National Anthem protests spread to college football, WNBA

Sept. 24, 2016: Michigan football players raise their fists up in protest during the National Anthem, before an NCAA college football game against Penn State in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Junfu Han/The Ann Arbor News via AP)

NEW YORK – Liberty guard Brittany Boyd sat on the bench with her head bowed in prayer during the National Anthem before a WNBA playoff game.

Hours earlier, college football players for Michigan and Michigan State, along with a group of students at North Carolina, raised their fists during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" on Saturday.

Since 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the Anthem before NFL preseason games, citing racial injustice and police brutality, his movement has slowly spread across fields and courts in the U.S. On Saturday, college and professional athletes joined together to follow his lead after a week punctuated by riots in Charlotte, N.C., and the killing of an unarmed black man in Tulsa, Okla.

This wasn't the first time Boyd sat during the anthem. She said she also did it at the last few games.

"I don't want to stand up. I choose not to stand up and I sit down and pray," the second-year guard said. "Colin and his message about social injustice going on in this country today is something I believe needs change."

The Berkeley, Calif., native had a Kaepernick jersey hanging in her locker and wore it to the arena Saturday night.

Her New York teammates stood, arms locked with their heads bowed before their WNBA playoff game with Phoenix. Mercury players Mistie Bass and Kelsey Bone kneeled, just as they had done during their first-round playoff game. Bass was inspired that younger athletes were joining an effort that until this weekend had been mostly led by the pros.

"I think it shows that the younger generations are about this and they did it together," she said. "They are understanding what is going on in our society. It's perfect because they are so caught up in their phones. To see them standing up for social injustices and wanting things to be right in their communities I think is awesome."

Three Michigan State players — Delton Williams, Kenney Lyke and Gabe Sherrod — held their right fists in the air while standing on the sideline before the No. 8 Spartans hosted No. 11 Wisconsin.

"Whether somebody salutes, puts the hand over their heart or does something else, everybody has a choice to make," Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio added after the Spartans' 30-6 loss. "Our young people are in college, and I can promise you one thing, that when the flag is presented in some respect, I guess it becomes much more important now. It's not just, oh by the way, we'll just stand for 'The Star-Spangled Banner.'

"All I can do is try and lead the best way I can, and be positive and accepting to our football team and our players," the coach added.

Several players for No. 4 Michigan also had their fists up before facing Penn State in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Among them were Khalid Hill, Mike McCray, Devin Bush, Elysee Mbem-Bosse and Jourdan Lewis.

Most college conferences play the Anthem before the teams take the field. The Big Ten is among the exceptions.

The University of Michigan is six miles from Eastern Michigan University, where chanting students marched on the field Friday night after the school's 27-24 victory over Wyoming. The students were protesting racist graffiti on the campus earlier in the week.

"We have great respect for our students engaged in the constructive efforts underway to address the issues we face," Eastern Michigan President James Smith said in a statement.

Before North Carolina hosted Pittsburgh, students wearing black shirts remained seated with fists raised. Roughly 100 black and white students wearing the shirts participated, as well as at least two UNC band members who took a knee, one while raising a fist. Chapel Hill is about 140 miles northeast of Charlotte.

Nebraska players Michael Rose-Ivey, Daishon Neal and Mohamed Barry also kneeled before the No. 20 Cornhuskers' game at Northwestern.

Not everyone has supported the protests. The 49ers quarterback and some of the other athletes have gotten some backlash from fans and Kaepernick said he even got some death threats .

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was Kaepernick's coach for four seasons in San Francisco. Last month, Harbaugh said he supported Kaepernick's motivation to speak out but took exception to his method.

After Saturday's game, Harbaugh said he had been thinking a lot about the issue the past couple of weeks and that he supports his players.

"This is something that's not going away. It's going to keep happening," Harbaugh said after the Wolverines' 49-10 victory. "It's not something that's going to keep them out of heaven. So I'm not going to worry about it. As long as it doesn't keep them out of heaven for supporting their minds, I support it."

Kaepernick was at a high school football game on Friday night. He spoke to players from Castlemont High School and joined them on the sideline before the game. A photo by former NFL linebacker Kirk Morrison on Twitter shows Kaepernick kneeling while the rest of the team laid on their backs with their hands up during the Anthem.

Saturday's gestures came a day after it was announced that Tommie Smith and John Carlos will join the U.S. Olympic team at the White House for a meeting with President Barack Obama. The raised-fist salutes by the American sprinters on the medal stand at the 1968 Olympics became a political flash point.