Tag: Big Ten United

Equality: Ohio State football to have something new on the back of its helmets this year

The Ohio State football team has collectively decided to put these words on the back of their iconic silver helmets for 2020.

Several Big Ten teams will be enhancing their uniforms with nods towards social justice and equality this fall. Ohio State is no different. The Big Ten released a statement on Friday, announcing the launch of the “United as One” campaign across its member schools to give the student-athletes a voice and continue to shed light on social justice and an end to racism.

“All things are possible in the Big Ten when we unite as one,” said Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren in the statement. “I am humbled and deeply appreciative of how our 14 member institutions have communicated, collaborated and committed to develop a conference-wide campaign focused on creating equality and equity in our society.”

And when it comes to Ohio State, the players have decided to add the word “Equality” to the back bubble of the football helmet that usually has the word “Buckeyes” spelled out.

“With everything that’s been going on with social justice and stuff, what we decided to do as a team — we’re going to have “Equality” stated on everybody’s helmet during the game on this little bubble right here,” said team captain Jonathon Cooper. “We decided equality because I think it represents all of us, just together, our family and stuff.

“Equality is a good word to put to sum up all of the ideas and all the things we’re thinking in the Buckeye culture and in the locker room,” said defensive end Zach Harrison. “Everybody’s equal, regardless of race or where you came from, background, this that or the other. It’ll be a great thing for the country to follow our footsteps and how we treat each other in the locker room at Ohio state.

Get a look at how this will all look by watching the video the Ohio State Football Twitter account shared on Friday.

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#BigTenUnited: The players of the Big Ten Conference are calling for a plan that ensures their safety

More than 1,000 Big Ten players have called on the conference to ensure their safety.

(This post was originally published by Asher Low at Badgers Wire.)

Today the Big Ten released a new, conference-only schedule that has the college football world buzzing. The start of the season is supposedly just a month away, although until any season begins there are questions that transcend any football game that must be answered.

This morning, over 1,000 Big Ten football players joined together to write an article in the Players’ Tribune that details the need for the NCAA to come up with a plan that can keep athletes safe during a college football season this fall.

Many Badgers are a part of this significant coalition of athletes. The claim of the players is that the NCAA has taken a “laissez-faire” approach in preparing for a return to play that keeps athletes safe. The athletes are saying that now, with only 30 days until the supposed Big Ten 2020 opener, there is no time to wait to have needed dialogue. Instead of just saying that the conversation needed to begin, the coalition of players went ahead and started that conversation in the article through what they are calling the “Big Ten Unity Proposal.”

The proposal lists safety protocols that the athletes deem necessary, testing, contract tracing, and other procedures related to those tests, as well as the NCAA/individual schools committing to protecting scholarships if in fact the season is shut down in the fall.

The Big Ten proposal comes on the heels of a similar Players Tribune article from athletes in the Pac-12 conference. Athletes are coming together to start conversations that the NCAA has largely avoided until now, and if a safe season can be played, it will be this type of dialogue that gets us there.