University of Cincinnati Bearcats football head coach Luke Fickell is stepping back and allowing his players to take the lead when it comes to conversations about racial inequality and social injustice.
With Fickell's blessing, UC's football players elected on Friday to cancel practice and put out a collective statement advocating for change after police shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, seven times in the back Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
"I'm really proud," Fickell told The Enquirer. "Not that they said let's not practice, but that they were willing to write something and talk with their teammates about what this means.