration with how the conference handled the postponement of the fall sports season.

The Wisconsin representative was Dornaj Davis, the father of Wisconsin RB Julius Davis. Davis made arguments surrounding why he felt it was in some ways safer for the players to play the season rather than being on a college campus without football.

“Us individuals, if we get sick, that’s the only way we’re getting tested. So, it’s not safe for them to not play,” said Davis. “So they’re not spreading it as much if they’re playing and (not) socializing as much with their classmates and the outside world. I know that for a fact, because my son was COVID-19  (positive). He got it when he was at home with his friends, not in school.”

Here is the full video of Davis speaking to the media:

(Video via Ryan Glasspiegel of Outkick)

Here is what the parents of Big Ten athletes were asking for in today’s protest

The parents of Big Ten athletes gathered today in protest of the Big Ten’s lack of transparency

Earlier this morning, a group of Big Ten parents representing a myriad of schools within the conference, including Wisconsin, met outside the Big Ten offices in Illinois to protest the cancellation of the fall season.

On the surface, it may have appeared as though the gathering had the sole intention of bringing fall sports back for the fall semester, but a leader of the parent group Randy Wade, the father of OSU CB Shaun Wade, had a different message.

“The reason we’re here is that we want to have conversations,” Wade, the father of Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade, told reporters gathered at the protest. “It’s simple. We want to play in the fall, but regardless of the fall, we want to have conversations in the spring.”

There were many different schools represented, including the Badgers as Dorian Davis, the father of Wisconsin RB Julius Davis, participated in the protest.

The message was less about pressuring the conference to reinstate the fall sports season, and more about communication. There were multiple speakers who felt it was vehemently unfair that their children and parents themselves were not included in a decision that so directly affects them. The lack of information and transparency really bothered parents from around the conference.

“These kids have virtually self-quarantined for three months and worked their tails off and done everything the NCAA and the university have asked them to do,” said Jeff Borland, the father of Ohio State LB Tuf Borland. “To have the rug pulled out from underneath them at the last minute with really no additional information is really a shame.”

According to Ryan Glasspiegel of OutKick, who was on hand in Illinois, protestors were being kept off of Big Ten property by police and there has yet to be any meeting between Big Ten officials and parents.

Although all the parents are asking for is an open dialogue and conversation surrounding a difficult issue, the Big Ten has not yet provided additional information since Commissioner Kevin Warren released his later a few days ago.