Parent of Pac-12 player says son, others 'released' from team after sharing #WeAreUnited graphic
Washington State got the attention of the college football world on Sunday as it was reported that players were released from the team for sharing graphics promoting the #WeAreUnited Pac-12 players campaign. As always, there are two sides to the story.
A widely-shared tweet by Theo Watson of Washington newspaper The Spokesman-Review showed a parent of a Washington State player saying that his son was “released” for being “part of that movement, part of all the unity moment and what’s going on…”
During our phone call, Kassidy Woods’ father, John, paraphrased what #WSU coach Nick Rolovich told his son. pic.twitter.com/thwp2ZRUQt
— Theo Lawson (@TheoLawson_SR) August 2, 2020
Am told multiple other #WSU players who shared the “#WeAreUnited” graphics have been released from the team, as well. https://t.co/OA0Hg3aroo
— Theo Lawson (@TheoLawson_SR) August 2, 2020
Earlier that day, Woods’ mother had replied to Lawson saying her son was “cut” from the team.
This is a BOLDFACED LIE!! Multiple players cut and told to clean out their lockers. Our son @Kassidy7Woods (WR) who was the 1st to get cut, yesterday. He was told it would send mixed msgs to the team, having him around. Today it was confirmed by the AD! @NickRolovich @pat_chun
— Jerline Woods (@mrsjawjr) August 2, 2020
As that story spread, WSU’s side of the story was offered in reports by Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports and Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic. Washington State said the players had opted out and that was why they were told to clean out their lockers and not use team facilities.
The situation at Washington State boils down to this: Players who’ve requested to opt out of the season can’t take part in any team activities. You can’t choose to opt out for health and safety reasons and still lift, practice and be in locker room/weight room.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 2, 2020
Source tells @TheAthleticCFB that Wazzu has not revoked any scholarships from athletes who chose to opt out of the fall season for health/safety reasons. They, like the rest of the Pac-12, are guaranteeing scholarships for those athletes for next year.
— Nicole Auerbach 😷 (@NicoleAuerbach) August 2, 2020
The conflicting reports left some unsatisfied.
i mean, i don’t know who told pete this but clearly someone is lying. https://t.co/oPIgIdbNgy
— bomani (@bomani_jones) August 2, 2020
could be wrong, but it feels like there’s a difference between “if you opt out, you can’t do any team activities” and “if you’re part of the unity movement, clean out your locker — and you might be done with us forever” pic.twitter.com/QXNXTsX5Pv
— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) August 2, 2020
An important development came from Lawson, who tweeted to clarify that no players were “cut” from the WSU football team or lost scholarships.
Just to reiterate, #WSU‘s Kassidy Woods was not “cut” from the team. That would indicate he lost his scholarship. But he was asked to clean out his locker, according to his dad, and it’s Woods’ understanding he can’t currently participate in team activities.
— Theo Lawson (@TheoLawson_SR) August 2, 2020
Kassidy Woods, according to his father, has preexisting medical conditions that made him hesitant about playing this season. Nick Rolovich was understanding of that. John Woods reiterated multiple times, though, Rolovich did take issue with his participation in the movement.
— Theo Lawson (@TheoLawson_SR) August 2, 2020
It will be interesting to see if first-year Washington State coach Nick Rolovich publicly addresses his reported criticism of players supporting the #WeAreUnited campaign.
