Florida, Ole Miss Players and Coaches Kneel Before Game as a Statement of Unity

Players and coaches from the Florida Gators and Ole Miss Rebels took a knee before kickoff Saturday as a statement of unity in support of social justice efforts.

Here's a look at the moment:

Florida and Ole Miss Take a Knee in Solidarity Before Kick-Off

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Jake Thompson of the Oxford Eagle provided a joint statement from the SEC teams:

In August, Florida head coach Dan Mullen joined several of his players and other student-athletes from the school in a protest march in Gainesville after the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and said:

"We had a great discussion about it after practice, great discussion about everything, and I think we'll still have more. We've had some in the past, we had some today. We need to have more. We've got to find even better ways to do it.

"We're going to continue to try and bring guys together closer as a team. And also, find good ways for us to use our platform to educate people. It's one thing to have a platform, it's one thing to make a statement, but how do you make change? And what's the best way to do that and make meaningful changes? And that's one of the things that everybody's working on."

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin also participated in a march in August and told reporters he was "proud" of his players' social activism:

"I met with our leadership council last night and asked how they wanted to make their voices heard. It was a good discussion, and this morning, the team decided to march in unity and use their platform to send a message. I'm proud of our players coming together for justice and change. We are going to continue to work together to improve the world around us for everyone."

Kiffin hinted Monday a demonstration was coming before the game, saying it was a "pretty neat" idea.

Saturday's SEC clash marked the season opener for both teams, which will play 10-game, conference-only schedules because of the coronavirus pandemic.