Justin Rohrwasser is struggling to find allies these days, but at least some of his college teammates are willing to stick up for the new Patriots kicker.
Since being selected by New England in the 2020 NFL Draft, Rohrwasser has faced immense backlash for his controversial social media activity and for having a tattoo of the logo for Three Percenters, a far-right paramilitary group. Some have gone so far as to label Rohrwasser a racist and/or white supremacist. The fifth-round pick since has expressed remorse, claimed ignorance and vowed to remove the tattoo..
Opinions on the New York native, who played for University of Rhode Island before transferring to Marshall, remain very mixed. But some who have played football with him have come to his defense.
“I was kind of shocked. I thought it was a joke at first,” Marshall running back Brendan Knox, who is African American, told MassLive’s Matt Vautour on Monday. “The first thing I thought was, they must not really know him. In my three years of knowing him, I never got a whiff of that. Not one bit. He’s a real funny guy, never spiteful of anybody. I’ve never even seen him mad. I was completely surprised when I heard that. That can’t be right. Anyone that’s around him knows that’s the furthest thing from that.”
I think Justin Rohrwasser was smart to get in front of a camera and clear some things up. His Marshall teammates were eager to vouch for him toohttps://t.co/oPqK5W16y2
— Matt Vautour (@MattVautour424) April 28, 2020
Many Marshall players rallied behind Rohrwasser, ready to defend their former teammate.
“For players, especially black players on the team to stick up for him in this time, it’s a perfect thing to do,” linebacker Koby Cumberlander, also African American, told Vautour.
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Cumberlander added: “He’s not a racist. Not even close. When you look at Justin, he was a dude that minded his own business. He was an easy person to talk to, a really nice guy on and off the field. He never showed any racism toward anybody. It was crazy how people seemed to look at him who don’t really know him as a person. They have these preconceived notions. It’s very, very hurtful to see. For a really, really good guy to receive that much hate was crazy. I never like to see that for anyone you know. I’ve known him for two years. You can’t hate on a guy who is nothing but positive energy.”
According to Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard, people at URI who got to know Rohrwasser expressed similar sentiments.
“Reached out to URI football people after he was drafted,” Bedard tweeted Tuesday. “Universally they said he was good kid and teammate, that they all believed his tattoo backstory.”
Reached out to URI football people after he was drafted. Universally they said he was good kid and teammate, that they all believed his tattoo backstory. https://t.co/AysecraoZw
— Greg A. Bedard (@GregABedard) April 28, 2020
Ultimately, people are entitled to their opinions about Rohrwasser. To that end, those willing to give the Patriots rookie the benefit of the doubt should be afforded the same audience as those eager to condemn him. Healthy dialogue always is favorable to aggressive division.
Similarly, Rohrwasser should be given the opportunity to prove whether his past truly defines him.
