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Greetings from “Can’t Wait For Saturday,” your morning morsel of college football, courtesy of longtime Illini beat writer, AP Top 25 voter and Heisman state rep Bob Asmussen. He’ll give you his views each day on the game he loves.
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Schools in Florida have many advantages when it comes to building football programs. The weather is warm. There is a tradition of success at Florida and Florida, with each owning national titles. The state is loaded with talented players, who help programs both at home and across the country.
But the politics in the state could cause some major headaches for all the teams in Florida.
The NAACP, in a letter to NCAA president Charlie Baker, asked Black student-athletes to reconsider attending public colleges in Florida.
At issue is the state’s decision to ban public funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs at state schools.
The University of Florida in Gainesville recently eliminated its DEI program.
The call from the NAACP has powerful backers including Emmitt Smtih, who starred at Florida before a Hall of Fame career in the NFL.
While reconsider does’t mean don’t go there, it is easy to imagine the letter impacting the ability of Florida schools to recruit the top players. And it also informs other states that may or not be considering similar legislation.
While Florida State is coming off a banner season where it just missed the College Football Playoffs, the Florida program is not in a happy place.The Gators have had three consecutive losing seasons under Dan Mullen and Billy Napier.
If the Gators miss out on players because of the state’s legislation, the fans won’t be pleased. Important to remember the fans are also voters.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out and if the state itself reconsiders its…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/cant-wait-saturday-florida-decision-145800100.html
Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
Publish date : 2024-03-13 14:58:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
