Louisville Football Not Experiencing Student-Athlete Pushback in Regards to Playing in 2020

Many programs across the nation have dealt with players opting out of the 2020 season due to issues related to health & safety practices or stances on racial injustice. Thanks to their approaches on both, Louisville is not one of them.

While conferences continue to hammer out the logistics surrounding the prospect of playing college football during a pandemic, the student-athletes involved are starting to raise their voices of concern and force themselves into the conversations.

On Sunday, hundreds of football players from the Pac-12 Conference announced they will opt out of any upcoming training camps and games unless the league negotiates with them and reaches a legal agreement regarding health and safety practices, while also addressing issues of racial injustice and economic inequality.

While many programs across the country are experiencing pushback from players due to health standards during COVID-19 or allowing open dialogues on injustices, defensive coordinator Bryan Brown believes Louisville is not one of them.

"Our guys are good," Brown said in a teleconference with reporters Monday. "They're ready to get rolling. They're excited about the season, excited about coming out and making this team better than it was last year."

During a time of strife regarding race relations in America, both players and coaches alike for the Cardinals have been in front of the issue. Players have been encouraged to use their platform as a student-athlete to speak out when they see fit, cornerback Anthony Johnson led a peaceful protest with teammates, coaches and support staff, and head coach Scott Satterfield has had open communication when addressing the issues of racial injustice, police brutality and racism.

"I think our players are doing a good job of expressing themselves and having conversations with people on the staff," Brown said. "We've always said our players have the platforms to be able to speak out and voice their opinions."

Not only that, but the program has also been on top of maintaining a safe and healthy working environment during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It also helps that the players acknowledge the repercussions from not following the new procedures and are completely bought in.

"I think our staff has done an outstanding job helping these guys with the social distancing while they're here," Brown said. "This is no doubt one of the safest places they can be since we're doing all the tests and things of that nature."

Due to the program being on top of health and safety practices during the pandemic, Brown does not envision anyone on the roster deciding to opt out for the 2020 season like others across the nation have done.

"If that's something they want to do, I'm pretty sure that Coach Satterfield will have some type of answer for those guys and give those guys that option," Brown said. "But as of right now, I do not see any of those guys opting out."

Louisville is scheduled to begin their fall camp tomorrow on Tuesday, August 4 at 9:30am EST.

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