College players raise their fists

Football players for Michigan and Michigan State, along with a group of students at North Carolina, raised their fists during the national anthem Saturday.

The gestures at the games come after a week punctuated by riots in Charlotte, N.C., and the killing of an unarmed black man in Tulsa, Okla.

Three Michigan State players — Delton Williams, Kenney Lyke and Gabe Sherrod — held their right fists in the air while standing on the sideline before the No. 8 Spartans hosted No. 11 Wisconsin.

“Whether somebody salutes, puts their hand over their heart or does something else, everybody has a choice to make,” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio added after the Spartans’ 30-6 loss. “Our young people are in college, and I can promise you one thing, that when the flag is presented in some respect, I guess it becomes much more important now. It’s not just, oh by the way, we’ll just stand for ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’ ”

Several players for No. 4 Michigan also had their fists up before facing Penn State in Ann Arbor, Mich. Among them were Khalid Hill, Mike McCray, Devin Bush, Elysee MbemBosse and Jourdan Lewis.

The University of Michigan is six miles from Eastern Michigan University, where chanting students marched on the field Friday night after the school’s 27-24 victory over Wyoming. The students were protesting racist graffiti on the campus earlier in the week.

Before North Carolina hosted Pittsburgh, students wearing black shirts remained seated with fists raised. Some 60 to 70 black and white students participated.