DeMarvion Overshown took to Twitter on Thursday to announce that he would be sitting out of all team activities until “real action is taken and changes are made” when it comes to racial injustice.
The Texas safety went in-depth explaining his decision.
“First off, I will like to start by saying that I have a lot of love for my teammates, coaches and The University of Texas,” he wrote. “As most of you know, the student-athletes put out a statement three weeks ago demanding some changes that are long overdue.
We have been told that things are being done behind closed doors but have yet to see any changes. We are constantly preached urgency throughout the program, and I feel that the university should be held to the same standard. I watched WNBA All-Star Maya Moore sit out a whole year because of something that meant so much to her.
With that being said, until real action is taken and changes are made, I will be sitting out of all team activities. I will support my team in whatever they do but this is something I’m very passionate about and I cannot continue to perform for a program that doesn’t show me the same love and support I do for them.”
In five games last season, he totaled 18 tackles, seven tackles for loss, three passes defensed and two sacks.
“Heavy on my heart, I can tell you that,” Texas Longhorns coach Tom Herman said on The Herd earlier this month when talking about the death of George Floyd, which sparked nationwide protests and calls for racial justice. “I grew up the only child of a single mom, my dad died in a homeless shelter when he was 52 years old. I say that to tell you that coaches raised me and it’s the reason I got into this job, to have an impact on young men’s lives the way that coaches had on mine.”
Herman also stated that he met with this players to address the issue.
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“We had a three-hour team meeting this morning so if I seem a little bit emotional it’s because I am,” he said. “The thing I told our players is ‘this cannot be like it’s always been,’ where an unarmed black man is unnecessarily killed by a white police officer. Two people in our southern United States shoot and kill and unarmed black man and we protest and we riot.
“Two weeks from now, three weeks from now, a month from now, a year from now, this has to have meant something. We have to have affected change by not just our words but our actions. I ended our meeting with our players, a very emotional meeting, and I said ‘guys we talk about it in our program all the time, don’t talk about it, be about it.’ And more than ever our society needs a systemic overhaul and it starts with the way minorities are treated implicitly and explicitly in this country.”
