Jemele Hill Says Cancelled HBCU Football Games Cost Black Players Their Shot at the NFL: ‘If America Gets Sick, We Get Completely Ravaged’
HBCU players were shut out of the NFL Draft, despite historically being well-represented. Ten percent of the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame is comprised of players who attended HBCU schools.
But many have expressed frustration after no player from a historically black college and university was picked. Earlier this week, Hall-of-Famer Deion Sanders who now coaches HBCU Jackson State wrote on Instagram, “our kids are being neglected and rejected.”
Sports journalist Jemele Hill joined New York Times columnist Charles Blow to discuss the controversy. “When you’re at an HBCU and you don’t have the constant spotlight of the bigger programs…obviously there’s going to be some challenges in terms of how players are noticed,” the host of Jemele Hill is Unbothered said.
She also pointed to games and seasons being cancelled by the pandemic. “We have to be realistic about the battle HBCU football programs this year, many of them didn’t play at all.”
“This isn’t to give the NFL or scouting departments a pass, but we have to understand, much like is the case for Black people period in this country, if America gets sick, we get completely ravaged and I think that’s what you saw happen for a lot of the HBCU programs who were unable to play.”
Blow noted other players were drafted despite opting out of the 2020 college football season, with scouts using game tape from previous seasons to assess their talent.
“Program reputation helps those players,” Hill answered. “There is a different level of game tape for a player who sat out from an SEC school.”
“I’m not saying HBCU players don’t face different obstacles that other players from big time schools don’t have to worry about facing,” she continued. “But I think you could honestly say the same thing for schools that are smaller and less visible or not in major Power Five Conferences, I’m sure it cost a lot of those players as well.”
Watch above via, BNC News
