Michigan Football: What If These Players Take A Knee?

As the NFL gets ragged on for protesting during (or sometimes before) the national anthem, we should be prepared for Michigan football doing it too.

Almost exactly a year ago, I was photographing an event in downtown Indianapolis, and I took a knee during the national anthem… to change my lens. As soon as I did it, though, I realized what some around me might be thinking: That scumbag doesn’t respect the flag!

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Keep in mind, that was a full year ago. Back then, we were still almost solely focused on Colin Kaepernick, while charging toward one of the most polarizing presidential elections in American history. If I had knelt to change my lens 365 days later, I have no doubt I would have been running more of a risk.

As someone who doesn’t watch a lot of NFL—and I definitely don’t have a team I cheer for—I never really had to wrestle with “my team” using one of the largest platforms offered in American society to bring attention to racial injustice. As a Michigan fan, the closest I came was when a group of black players raised their fists during the anthem on Sept. 25 before playing Penn State.

Jim Harbaugh, who had earlier said he supported Kaepernick’s motivation but not his method, was sort of blandly supportive, saying he supported his players’ rights to freedom of expression. And then it was over.

Last Friday, President Donald Trump told a crowd in Huntsville, Alabama that NFL players who kneel for the anthem should be fired. The next day, Michigan played Purdue. There weren’t reports of players protesting, and that topic was only brought up after the game to Harbaugh, who said Trump should “check the Constitution.”

Since then, though, anthem protests in the NFL have become bigger than the games themselves. Everyone and their uncle has a Facebook post about whether it’s right or wrong to do so. This thing is only gaining momentum, and as long as racial inequality doesn’t end before next week, it’ll still be a national discussion when the Wolverines play Michigan State on Oct. 7.

Will any players kneel? Raise their fists? Talk about it before or after the game? This Saturday’s slate of college football games should at least give us an indication of how it might play out. Even if there are only a few instances of player protests, they would be bound to garner media attention, elevating them to being part of the nation-wide scope of events. In that case, don’t be surprised to see some Michigan players do something next week. (Current players Devin Bush, Mike McCray, Khalid Hill and Elysee Mbem-Bosse were part of the group that raised their fists last season.)

A very informal survey of the way anthem protests are talked about among Michigan fans on social media doesn’t leave me hopeful for the way it would be handled. After Harbaugh went against Trump in his post game press conference, I saw a lot of people say something like, “I love Coach Harbaugh, but…”

Disclosure: I support the anthem protests and believe it’s unfortunate that the gesture has been hijacked in the NFL.

With still another week before this could even happen, it’s very possible that the narrative will change. We’ve already seen that happen in the NFL, where a movement that started as a protest of police brutality has been warped into a stance against the president saying they should be fired (while owners get involved because how dare someone try to mess with our money).

In any case, Michigan player(s) kneeling would stand to steal the show from the game itself, unless it’s anything like 2015, which—please, no. And in all likelihood, it seems fans would talk the next week about that social activism, with the result of the game being an asterisk.

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My point here isn’t to tell you what to say or think if that does happen, but rather simply to be ready for it. Be ready for people to claim they’ll never watch another Michigan football game as long they live, and be ready for Michigan to become part of a national discussion that has nothing to do with winning football games.