Texas football players who hit referee speak out

The two Texas high school football players that made headlines this month for blindsiding a referee during a game spoke out publicly for the first time on Friday, making an appearance on Good Morning America.

Victor Rojas and Michael Moreno have already been kicked off the team and suspended indefinitely from John Jay High School. During their segment on GMA, they shifted blame to the assistant coach, saying he ordered the hit on the referee.

“He said, ‘You need to hit him,'” Moreno said. “You need to hit the ref. He needs to pay the price.”

Rojas agreed that they were just doing what their coach told them, and the assistant coach has since been placed on administrative leave.

The players also claim that the ref was using racial slurs throughout the game, alleging he told one player to “speak English, this is America.” They also say he called another player the N-word. The referee, through his attorney, said those claims are 100 percent false.

The attorney for the players believes they have already been punished enough by missing three days of school and being removed from the team. He wants them reinstated while the school continues to investigate the incident.

GMA’s George Stephanopoulos asked the kids that if they knew hitting the ref was wrong, why did they go through with it?

“You put your trust into this grownup, a guardian, a coach,” Moreno said. “I trust him that he wants the best for me, and I just did what I was told.”

Click here to watch the clip from GMA.