As nationwide protests continue in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody on May 25, Buffs football coach Karl Dorrell said Monday that he’s “very pleased with (CU) players’ reaction to this issue of social injustice and systemic discrimination.”
CU student-athletes, administrators and coaches, including Dorrell, took part in a peaceful protest June 5 in Boulder. It was the first face-to-face interaction Dorrell’s had with his players since he was officially hired Feb. 23 to replace Mel Tucker, and it followed a team meeting earlier in that week in which the Buffs directly addressed the issues of racial discrimination and police brutality.
“I said some things that were very emotional, the players said some things that were very emotional,” Dorrell said. “What came from it was, we wanted to quickly put something into action that shows a sign of support and unity and wanting to make this (societal) change, and them being a factor in taking a step forward in that process.”
The meeting spawned the idea for last week’s which was about a mile long and featured an address from senior wideout K.D. Nixon at its conclusion. Dorrell said that event is the first of what will be a commitment to increased social advocacy within the program.
“We want to do something actively at least once a month,” Dorrell said. “I’m not saying we’re going to protest, but I would say we want to make for certain that this subject (of racial discrimination) doesn’t just wane as time goes by, which a lot of these things tend to do… It’s definitely going to be on our agenda throughout the year, because it’s important for our country to step up like this and empower our young people to be a big part of the process.”
Dorrell also addressed several football topics in Monday’s Zoom call with local media. He said the bulk of CU’s roster is in Boulder and ready to begin voluntary workouts, which per the Pac-12 can resume on campus June 15.
Still, Dorrell acknowledged the next month will be “extremely important” for college football programs to go through their coronavirus testing procedures and ensure a solid strategy is in place for games to kick off in the fall.
“The implementation of all the policies that we’ve put on all of our campuses — how are those going to work?” Dorrell said. “(Will returning) create a bigger outbreak and is it going to be able to be sustainable? All those things are the testing mechanism we’re going to go through this summer… This is a big, testing moment as campuses are starting to open up across the country (and we see) whether we can keep this pandemic in a containable position.”
Dorrell, 56, was the head coach at UCLA from 2003-07. The California native was most recently the receivers coach for the Miami Dolphins and takes over a program that is in need of a new starting quarterback and recently given 150-to-1 odds to win the Pac-12. But he said the pandemic hasn’t derailed his optimism or CU’s recruiting efforts, and that he’ll be ready if virtual visits continue to be the norm for the foreseeable future.
“We’ve had good feedback on all our virtual visits, and we’ve done at least 30,” he said. “I’d rather do it in person, but if it’s something that’s necessary as we continue to move forward in the process because the NCAA or Pac-12 wants it that way, we can accommodate that and still get the info (and relationship) we’re looking for.”