USA TODAY International Edition
FSU football player explains criticism of coach
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Senior Marvin Wilson has spoken up after tweeting early Thursday that Florida State football coach Mike Norvell lied.
Wilson, a standout defensive tackle for the Seminoles, made it known that he was unhappy with Norvell after the head coach told The Athletic he had back- and- forth conversations with his entire team about the ongoing racial justice in America.
“We got a generated text that was sent to everybody,” Wilson tweeted. “There was no one on one talk between us and coach. This is a lie and me and my teammates as a whole are outraged and we will not be working out until further notice.”
The team and staff gathered for a meeting Thursday morning that was regarded as positive by FSU athletic director David Coburn. A number of Seminoles took to Twitter to share their support for Norvell and the FSU staff.
After the meeting, Wilson tweeted he has moved on from any ill will toward Norvell:
“Took A stand we got what we wanted & we are moving forward!!! I appreciate @ Coach_ Norvell for encouraging me to use my platform and speak for what me and my teammates believe In. Be the change that you needed when you was growing up.
“Coming back around full circle, yesterday I took a stand that was not only for me and FSU football, not even for athletes in general. It was for Big George Floyd, black people in general, for the oppression that we’ve been going through for over 400 years.
“I want to say shout out to Colin Kaepernick for being the first athlete I ever saw really take a stand for something he believes in. And I believe thoroughly that black people have been oppressed for way too long.”
Norvell issued a statement praising Wilson for “utilizing his platform to express his reaction to my comments in an earlier interview.”
“Last Saturday evening, I sent a text to each player individually to present an opportunity for open communication with me. Many members of our team chose to respond and have more indepth conversations about issues and feeling,” Norvell continued. “Marvin is right. It was a mistake to use the ‘ every’. Particularly, at this time, words are important, and I’m sorry.”
Wilson, a five star recruit, is from Houston. While Floyd was in Minnesota when he died in police custody May 25, he originally is from Houston.
Wilson went on to explain three things that came out of the team meeting Thursday morning.
First off, Wilson explained that every member of the FSU football team is going to be registered to vote for the upcoming election, saying, “We’re going to have our say so on this next election.”
Secondly, Wilson said FSU is going to do more fundraising as a program that will donate money to organizations that send black children to colleges, adding,
“We need more doctors, we need more lawyers, we need more politicians, we need more people with say so of color.”
Finally, Wilson said that the football team is going to do more fundraising to support the underprivileged children of Tallahassee and the surrounding area.
“I’ve been in Tallahassee for four years now and so many schools in Tallahassee are below the poverty line,” Wilson said. “You’ve got some schools that are almost 100% on free lunch. We’ve got fifth- grade kids taking care of their first- or second- grade little brother or sister, their mama out working all night long trying to provide, to keep the lights on at night, different things like that. It really ain’t fair.”
Corrections & Clarifications
A Colin Kaepernick photo caption that accompanied a column in Wednesday’s edition about how NFL teams responded to # BlackoutTuesday misstated the circumstance of the quarterback’s departure from the 49ers. He opted out of his contract.