Bama Central

Mississippi State Running Back Kylin Hill Won't Play Unless Mississippi Changes State Flag

The Best of Sports Illustrated takes a long look at growing outcry to change he state flag of Mississippi and the banning of the Confederate flag by NASCAR

Christopher Walsh

Sports Illustrated

The controversy surrounding use the Confederate flag and the state flag of Mississippi has continued to ramp up, but may have reached a new level on Monday. 

Several Mississippi State coaches and school officials have come out in support of changing the state flag, which has  three equal horizontal bands of blue, white, and red, with a red square in the canton (where the stars are on the American flag) bearing the Confederate battle flag. 

MSU running back Kylin Hill took to Twitter and insisted that the state flag be changed.

"Either change the flag or I won't be representing this State anymore," Hill posted. "I meant that..I'm tired."

Hill was the SEC's leading rusher last season, finishing with 1,350 yards on the ground and 10 touchdowns. Hill also caught 18 passes for 180 yards and another score.

The NCAA Board of Governors announced Friday that it has expanded its Confederate Flag policy to prevent any NCAA championship event from being played in states where the symbol has a prominent presence.

The news of the policy change, which Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger first reported on Friday morning, only affects the state of Mississippi, per the NCAA.

"There is no place in college athletics or the world for symbols or acts of discrimination and oppression,” said Michael V. Drake, chair of the board and president of the Ohio State University. “We must continually evaluate ways to protect and enhance the championship experience for college athletes. Expanding the Confederate flag policy to all championships is an important step by the NCAA to further provide a quality experience for all participants and fans.” 

The NCAA's decision comes just over 12 hours removed from SEC commissioner Greg Sankey's call to action Thursday evening: "It is past time for change to be made to the flag of the State of Mississippi." 

The league announced that barring a change it will not host and championship events in the state. Conference USA has done likewise.

Ole Miss has called for a change as well: Chancellor Glenn Boyce and vice chancellor for Intercollegiate athletics Keith Carter also issued a statement saying, "The University of Mississippi community concluded years ago that the Confederate battle flag did not represent many of our core values, such as civility and respect for others. In 2015, the university stopped flying the state flag over our campus. Mississippi needs a flag that represents the qualities about our state that unite us, not those that still divide us. We support the SEC's position for changing the Mississippi state flag to an image that is more welcoming and inclusive for all people."

Meanwhile, NASCAR announced announced on June 10 it would prohibit the presence of the Confederate flag from all events and properties.

However, someone flew a Confederate flag behind a plane of Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday before the race was postponed due to weather, and flags were both on display and being sold outside of the race grounds.   

NASCAR is launching an investigation after a noose was found in Bubba Wallace's garage at Talladega Superspeedway, the league announced in a statement Sunday.

On Monday, federal authorities confirmed they are investigating the incident, and he FBI was on-site ahead of Monday afternoon's race.

Powerful reaction 

ESPN's Mary Smith went off on whoever put a noose in Bubba Wallace’s garage.

“This sport is moving forward,” Smith said. “This sport is in a progressive mod. This sport is in a moment where this crap, this despicable crap, is not only not acceptable, but there’s just no place for it. Whomever that is, I hope that you are so ashamed of yourself. I hope that you realize that that is someone’s dignity and that is someone’s positioning in this sport, who has earned his place by talent and by hard work and he stood up for something that he believed. He asked for help from other people who believe similarly. The measures were taken to start taking those steps.

“And then we come down here, to a place that I love—I love Talladega, Alabama, it’s my favorite place on the NASCAR tour, it’s my favorite race, I love the staff here—and then something like this happens?! In the garage area?! In the garage area of Richard Petty’s racecar?! For a young man in Bubba Wallace who has galvanized so many people because he was willing to stand up for something that is so long overdue and NASCAR’s current management agrees that it was time to take this stand. And then somebody goes and does this. You’re not just hurting one or two people, whomever you are. You’re hurting a whole lot of people who made the decision that it’s damn sure time to go be better. And it pisses me the hell off and it pisses everybody else in the sport off who care, who care not only for Bubba but for every other person who he is standing up for. I am so sorry that we even have to have this discussion tonight.”

Smith added that he was told by a “senior NASCAR official” that the person responsible will be banished from sport. Here's the entire video:

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• Heat big man Bam Adebayo thinks life in the NBA bubble will be better than the months-long layoff. 

• A Connor McDavid rookie card sold for a record-breaking $135,000. 

• A Russian soccer team decimated by COVID-19 was forced to play a lineup averaging 17 years old and lost 10–1.

This story will be updated ...

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Christopher Walsh
CHRISTOPHER WALSH

Christopher Walsh is the founder and publisher of BamaCentral, which first published in 2018. He's covered the Crimson Tide since 2004, and is the author of 26 books including Decade of Dominance, 100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Nick Saban vs. College Football, and Bama Dynasty: The Crimson Tide's Road to College Football Immortality. He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest writing honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Previous beats include the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, along with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally from Minnesota and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he currently resides in Tuscaloosa.

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