George Floyd’s murder led recruits to question coaches. The answers have helped USC
J. Brady McCullough (LA Times) — A year ago, Domani Jackson (left) saw a side of America that had existed to him only in history books. A child of mixed race, he had grown up on West Coast Marine bases where interracial marriages were commonplace, and it was within that inclusive bubble that he grew into one of the best high school football players in the country.
At the close of his sophomore year at Santa Ana Mater Dei, all of the nation’s big-time college programs were circling the top cornerback in the 2022 recruiting class. What none of his suitors could have known then was how the murder of George Floyd by a police officer on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis would end up altering their pursuit of a player who lived in Southern California.
The nationwide protest that defined the pandemic summer would find its way into the living rooms of the Los Angeles area’s top young football players. Two weeks after Floyd’s death, Ceyair Wright (below), a coveted cornerback prospect in this year’s class, reached out to Jackson and 16 other Southland recruits about participating in a video that told the world how they felt about police brutality and racial injustice.
On June 18, the players posted the video on social media.
“Throughout history,” Wright began, “African Americans have faced seemingly insurmountable adversities. We’ve been beaten, killed and discriminated against.”
“We can’t ever be the same,” Jackson said.
When the group released their video, college football players spurred by Floyd‘s murder already were turning into activists for the first time, challenging their coaches not just to listen but to change. As groundbreaking as that was, a bunch of high school kids finding their voices together while they still held the power in the dynamic with college coaches — I can choose to play for you … or not — was earthshaking.
“This is going to revolutionize recruiting,” Paul Finebaum, a radio host who daily commands college football’s zeitgeist from the Southeast perspective, predicted to The Times last June. “This is the embryonic stage of a movement that very well could change this sport for the next generation. … The great debate now is going to exist out there: Who is going to be able to adapt? What coaches are capable of this?”
There has been only a year to assess the impact of Floyd’s murder and Black Lives Matter on the makeup of college football rosters, but there are telling data points. Among the 14 members of the Class of 2021 who participated in Wright’s video, 11 chose to stay in the Pac-12, including seven who signed with USC (thanks in large part to CB coach Donte Williams), which had been struggling in recent years to lock down local talent.
Defensive end Korey Foreman (left), the No. 1 player in the class, flipped from Clemson to USC. Top linebacker Raesjon Davis dropped Louisiana State in favor of the Trojans.
Starting June 1, programs can welcome 2022 recruits to campus for the first time since the pandemic began, which will put to the test five-star CB Domani Jackson’s USC commitment.
Jackson has a June 17 visit scheduled at Alabama, which will not go down quietly when it comes to the No. 4 overall recruit in the 2022 class according to the 247 Sports Composite Rankings. It’s wild to think that Nick Saban’s dynasty and NFL riches factory will be at a competitive disadvantage in any recruitment, but there are certain variables that are out of the legendary coach’s control in the aftermath of the Floyd protests — like the school’s location in the heart of Dixie.
“Racism is something he’s never really been exposed to,” says Randy Jackson, Domani’s father and a retired Marine.
“That is going to play a part in it, to see how comfortable Domani feels, not necessarily on campus but the surrounding areas. We haven’t lived in the South. We know as far as going to SC, it’s very diverse, so that’s not a major issue. But in the South, diversity can be a little different.”
Among the 14 members of the Class of 2021 who participated in Wright’s video, 11 chose to stay in the Pac-12, including seven who signed with USC
Wright, who chose USC in January, did not include any Southern schools among his finalists. It wasn’t a coincidence.
“If I was at a school where they’re not on the side that I am as far as social injustices, those are things that are probably immediate deal breakers,” Wright says. “I think watching coaches’ interviews and reading the team statements, you can start to figure out where people stand.”
Yes, today’s recruits really are watching, now fully aware of their agency and the weight of their choices to reward coaches whose actions align with their words.
Last summer, it quickly became the expectation that coaches would say something on behalf of their programs on social media. Some coaches, however, seemed like they were going out of their way to send contrary messages, like Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, who wore a shirt that said “Football matters” during the heart of Black Lives Matter protests. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy posted a photo of himself wearing a shirt featuring the logo of the far-right One America News Network. The Cowboys’ star running back, Chuba Hubbard, publicly called out his coach, which prompted a Gundy apology.
Other coaches reacted with a supportive message. Washington coach Jimmy Lake was among the first to weigh in.
Ceyair Wright — If I was at a school where they’re not on the side that I am as far as social injustices, those are things that are probably immediate deal breakers.”
“I remember poring over what I wanted to say, lying in bed late at night, trying to get the words together,” says Lake, who is of mixed race.
