Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes offered his support to Ole Miss on Tuesday after several players kneeled during the national anthem prior to the Rebels' matchup with Georgia on Feb. 23. Ole Miss opted to kneel after a confederate rally in Oxford, Miss. ended on the school's campus on Saturday.
“I really admire and understand those young men because one thing they made clear is they had no intention of disrespecting the American flag,” Barnes told the media on Tuesday. “It was all about the fact that the hate crime that they felt like that had to demonstrate.