The Latest: Minnesota: No meeting yet with players

By AP
Published

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The Latest on the University of Minnesota football team's walkout ahead of the upcoming Holiday Bowl (all times local):

5:40 p.m.

Administrators at the University of Minnesota say they have offered to meet with players threatening to boycott the upcoming Holiday Bowl, but haven't been taken up on their offer.

A statement from President Eric Kaler and athletic director Mark Coyle says they had hoped to meet Friday to answer questions about the suspension of 10 players over an alleged sexual assault.

The suspensions were announced this week without details, prompting the entire team to say Thursday that they wouldn't participate in football activities without an explanation.

The administrators say they're committed to upholding ''institutional values.'' They say they are legally limited in what they can say about the suspensions.

And they say the school needs to let the Holiday Bowl know soon whether the Gophers will play.

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4:40 a.m.

One by one, the entire Minnesota football roster walked out of the locker room and onto the practice facility turf to face a group of reporters.

Wearing their maroon game jerseys with gold numbers, they lined up behind 10 of their teammates who were suspended earlier this week after an internal university investigation into an alleged sexual assault.

Three senior leaders stood in front of the group and delivered a defiant rebuke of the university's decision, saying they would not participate in any football activities until the school president and athletic director apologized and revoked the suspensions. If that meant they don't play in the upcoming Holiday Bowl against Washington State, they appeared ready to stand firm.