TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — It started with a series of tweets from Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence outlining the reasons why playing college football is a good thing supported by the hashtags #WeAreUnited and #WeWantToPlay.
His sentiments are echoed in Tallahassee.
The hashtags are trending nationwide spreading the message that college football players want to play.
"Being cooped up at home," said Andrew Boselli. "It's good to be with family and seeing everyone is important, but there's nothing better than being with all your teammates and being back on the practice field, in the weight room, just working together towards the same goal."
They're rallying beyond each other to establish guidelines for play.
"As a person, it helped me see how much do I really want this," Marvin Wilson said. "Really want my dream, how much I really love football."
"One of the reasons why I came back was to win ball games and not to be average," said Tamorrion Terry. "Opting-out wasn't even on my mind."
For some, the decision to play an easy one.
"That would be a form of quitting in my opinion," Wilson said. "To opt-out at this last moment just before the season when we've worked so hard all offseason through this pandemic with the tough times to just give up."
They are uniting as one to make sure that happens.
"I feel like there's been a lot of pressure thrown towards us, but one thing coach always says, he tells us this every day. 'Respond,'" said Terry. "We just have to respond. If we respond, things will come out great."
The response they're looking for is to play.
Currently, players who chose to opt-out are required to be kept on scholarship. One player from Florida state has chosen to sit out this season.
