Consider this - Texas Football is a platform for many young men, including Eagles. If Eagles decides not to play, I'd support him keeping his scholarship this year and assist him in any way possible to make sure his voice is heard. A single action like this would not degrade the platform (whether he will have a big enough platform to make a difference is another conversation). The platform would be degraded, however, if the entire team decides not to play. Then you don't have Texas football nor the platform that is Texas football and what comes after. Maybe it would be worth it to them to halt football for a year while they sit out to get a message across. Will this advance the message enough to matter? I don't know - but if they harm their platform, it may not be worth it in the long run. He needs to play the long game, although I recognize there is some value in striking while the iron is hot.