U-M Players Open Up About Mental Health

Mental health can be a difficult topic to discuss openly, but a handful of U-M players are using their platforms to spread awareness and offer support.

In the midst of our 40-minute interview with a trio of Michigan Football players, the discussion shifted from the football field to mental health. Recently, a group of U-M players teamed up with Soho Youth Club and Valiant on a project called 'Sack the Stigma' - a campaign aimed to destigmatize mental health, particularly among students and student-athletes.

With more and more players willing to discuss the topic openly, I asked each of our guests - Andrel Anthony, JJ McCarthy and Donovan Edwards - to describe why it's important to use their platforms for spreading awareness about mental health. Here's what they had to say:

Donovan Edwards

"It's important to spread the message about mental health because nobody wants to be depressed," said Edwards. The basic law of living life is to have love and be loved and receive love from everybody." 

"We definitely want to use our platform to make sure everybody is mentally okay."

JJ McCarthy

"Us talking about it as athletes - we kind of get the stereotype of jock, of hard wall up and not many of us are vulnerable. When we get up and talk about it, it helps give the kid that's suffering from depression or anxiety even more of a reason to get up and talk about it. We're all going through something and it's completely normal. The quicker you go out of your way to get help, the quicker you go out of your way to talk to somebody - do anything to make a positive improvement in it - that's all you can do and that's just going to lead you in the right direction."

Andrel Anthony

"I like it to, especially since a lot of younger people look up to college athletes. They can realize and they can connect that we have some stuff going on too and that they're not alone."

CLICK HERE for more information on how you can help with the Sack the Stigma campaign.