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Penn State confiscates players’ T-shirts before game

Field Level Media

October 13, 2019 at 1:54 am.

Penn State officials confiscated T-shirts from players prior to Saturday night’s game at Iowa, as players wore the shirts during pregame warmups as a show of support to Penn State safety Jonathan Sutherland.

Photos posted to social media showed players wearing white T-shirts with the words “Chains, Tattoos, Dreads & WE ARE” on the front.

According to ESPN, Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin was upset that his players did not discuss the issue with him beforehand.

Penn State issued a statement during the game that read:

“While we are supportive of our students expressing themselves in a thoughtful manner, they are expected to wear team-issued apparel on game day. We asked our students to remove the shirts out of an abundance of caution for NCAA compliance.”

Earlier this week, Sutherland posted online a letter he received from a man claiming to a Penn State alum. In the letter, the man who identified himself as David Petersen, said he and his wife, “miss the clean cut young men and women from those days. Watching the Idaho game on TV we couldn’t help but notice your — well — awful hair. Surely there must be mirrors in the locker room! Don’t you have parents or (a) girlfriend who’ve told you those shoulder length dreadlocks look disgusting and are certainly not attractive.”

The letter went on to state that while Petersen believes Sutherland will one day play in the NFL, he and his wife “have stopped watching the NFL due to the disgusting tattoos, awful hair and immature antics in the end zone.”

On Tuesday, Franklin denounced the letter and offered impassioned support of Sutherland, a sophomore.

The 10th-ranked Nittany Lions (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) were in Iowa City to face No. 17 Iowa (4-1, 1-1) in a huge Big Ten clash.

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