With Reveille in the path of an SMU football player, her handler stepped in. Now, he’s being rewarded.
Brig. Gen. Joe E. Ramirez Jr., Corps of Cadets Commandant, announced in a Facebook post Saturday that the commandant would pay for the senior boots of Mascot Corporal Ryan Kreider, a sports management sophomore.
“What a selfless way for a cadet to take care of our beloved mascot, Miss Reveille,” the post read. “As a result, the Commandant is going to buy Ryan’s Senior Boots. Fellow cadets can give him junior/senior privileges as they deem appropriate, but I am so proud of what he did, that I’m willing to do something a little more substantial to show the appreciation of all Aggies for his selfless act.”
Kreider said he protected Reveille VIII out of duty, not expecting anything in return.
“That was a really astonishing statement,” Kreider said. “I couldn’t believe he was going to buy my boots because I thought I was just doing my job. I didn’t think it was going to blow up like it did.”
Kreider was standing on the sidelines before halftime Saturday when SMU receiver Der’rikk Thompson lost control of his footing after being pushed towards the end zone.
Seeing him barreling towards Reveille VIII, Kreider threw out his right arm to cover her and lowered his right shoulder into Thompson to keep the receiver from trampling on her.
“There really wasn’t a thought process,” Kreider said. “It kind of just happened. My job is to protect Reveille at all costs, and if I have to lower a shoulder here and there then I’ll do it.”
Michael Wascom, petroleum engineering sophomore, said Kreider deserved the response he received from the Aggie community.
“I know personally I wouldn’t want to step in the way of a football player,” Wascom said. “I think we should appreciate that and definitely embrace that as students and respect what he did. I think it’s a good response from the commandant, just that they acknowledged when a good thing happens.”
Kreider said Reveille VIII wasn’t fazed by the incident.
“She was kind of just looking around and was like, ‘Hey, good job, way to protect me’ and kind of put her head back down to sleep,” Kreider said.
Kredier said he didn’t realize anyone other than the crowd behind him saw the incident until he saw the social media response.
“One of my buddies, he was joking around and was like, ‘Hey that will probably be on ESPN’s top plays,’ and I kind of dismissed it like, ‘Yeah, okay, whatever,’ but it wasn’t until we actually took Rev to kind of cool off,” Kreider said. “That’s when all our phones kind of blew up. I had about 30 messages on my phone, it was just pretty crazy.”
Samantha Stover, kinesiology junior, was at the stadium Saturday and saw a little of what happened over the instant reply. She said she felt like everyone was proud that Kreider had done what he needed to do.
“He really stepped up,” Stover said. “He definitely did his job. If he wouldn’t have been paying attention, she would have been hit because there’s no way that guy could have stopped.”