This time of year, when people think about Nebraska, they are usually thinking about where the football team is going to finish in the recruiting rankings, or how far the basketball team can go, including to the postseason. While those two sports tend to dominate the conversation, there is one athlete not tied to either that gets plenty of attention in the state. Former Cornhusker wrestler Jordan Burroughs is quite the celebrity in the state.

People listen when Burroughs speaks and on Friday night he spoke about a video of a young man named Andrew Johnson that has gone viral this week.

He made it clear that people who were seeing the video as anything other than a recording of an event that went horribly wrong weren't looking at it from the right angle.

Andrew Johnson video sparks debate

Jordan Burroughs had a couple of different reasons for coming forward after the video began making the rounds. The first is that he is a well known and Olympic medal-winning wrestler. The other is that the event took place in his native New Jersey. Burroughs began the twitter thread telling all who would listen that he commended Andrew Johnson for stepping up when he was told he needed to either cut his dreadlocks off or forfeit his match.

Johnson chose to cut his hair, as his coaches and teammates stood and watched.

He then won his match. Those who watched the video saw that the wrestler was not all that ecstatic about the victory. Rather he looked like he had just been put through the ringer. Burroughs noticed this as well and pointed out how ridiculous it was that the young wrestler was put into the predicament.

"Let me tell you how sickening this is," Burroughs began.

The Olympian went on to explain that he had never seen anything like this take place in his 25 years of Wrestling. "As a referee, you are required to check the hair and nails of all wrestlers before a match. My opinion is that this was a combination of an abuse of power, racism, and just plain negligence." He explained.

Jordan Burroughs calls out Johnson's family and coaches

The former Husker went on to say that while he has a great deal of admiration for Andrew Johnson, he has fewer warm feelings for the high school wrestlers' family and coach. Burroughs believes that someone should have stepped in and stopped the nonsense.

Burroughs went on to say that he is sure Johnson's hair was a great deal of his personal identity and he should have been put through cutting it off, especially since the referee who had ordered him to cut his hair or lose has been accused of racism before.

Finally, Burroughs made it clear that a single wrestling match win is not important enough to give up a part of the kid's being.

"Sometimes taking a stand for something doesn't actually mean standing, but walking away from it." Considering this is coming from someone who has wrestled on the biggest stage in the world, his words should carry more weight about how people see the Andrew Johnson situation than most.
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