Iowa Football Notebook: Anthem Decision Up to Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The discussion started this summer. It continued into the fall. It led Iowa Football to decide how it will handle pregame acknowledgement of social injustice during the national anthem.

Sophomore receiver Tyrone Tracy told the media on Tuesday that coach Kirk Ferentz will allow each player to choose how he addresses the pregame ritual. He can stand or kneel.

Tracy will be kneeling.

“It’s very big to me, personally, just because I know how African-Americans are treated in the United States. So me taking the knee will show everyone what I stand for and believe in. That is what I believe in. I do think there are things going on in the world that need some change,” he said.

Kneeling became a controversial topic when former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt for the anthem back in 2016, creating a movement for recognizing racial injustice in the country. Opponents, including President Donald Trump, argued that the action was disrespectful the military fighting to protect citizens.

Racial unrest grew this summer after George Floyd died while in custody of the Minneapolis Police. Protests sprung up around the country, including in Iowa City, where Hawkeyes like Djimon Colbert and Ivory Kelly-Martin marched.

The Iowa program underwent an external review this summer that showed racial bias in it. An internal review in early ’19 revealed the same. Longtime strength coach Chris Doyle was removed from his position in June as the coach most often named for mistreatment.

While not all the Hawkeyes are of the same mind when it comes to the anthem, discussions have led to understanding of opposing feelings.

“My opinion is my opinion. I think everyone is going to respect everyone else’s (position),” linebacker Nick Niemann said. “There’s no one that’s right or wrong. With everything that’s happened this offseason, we’ve just focused on listening and understanding other people and respecting them. Whatever guys do, that’s their choice and everyone is going to respect it.

“We’ve agreed that that’s best for everyone on the team.”

Ferentz, who opposed kneeling for the anthem back in ’17, expressed more acceptance of it in June and hoped his student-athletes would decide to either stand or kneel as a team. He’s stepped back from that stance after hearing from two members of the military. They had opposing views on the anthem approach.

“As it comes home to our leadership group, the discussions I listened to and participated in, on three separate occasions were extremely impressive. Everybody was respectful of each other’s opinions, and I’m convinced right now that we’ll see a variety of stances taken by our team,” Ferentz said.

“Nobody is judging each other. Nobody is taking roll, any of that kind of stuff. They’re acting like a team should. I’m extremely impressed with the way the guys have handled it.”

The Hawkeyes plan on holding hands or resting hands on each other’s shoulders during the anthem, showing unity while allowing for individualism.

“We are a team and we’re going to do it together,” Tracy said.

INJURY UPDATE: Ferentz said he was not going to share his team’s injuries this week but would update health after Saturday’s game. The move is being made for competitive reasons so as not to provide Purdue with a roster update.

“Injury-wise, I’m really not going to disclose anything right now. It’s like any game. We have some guys that are out,” Ferentz said. “Once we get through the first game I’ll talk a little bit more about that.”

Continue reading below

Related In HawkeyeNation Articles

November 18, 2020 — Keith Duncan Stays Humble, Confident

Keith Duncan has fun with the media interviews, but the Iowa kicker has learned plenty of humility throughout his career. Go back to the 2017 season, when he was a sophomore coming off a season in which he was the Hawkeyes’ primary kicker, delivering a game-winning field goal to defeat Michigan on a Saturday night…

The coach did speak in general terms about his team’s health.

“We still had more soft-tissue issues than we would like to and we’ve even had some surgeries on
bones in a foot, those kinds of things; more younger players. I don’t know what you attribute that to,” Ferentz said.

“There’s a reason why you train, and it allows you to practice better, and hopefully practice allows you to play better. One thing about that topic, everybody has dealt with the same challenges.”

O-LINE DEPTH: The latest depth chart lists Alaric Jackson, Cole Banwart, Tyler Linderbaum, Kyler Schott and Coy Cronk as offensive line starters. Ferentz says guys like Mark Kallenberger, Cody Ince and Justin Britt remain in the mix for playing time, however.

“We have some competition going on, and I really don’t know who’s going to start on the offensive line. You’ll probably see some rotation going on because I think those guys are so close there’s not really a reason not to play some of the guys some multiple reps,” Ferentz said.

QUICK-HITTERS: This week’s Iowa captains will be Mekhi Sargent, Linderbaum, Chauncey Golston, Nick Niemann and Keith Duncan…sports information director Steve Roe informed the media prior to Tuesday’s press conference that Ferentz would not be commenting on eight former players asking for his firing and money from the school for abuse they’re alleging they suffered while in the program. The group is threatening legal action…The Boilermakers will honor the life and legacy of former vice president and director of athletics Morgan J. Burke with a sticker on the rear of their helmets this season. Burke passed away June 15 after a year-long battle with amyloidosis (a rare disease that occurs when an abnormal protein builds up in organs and interferes with their normal function).