Kent Merritt

I think that — it wasn’t so much among the team members as it was with the fans.  I think there was a little bit of apprehension about having a Black quarterback.  Well, I know that Harrison went through a hard time with that.  And I think that some players might not feel that — as accepting of us coming in and supplanting their teammates in certain positions because we were second-year players.  We might be supplanting a senior and that sort of thing.  And I think that there was a feeling that if they just got a few good Black players that it would turn the program around, and it didn’t.  I think that people were kind of miffed at that.  So there were certain — a lot of expectations that weren’t met.  And when the expectations are not met, I think people get a little angry at that.  Now, of course I mean when we started playing after every touchdown they would play “Dixie” and they’d wave the Rebel flag in the stands, which is very irritating and offensive.