Given stringent pandemic protocols, there was a limit to what Lake could do for his players. He couldn’t see them in person, much less hug them. He decided the first course of action was to register every Husky player to vote in last year’s election, a mission Washington accomplished.
“We don’t want this to happen to anybody ever again, for that police officer to get into that position that he’s in, that he was allowed to have his job,” Lake said. “What I came up with is, we need to educate our players on how to vote. Not just at the presidential level, but at the local level. That’s direct change to your community.”
At Oregon, coach Mario Cristobal attended a campus Black Lives Matter protest in the days after Floyd’s murder. He says he wanted his presence there to be “nondescript” so he could focus on listening. On June 3, one of Oregon’s star defensive players, Jevon Holland, said he would not play the 2020 season unless the school renamed a campus building named for Matthew Deady, the school’s first president of the board of regents who was known to hold racist views. Three weeks later, the school removed Deady’s name.
“That was a real strong indication of what positive change is,” Cristobal says. “People are going to feel upset, angry, frustrated, but how does it turn into positive change?”
Herm Edwards, the ever-voluble Arizona State coach, says hiring a diverse coaching staff has been a boon this year to programs that value equality in opportunity. The Sun Devils have six assistant coaches of color, including four African Americans.
“With Zoom, what it really provided us, we could have everyone in our organization be a part of it, and all of a sudden, you see all these faces in the boxes all at one time,” Edwards says. “You look at these people and you realize, ‘Wow, that’s a diverse group of people.’ And it’s kind of shocking for some of [the recruits] when they see it.”
Top 2022 wide receiver Larry Turner-Gooden, one of the young Southern Californians who spoke out in the video last summer, committed to Arizona State over Alabama and others. He plans to visit the Crimson Tide, but, as with Jackson, Saban and his staff have an uphill climb.
“You’ve got a more African American coaching staff over there at Arizona State,” says Turner-Gooden, who attends Playa del Rey St. Bernard High. “That was a huge part too. I feel when I’m at ASU, I’m comfortable. If I were to get into some situation [with police], I know that the coaching staff would back me up. They already know how it’s going to go and how it’s going to look.”
At USC, the hiring of defensive backs coach Donte Williams from Oregon after the 2019 season has been the catalyst of a recruiting renaissance for coach Clay Helton. Williams, noted as one of the top recruiters nationally in this region, is from Los Angeles and played at Culver City High.
“Domani sees Donte as an older version of himself,” Randy Jackson says.
“Donte is hard to say no to,” says Rashad Davis, the father of Raesjon Davis.
Rashad paid attention as college football programs reacted to Floyd’s murder and did not come away convinced of coaches’ authenticity.
“Kind of fake,” he said. “I just think a lot of coaches should be more involved with the kids and where they come from. It would make things easier for parents sending their kids off somewhere. You might know the coach, you might not. He may show you a certain way when he is recruiting you, but once your kid signs that piece of paper, he’s a completely different person.”
It wasn’t anything against LSU, but Raesjon decided USC was the better fit. The Trojans have benefited more than any program from the changing priorities of the last year, and they are hoping to harness that momentum.
On the day the verdict in Floyd’s murder was announced last month, USC was scheduled to stage a spring practice. Helton postponed it to another day and invited the players inside the McKay Center for a conversation to air their feelings.
Football could wait.
__________
Double-Threat USC QB Jaxson Dart named Gatorade National HS Player of the Year Ryan Young (Yahoo Sports) — Jaxson Dart created a big buzz with his exciting performance during USC’s spring practice last month, which likely obscured the fact that he was one of the Trojans’ early enrollee freshmen who would otherwise still be wrapping up his SR year of HS. That point was reiterated Wednesday as Dart was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year for his historic season at Corner Canyon HS in Draper, Utah. Dart passed for 4,691 yds and 67 TDS in the fall, leading… Read more »
Extreme Left, extreme right. Where are my fellow moderates?
I like to think of myself as a pragmatic, I don’t care who’s idea it is as long as it works.
