Global Sport Institute celebrates groundbreaking black quarterbacks
February 21, 2020
The 19-year-old Daniels said that as a child, he was inspired by Kaepernick on the field, and later, by his activism.
“Growing up, I watched Kaep at Nevada when he beat Boise State, and as I got older I started to understand more of what’s happening in the world,” he said.
“I feel like he’s standing up for our rights and for minorities who are being taken advantage of. It’s something he stood for and he got a lot of respect from me because he knew what was right and what was wrong.”
The players also discussed the lack of black coaches in the NFL.
“It’s always a question of how smart are you are, no matter the generation because the guys coaching you don’t have the same color skin,” Haskins said.
“They expect you not to be smart, not to be able to run offense, not to be able to retain something, or be a good leader, and they think you have maturity or character issues. They don’t even get to know you, they just assume.”
Daniels said he appreciated having Herm Edwards and Marvin Lewis, the head coach and co-defensive coordinator, respectively, for the Sun Devils.
“I know they’ll have my back no matter what,” he said. “Most of the staff is black too, so just walking around the building, I see all these black men and knowing that I can talk to them about anything — not only football, but problems in the world — is a great feeling.”