Alshon Jeffery, Marcus Lattimore Lobby to Rename South Carolina Wellness Center

Former South Carolina wide receiver Alshon Jeffery and former running back Marcus Lattimore are among those advocating for the school to rename its wellness center.

As Nick Bromberg of Yahoo Sports noted, the wellness center is named after Strom Thurmond, who was a U.S. Senator from 1956 to 2003. He was a segregationist who switched from the Democratic party to the Republican party because he opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"To celebrate well known segregationist Strom Thurmond's legacy by keeping his name on our Wellness Center sends a contradicting message to our black students @UofSC," both players tweeted. "We can no longer be held back by those whose ideals represent division. We must continue the fight for equality."

The petition in Jeffery's tweet is aiming for 15,000 signatures and already featured more than 13,600 as of Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. ET.

This comes after Clemson's board voted to remove John C. Calhoun's name from its honors college. Calhoun, who was the vice president of the United States from 1825 through 1832, was an advocate for slavery, and Clemson was built on the grounds of his former plantation.

Former Clemson players Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins joined the movement to rename the honors college:

Lattimore was a running back at South Carolina from 2010 through 2012 and ran for 1,197 yards and 17 touchdowns in his first season before a knee injury impacted his career.

Jeffery was a wide receiver for the Gamecocks from 2009 through 2011 and tallied 1,517 receiving yards in 2010. He was a 2013 Pro Bowler for the Chicago Bears and 2017 Super Bowl champion for the Philadelphia Eagles.