Texas Longhorns safety Caden Sterns said he has no intention of participating in "The Eyes of Texas" if the traditional singing of the alma mater even takes place after games this season.
"I won't sing the song at all," Sterns said on Tuesday during a Zoom interview with reporters. "I'm just being blunt. I can't answer for everybody else. Nor do I want to make it about me. But personally I won't sing the song."
Sterns, a preseason All-Big 12 selection, said it's still not known whether Texas players will remain on the field for the song, or whether it will be played at all -- given that the Longhorns band won't be in attendance.
The alma mater, which gets played before and after every Longhorns football game, has come under scrutiny in recent years because it was first performed in a 1903 minstrel show that featured blackface performances. Musically, it's based on "I've Been Working On The Railroad," which also included a minstrel verse.
Overall, Sterns praised the university's response to players' requests, made in June, for a more inclusive campus environment.
"I think they handled it very well. It could have been better, but it's a great first step," Sterns said. "We came together for one, which is huge. I feel comfortable with everybody in the locker room and with us being real with one another."
In July, Texas interim president Jay Hartzell announced a plan that responded to many of these requests, including honoring the Longhorns' first Black letterman, Julius Whittier, and renaming the UT football field for Heisman winners Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams.
But the response stopped short of any change to the school song.
"'The Eyes of Texas,' in its current form, will continue to be our alma mater," Hartzell wrote in a statement. "Aspects of its origin, whether previously widely known or unknown, have created a rift in how the song is understood and celebrated, and that must be fixed. It is my belief that we can effectively reclaim and redefine what this song stands for by first owning and acknowledging its history in a way that is open and transparent. Together, we have the power to define what the Eyes of Texas expect of us, what they demand of us, and what standard they hold us to now."
Texas had previously announced that the band would not play at Saturday's game against UTEP because of COVID-19 considerations.
There have not been any plans announced as to whether the song will be played after the game or how the football team will handle it.
"We've got time to talk about it, when and if I do get some kind of clarity on what is going to happen postgame," Texas coach Tom Herman said Monday.