Georgia Tech’s Johnson: Players should’ve checked with team before protesting

Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson on Monday said that players of his who joined a show of solidarity for NCAA reform should have checked with their teammates before moving ahead with the idea.

Apparently, the Yellowjackets coaching staff and most of the players had no idea quarterback Vad Lee, linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu and a few other players were carrying the letters APU — for All Players United — on their wristbands during Tech’s 28-20 win over North Carolina on Saturday.

Johnson said he first learned about it after the game.

“I think the first thing is there’s probably a process that we didn’t go through,” Johnson said. “In my mind what you do if the players all feel strongly about an issue, then they need to talk about it as a team and let the coaches know and it needs to be a team thing. Six guys don’t represent the team, or whatever, when 80 of them don’t even know what’s going on and the coaches don’t know what’s going on.

Johnson said he addressed the issue in a team meeting this week. At least one player said he didn’t think it would continue, since it could end up becoming a distraction to the team.

Players from Georgia and Northwestern also wore ‘APU’ on their gear in a show of support for changes in the NCAA.