John, I was not going to respond, but I will offer this. I think race relations in our country are now worse than they have been in the last 50 years. I think they were better in the 1960’s than now. Then we had hope for racial reconciliation. At that time, Martin Luther King Jr. offered the paradigm of Christianity and the American Revolution to seek to reconcile the races. Unfortunately, it failed (or more precisely was abandoned). Dr. King’s paradigm has been replaced by a combination Marxist racism (make no mistake BLM is both racist and Marxist) and post-modern… Read more »
A thousand upvotes for you RJJ
TRJJ, I remember the 60s, too young to be too high but old enough to remember. Racism was horrible then. Assignations, Riots, Red Lining, Lack of Opportunity. Things are much better now. Most people understand who BLM and Antifa are especially in the Black community. Their extremism will be the end of them . What seems to be happening is a more nuanced conversations about what it is like to be black now in America. I am hopeful it will lead to better conditions in poor neighborhoods. Intellectuals and their theories will come and go. Practical loving people will prevail.… Read more »
You can thank Barack Hussein Obama for taking race relations backward. He made it point to create division in this country using identity politics, which has been used by Democrat Party for decades but not at these levels we’re seeing today. People use President Trump as the catalyst for racial division in this country, but anyone who states that is lying to you. The black community has always loved President Trump and citizen Trump for decades. Heck, he even fully funded the HBCU for decades, whereas, Obama made it clear that they had to crawl and grovel to him just… Read more »
you are not moderate LJ. Someone who is a true moderate in today’s climate of right path/wrong path and cannot decide what is the best path for he/she as a person to travel is an imbecile. LJ, you certainly are not an imbecile. Anyone with a decent IQ can make a decision according to their morals, standards, philosophies and world view.
And so the same 3 posters as previously chime in once again with their personal insults and radical viewpoints:
George Floyd was not murdered– ATL DDS
Naive high school seniors (re race relations) ATL DDS
Great comment Doc — Steveg
DDS is correct– PN4SC
50% of Republicans believe Floyd was not murdered, so the above three simply follow the company line. I am relieved that these guys are not involved with SC football recruiting.
I don’t know if the the cop in Minneapolis intentionally killed George Floyd or not, but he is going to jail for life, and I don’t see Republicans upset over it. Here is what I do know: America is not systemically racists White people are not inherently racist Cops are not gunning down innocent black men Schools are indoctrination kids with Marxists ideology BLM is a Marxists organization, that does not care about the plight of black people George Floyd was a career criminal who bears a lot of responsibility for what ultimately happened Joe Biden is more incompetent than… Read more »
Okay, I will jump in the fire here, PN4SC. There is systemic racism in America, almost entirely in the US Welfare System that keeps the poor, especially minorities, down. White people like myself have life struggles and think their life was no more difficult than the black guy and we have no idea of the added struggle they have. Black men come into contact with Cops more frequently than White guys. More chances for things to go south. The minimum standards for the worst performing Police depts and Police officers need to improve. I would tend to agree with. No… Read more »
Jeez LJ, so am I. I could not think of a head coach that would be harder to recruit for. But for all your social justice and division, you can call names because in the end that is all you have. Our viewpoints are not radical at all, they have been around for hundreds of years, even thousands. We simply have not subjected our minds to the endless line of BS from the far liberal left, which is simply attempting to dumb down and divide us, with the end result being a nation of minions, like yourself, spouting worthless comments… Read more »
In an earlier post regarding America’s history of black racism, some of the fulltime posters here took umbrage and pains to explain that that was not so, that other countries engage in discrimination, and if the U.S. is so bad why is our southern border inundated with floods of immigrants wanting to get in. Of course, those critical posters are white, with no personal experience of being at a disadvantage because of their skin color. And so now we hear from the black 18 year-old footballers and parents saying that despite schools such as LSU and Alabama being football hotbeds,… Read more »
At the end of the day, a bunch of naïve high school seniors; who haven’t lived enough life yet to have thoughtful opinions on much except the game of football which they play exceedingly well; who start repeating the talking points created from inaccurate information about St. George of Floyd by the leftist politicians and media that he was murdered. Instead, they will never let their minds be opened to the truth that this saintly thug in the final hour of his life, threatened a pregnant woman with a “your rent money or your life” proposition and then proceeded to… Read more »
Great comment Doc.
LJ, did you just finish indoctrination? What ever happened to accepting/not accepting a person based on their character? To much racial division, to much us and them.
LJ-Is every post of yours progressively more foolish than the previous one?
DDS is correct- these players are only kids, and very naïve. They have ben fed a lot of crap in schools by leftists educators, that will continually lie to them about America.
The day I am forced to attend a rally by a terrorists organization that supports Marxism, and is opposed to capitalism and the nuclear family, then it is time to find something else to do.
Why don’t all the George Floyd defenders mention he had been in prison 5 times?
Christian McCaffrey on his new team-mate, Sam Darnold (Colin Cowherd Show): “He’s a football guy. He wants to win. The only thing that’s on his mind is winning. He’s a very humble, great person. He treats everybody with respect. He doesn’t walk around like he is more important than everybody else. But at the end of the day, when it comes to practice, he knows what it takes to win. And a lot of that happens when you haven’t had success. And I know that from first-hand experience. “Getting to know both sides of him, the player and the person… Read more »