Colin Kaepernick played his best football for Jim Harbaugh, who frequently praised his quarterback’s talent and work ethic when they were together in San Francisco.
But now that Harbaugh is at Michigan, and Kaepernick has made the decision to sit down in protest during the national anthem, Harbaugh has lost respect for the player he once held in such high regard.
“I acknowledge his right to do that, but I don’t respect the motivation or the action,” Harbaugh said today.
Harbaugh has often expressed his patriotism and at times taken shots at those who he sees as less than patriotic. Shortly after he took the Michigan job, a campus controversy about the showing of the movie American Sniper led to Harbaugh announcing that the Michigan football team would watch the movie and that he didn’t care for the views of those who found the movie problematic.
Now Harbaugh is speaking up again, and declining to offer support to a player who once helped him get to the Super Bowl.