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Close your eyes. You are underneath Jordan-Hare Stadium. Another sellout crowd of 87,000+ are roaring in anticipation. You hear the chants echoing from sideline to sideline “AU-BURN…TI-GERS…AU-BURN…TI-GERS”. The most epic tradition in college football starts, the eagle flight. You can’t see it but you can hear it. You can feel it. You know as soon as the eagle lands it’s your turn. That hype video is about to play and your heart is pounding. Open your eyes. You think you’re a part of the Auburn Football team right? Wrong. This is the Auburn University Marching Band.

I was fortunate enough to be involved in several organizations and extra-curricular activities as a student at Auburn. Without a doubt, I had some of the most fun as a member of the AUMB. Some of my dearest, life-long friends, came from the marching band. If you are debating making that leap from high school band to collegiate marching band…I am here to tell you to go for it! Yes, it is a time commitment, but it is 110% worth it.

Pre-season camp is definitely a grind. For a little over a week you are working non-stop. By the end of camp, you have pretty much all of the half-time show and pre-game show on the field. Not to mention learning stands tunes, the “horn rocks” that go along with them, Auburn traditions, etc. It can be a lot to take in. Once you get through camp, the fun really starts.

When the season arrives, a typical week is a breeze. Traditionally, we got Monday’s off. Practice was Tuesday through Friday from around 3:30 to 5:00. Saturday is what it’s all about though. For a home game, we’d have a game-day rehearsal. That rehearsal is typically around 2 hours long. My favorite part about game day rehearsal was always the speech we would get from Dr. Spurlin at the end. He would get us all pumped up and ready for the game before we’d all lock arms and sing the alma mater. Afterwards, we’d have a pretty good break where we would eat, get dressed into our uniforms, and get ready for Tiger Walk. There are pep-rallies and other appearances that segments of the AUMB alternate and perform at each week. We’d all reconvene for one last big pep rally called “four corners” before entering the stadium.

Once we arrive in the stadium we do what’s called the “march-around” where we snake around the field playing our fight song (appropriately titled “War Eagle”) and “Glory to Ole Auburn.” Once that’s over, we have a few minutes to collect ourselves before we line up under the stadium for pre-game. The pre-game show is absolutely electric. Hearing the crowd sing along as we play the fight song, the star spangled banner, tiger rag, will give you goosebumps. Our job is to get the crowd ready for the team’s entrance. One of the coolest parts of pre-game is the team’s entrance. We make what we call the “tunnel AU” and the team runs through it through a cloud of smoke and fireworks. Now it’s game time.

During the game we play stands tunes, A LOT. To me, this was one of the biggest differences between high school and college marching band. Be ready to play a stand tune after almost every play. As we play and cheer our Tigers on to victory, you’ll recognize several fan favorites as you hear the crowd start to sing along. Our half time shows are always fun and unique. As a fan, the Vegas show from a few years ago comes to mind. This shows you the type of innovation and entertainment the AUMB is always trying to achieve.

After halftime, our job is not finished. We have to be ready to will the crowd to support our beloved Tigers. I will give you a warning though, often times being an Auburn fan can give you a heart attack…but the magical moments you’ll witness make it oh so worth it.

 Speaking of magical moments… I specifically remember the post-game day rehearsal speech by Dr. Spurlin before the Auburn/LSU game in 2010 (our National Championship season). That was a HUGE game. We were ranked as the #4 team in the country, while LSU was #6. We didn’t quite realize it then, but the Heisman CAMpaign hype train was about to take off full steam ahead. The national television show, College Game Day, was in town. People had been tailgating/camping since Wednesday night. You could feel the buzz around campus all week. That kind of atmosphere just gives you goosebumps to think about. That day, during that speech, I remember Dr. Spurlin urging us to soak it all in. To not take that day for granted. To appreciate the opportuntity that we had to wear our uniform and represent Auburn. I did just as he instructed. Not only that day, but that entire season. I tried to sit back and really appreciate what was going on around me. Dr. Spurlin told us “days like these don’t come around all that often, soak it in, enjoy it.” Ever since that speech, and that day in particular, I have tried to implement those wise words in to my every day life. The Auburn University Marching Band gave me so many moments: my best friends, my wife, and so many life lessons. I didn’t realize it then, but the experiences and lessons of discipline and hard work in the AUMB were setting me up for life. To this day when I experience a special occasion I try to just pause and soak it all it. “Don’t let it pass you by.” I can promise you, if you decide to become a member of the Auburn University Marching Band it will be one of the best and most rewarding experiences of your life.

