UCLA’s Otito Ogbonnia one of 11 players to sign letter to Larry Scott

The Pac-12 Players are demanding health and safety protocols in their return to action amid a global pandemic. They’re also demanding much more as they stand united in their cause, threatening to opt out of the 2020 college football season if their demands are not met.

This weekend, their letter to the Pac-12 conference went public via the Players’ Tribune but their individualized letter to commissioner Larry Scott went out on the same day, with much less publication.

Sports Illustrated got a copy of the letter, which you can find in its entirety here, and in it, UCLA Bruins DL Otito Ogbonnia was one of 11 players signed on to be the Player Representation Team.

The Player Representation Team asked for daily Zoom meetings with Scott and Pac-12 athletic directors to discuss their concerns over playing a season during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the ‘system racial injustices imposed by the NCAA sports that disproportionately exploits Black athletes’ among other items.

Despite being asked for these daily meetings to begin by Monday, August 3, Scott responded with his own letter, stating at the end of what seemed like a very canned response, with ‘we’ll look forward to finding a convenient time to speak later this week.’

Scott’s full response, as obtained by Sports Illustrated as well, can be found in its entirety here.

Either way, we’re in a standstill, but it is nice to see the whole story developing, and not what the mainstream media wanted to showcase, or what they thought was the ‘clickiest’ headline. The players have formed a well-organized group of representatives to take on the mission for the hundreds of athletes who feel the same or similar way.

This is still a developing story and we’ll continue to monitor all of UCLA’s involvement and impact.