It’s a day Aggies look forward to their entire Texas A&M career, and for student athletes it’s no different.
This week, eight students and one staff member from the football team received their Aggie rings before making their way to Alabama to face the Auburn Tigers on Saturday.
Among the student-athletes were finance senior Austin Anderson, agricultural economics sophomore Cagan Baldree, sport management senior Daylon Mack, university studies junior Braden Mann, management junior Colton Prater and management sophomore Braden White.
Other members of the football program were also presented with their Aggie rings. The students include supply chain management senior Aaron Williams, management senior Quinn Johnson and sport management graduate student Larry McDonald.
Similar to the September ring ceremony when senior Donovan Wilson was surprised with a ring and a visit from his mother, this special day also ended with a surprise ring presentation for McDonald. His wife Tasmin said this was something she wanted to do for a while and when the moment presented itself, she jumped at the chance.
“He often puts off everything that he wants and [says] ‘No, y’all get this, y’all get that. We’ll get it later, we’ll get it later,’” Tasmin said. “I decided now was the time. I had to literally squirrel money from everywhere and cash out everybody so we could get his ring paid for and so he wouldn’t know because we share a joint account.”
Though the surprise was almost ruined after Larry saw Tasmin parking her car on his way to the ceremony, Larry was still shocked when he learned she had ordered him the ring.
“I feel great … I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Larry said. “She’s been wanting me to get it, but I’ve been postponing it. I mean I wanted to get it, but I was like, there’s other financial things we could use the money for.”
However, this day did not come as a surprise to all recipients — some were fully prepared to receive their Aggie gold, and had been since committing to A&M.
“My sister got [one], so I knew beforehand that it was such a big deal,” Mann said. “I was looking forward to it for a while.”
White echoed Mann and said this was a moment he had envisioned for a long time.
“A lot of hard work goes into it,” White said. “I mean ever since you get here, this is a day you’ve really been waiting for, so to finally be able to reach it and put the ring on your finger — it really means a lot.”
A&M will travel to Auburn in their last road game of the season on Saturday, but for these nine Aggies, the trip will be different than most. Mann said he’s excited to have his own gold addition to the trip.
“I’m pumped,” Mann said. “I can’t wait. It’s a little heavy, but I like it.”