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Michael Sam appears at halftime of Missouri-Tennessee (VIDEO)

Michael Sam

Missouri’s All-American defensive end Michael Sam claps during the Cotton Bowl trophy presentation at halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Missouri and Tennessee, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014, in Columbia, Mo. Sam came out to the entire country Sunday, Feb. 9, and could become the first openly gay player in the NFL. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)

AP

Michael Sam

Missouri’s All-American defensive end Michael Sam acknowledges fans during the Cotton Bowl trophy presentation at halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Missouri and Tennessee, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014, in Columbia, Mo. Sam came out to the entire country Sunday, Feb. 9, and could become the first openly gay player in the NFL. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)

AP

Michael Sam made an appearance at halftime of the Missouri-Tennessee game on Saturday as the Tigers celebrated their football team’s Cotton Bowl victory.

Sam has dominated headlines over the past week as he announced on Sunday that he is gay. Sam is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC and a mid-round NFL Draft prospect.

The Missouri student section showed him quite a bit of love:

That wasn’t the most inspirational part of the day.

You see, Missouri students caught wind of the fact that the Westboro Baptist Church would be picketing Michael Sam on Saturday, so they formed a half-mile human barrier on Stadium Blvd. to keep the protesters from reaching Sam and to try to drown out their hate-speak by singing Missouri’s fight song.


#StandWithSam Proud of you Mizzou! pic.twitter.com/gCfxmJfbLe

— leslie voss (@notfromkansas) February 15, 2014

Missouri football player Max Copeland out to support the #StandWithSam event on Stadium Blvd. @CoMissourian pic.twitter.com/oLD18pnEaG

— Brandon Foster (@BFoster91) February 15, 2014

Pretty cool how many people came out to support Michael Sam #FuckWestbroBaptistChurch #StandWithSam pic.twitter.com/b2wuKyAaE5

— Jacob Farkas (@HighFiveFarkas) February 15, 2014

#StandWithSam supporters sang the alma mater with their backs to the WBC. @CoMissourian pic.twitter.com/zQh7mXKXtH

— Brandon Foster (@BFoster91) February 15, 2014

.@Mizzou prepares for westboro baptist church and doesn’t support hate on campus #StandWithSam pic.twitter.com/whFu1CVUp9

— Alexander Drößler (@AlexDroessler) February 15, 2014