When I was approached to write this blog post a few months ago, I honestly had no idea if college football season would happen, or what it would look like if it did happen. One day away from Auburn’s first game of the 2020 season, I could not be more thrilled to say that football is officially back! Rather than focusing on the differences that will take place during the upcoming season, I want to highlight what Saturdays in the fall normally look like as an Auburn student, and why football is so meaningful to the Auburn family.

Football season in Auburn is so much more than the memorable wins and crushing defeats that take place. It’s more than just something to do on a Saturday. It’s more than a free meal at a friendly face’s tailgate, or an excuse to put off studying for that dreaded midterm. You see, football season in Auburn is where the Auburn Family comes together seven times each fall for a reunion of sorts leading to memories that last a lifetime.

Saturdays in Auburn really start a few days before. A sea of white tents begin to take over campus in preparation for Saturday tailgates, and the city of Auburn grows in population as fans, alumni and families of students begin to take over the city. The smell of barbeque begins to engulf the campus on Fridays before the game, as fans of all ages gather at the Athletic Complex to send off the Tigers during “Reverse Tiger Walk.” This is when the football team departs Auburn to spend the night in Montgomery, Alabama before the game.

Saturdays start bright and early regardless of the kickoff time. Everyone is welcome at each other’s tailgate in Auburn, regardless of which team they’re rooting for. If fans aren’t stopping by a tailgate, it’s probably because they’re in downtown Auburn enjoying a legendary Toomer’s Lemonade from Toomer’s Drugs (enjoying a Toomer’s lemonade is listed in Southern Living’s Top 100 Things to do Before you Die).

Two hours before kickoff, thousands of Auburn fans line Donahue Drive for Tiger Walk, where the football team and coaches walk from the Athletic Complex into Jordan-Hare Stadium to prepare for the game. It’s also about this time that many students begin to enter the stadium and fans around the campus begin to pack up their tailgates in preparation for game time. Over the next two hours, 87,451 fans pack Jordan-Hare Stadium in anticipation for kickoff. Roughly 15 minutes before kickoff, Auburn’s eighth War Eagle, Aurea, circles the stadium as 87,451 excited fans yell, “WAARRRRR EAGLE! HEY!”

From that point, Jordan-Hare Stadium turns into the fifth largest city in the state of Alabama, and the loudest in all of America. Everyone does their best to cheer our Tigers onto victory, and sometimes the victories are so exciting that they only take one second before thousands storm Toomer’s Corner to celebrate a hard fought victory in the greatest rivalry in all of college football.

There is no experience quite like standing on Pat Dye Field, looking up into a stadium of over 87,000 screaming fans and cheering on Auburn’s team to a victory! Being chosen as an Auburn cheerleader was one of the most exciting moments of my college experience. As a cheerleader at Auburn, you get the opportunity to participate in hundreds of on-campus and community-wide events each year. These events range from cheering at basketball games, gymnastics meets, and volleyball tournaments to reading books and doing pep rally’s at elementary schools and nursing homes. Being an Auburn cheerleader means representing Auburn both on and off the field.

My favorite memory as an Auburn cheerleader was in 2011 during my senior year. Cam Newton was the quarterback. Auburn had won every game of the season up to that point, including the SEC Championship. It was January 10^th, and we were in Glendale, Arizona, at the National Championship game. The time on the scoreboard slowly ran down from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….then Auburn University was declared the 2010 National Champions! Confetti fell from the sky; newspapers were passed around with the headline “TIGERS WIN”, and Auburn’s football team, cheerleaders and fans erupted in excitement! I remember feeling so lucky to be there and to be a small part of something so awesome in Auburn’s history.

Being a cheerleader at Auburn University holds so many wonderful memories that I will be able to cherish forever!