USC’s Chase Williams one of 11 to sign letter to Larry Scott

USC Trojans safety Chase Williams was one of 11 players to sign a letter to Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott. Williams signed the letter with 10 other players that sought daily meetings with the Pac-12 and the players from the member universities.

The meetings were to discuss player safety, racial injustices and the other issues as detailed in their Pac-12 Unity Demands letter published on Sunday.

The letter, directed to Scott and all Pac-12 athletic directors asked for daily meetings via Zoom with the Player Representative Team, assumedly those who signed on the letter.

They wanted the meetings to begin as early as Monday, August 3, saying they would continue daily meetings until the demands are met.

The full letter can be found here.

In the letter, Williams along with Washington State’s Dallas Hobbs, Arizona State’s Cody Shear, Oregon State’s Jaydon Grant, Cal’s Valentino Daltoso, Stanford’s Elijah Higgins, Oregon’s Jevon Holland, Washington’s Joe Tryon, Arizona’s Malik Hausman, Utah’s Nick Ford and UCLA’s Otito Ogbonnia discuss the main reasons to opt out of the 2020 football season. They also discuss the lack of regard for their and the rest of the players safety and health as the NCAA and the Pac-12 put forth a schedule of football games amid a global pandemic without any real guidance or structure towards health and safety protocols.

The letter, dated August 2, asked for meetings to start the next day, August 3. However, Scott responded with a relatively canned response that stated he’ll reach out further and look for a convenient time to speak with them later this week.

Scott’s response, though seemingly copied and pasted, does detail the conference’s stance on the majority of their demands, and showcases the lengths that the conference has tried to be inclusive over the years. Still, the full letter (which can be found here), didn’t really sit well.

While we’re in a standstill until we know or hear more, it is nice to know the players are standing with one another not just at their own team level but at the conference level, and know that this is bigger than any one football season.

This is still a developing story and we’ll continue to monitor all of USC’s involvement in it.