The Battalion

‘People over policy’: Meet Duncan Poling and Bryce Fisher

It would almost be trite to say that his collegiate political career began with a late-night knock at his door.
Industrial engineering junior Duncan Poling was merely a small fish in a much larger khaki-emblazoned Corps of Cadets pond, terrified of the sophomores who were all the wiser for being at Texas A&M a whopping 12 months longer.
One of those cadets stood before him when he answered the knock. A familiar face from high school, he wasted little time before asking Poling a question that wou...

The Battalion

Ariel Kowalewski returns to diamond after sitting out 2025

Sophomore outfielder Ariel Kowalewski understood how loud Davis Diamond could be without even stepping inside the base paths.
She felt the stadium shake as her teammates rounded the bases, she experienced the applause as Texas A&M softball thanked the 12th Man after wins, she saw the Aggieland sunlight refract through the iridescent bubbles that swarmed the air as home runs soared over the wall.
But she couldn’t participate.
She had to watch from the dugout — banished to the batting cages as Sou...

The Battalion

A&M enters offseason of change

When the clock finally hit triple zeros and the College Football Playoff pomp and circumstance ensued as a group of players celebrated on the Kyle Field grass, sophomore wide receiver Mario Craver found junior WR KC Concepcion and pulled him in for a hug.
It wasn’t Texas A&M football celebrating at the end of the home game — the first time in 2025 that this was the case — and Craver wasn’t there to console his teammate after defeat.
He had something more lasting to say.
“I just told him thank yo...

The Battalion

Bus 12 rolls toward 20th anniversary

David and Amy Messersmith ‘96 bought a time machine.
A portal into the past that more than 400,000 students have walked through — its interior lit by the glint of countless Aggie Rings, its rooftop still carrying the footprints of Yell Leaders.
Except this time machine doesn’t have Seussian gizmos or Dahlian doodads protruding from every surface. It has four wheels, a crisp maroon and white paintjob and the familiar silhouette of a school bus.
The couple are now the proud owners of Bus 12, a Tex...

The Battalion

‘It didn’t really feel real’: Aggies’ season ends with whimper

At first there was silence. A deafening, hopeless silence.
A far cry from the “Marcel Reed” chants that boomed around the hallowed Kyle Field stands as redshirt sophomore quarterback Marcel Reed took the field with 1:44 to salvage the day.
A 12th Man 104,122 strong watched as the one-point Heisman Trophy hopeful had a chance to tie the game in the dying embers after Reed drove the Aggies to the 5-yard line with 39 seconds remaining. 
Completions to the usual suspects — graduate student tight end...

The Battalion

‘It’s just a feeling we don’t want to feel anymore’: Horns down Aggies in Austin

In a year that’s been basked in the maroon glow of Aggieland being satisfied by No. 3 Texas A&M football, in a year that’s been characterized by comebacks and sawing ‘em off at opposing stadiums and in a year that’s featured the highest highs the Aggies have seen in the 21st century, burnt orange sparklers went off as No. 16 Texas took down its rival 27-17 in the Lone Star Showdown in Austin.
“We didn’t handle the atmosphere well enough,” coach Mike Elko said. “That’s what makes this league chal...

The Battalion

Reforged: How Bateman, Elko’s defense rose from ashes

Coach Mike Elko watches frustratedly from the sideline as his defense chases USC up and down the field in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 27, 2024. After a desperate attempt at a miracle lateral play predictably sputters out, Elko goes through the motions of his post-loss routine — clasp hands with Trojan coach Lincoln Riley in a sweaty embrace, trudge up to the dais, take the slings and arrows from a gaggle of reporters.
The first-year Texas A&M football coach is hardly the first person to reevaluat...

The Battalion

Claimin’ Baton Rouge: Aggies overcome sloppy first half to remain unbeaten

No. 3 Texas A&M not only had to overcome a talented No. 20 LSU squad in a purple-hazed Death Valley where tens of thousands of gumbo-fueled Cajuns were screaming their heads off, but it also had to overcome itself.
Down 18-14 at halftime and with his team plagued by mistakes, coach Mike Elko did what he does best and turned the ship around at halftime, as the Aggies exorcized 31-year-old demons to win 49-25 for their first victory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, since 1994.
“We want to be a program t...

The Battalion

‘A lot of moving parts’: Revamped A&M roster provides challenge for Trisha Ford

As hordes of rowdy bedlamites file into the Kyle Field bleachers during fall, another team is quietly preparing on the other side of campus — without some of the familiar pillars it once relied on.
Texas A&M softball, helmed by coach Trisha Ford in her fourth year in Aggieland, crashed out of the postseason in May — becoming the first No. 1 seed to get picked off in its own regional thanks to a pair of losses to Liberty. Those teary-eyed emotions felt after the knockout game still echo within Da...

The Battalion

‘It’s a tribute to the A&M fans and community’: Maroon meets gold in South Bend

They came in maroon. They came in boots. They came in droves. On a campus glistening with gilded gables and ringing with the bells of the Basilica, the 12th Man twirled its towels and filled the South Bend, Indiana streets with cheerful “Howdys.”
A year after Notre Dame fans descended on College Station for the first game in a home-and-home series, thousands of Texas A&M fans made the pilgrimage to a football holy site. Some used the opportunity for family reunions, others turned it into a life...

The Battalion

‘I’m really blessed’

In 2022, as former Texas A&M tight end Jalen Wydermyer was getting released from his childhood favorite team, he did the impossible: made the notoriously crotchety then-coach of the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick, crack a smile.
“I was very sad, don’t get me wrong,” Wydermyer said. “But Bill Belichick, he sat me down, and he gave me the whole speech. I sat there, and I told him, I said, ‘Hey, I grew up a Patriots fan. I grew up watching you, Tom Brady, Gronk, win championships, so you don’...

TexAgs

No. 2 A&M salvages series with Senior Day shutout vs. No. 9 Arkansas

Game #49: No. 9 Arkansas 0, No. 2 Texas A&M 2
Records: Texas A&M (41-8, 14-6), Arkansas (36-10, 12-9)
WP: Emiley Kennedy (17-4)
LP: Reis Beuerlein (3-1)
Box Score

In an emotion-filled senior day, left-handed pitcher Emiley Kennedy ended a two-game skid by giving the 12th Man one more treat — a shutout performance in a 2-0 victory over the No. 9 Arkansas Razorbacks.

“I think I like pressure situations,” Kennedy said. “It’s Senior Day. I don’t want to lose on my own field, on my own day and put...

The Battalion

The pick is in, and it’s maroon

After months of pomp, circumstance and thousands of mock drafts, the 2025 NFL Draft is finally set to take place in Green Bay, Wisconsin, from Thursday to Saturday, April 24-26. Three Texas A&M football players will trade maroon threads for draft hats as they take the next steps on their football journeys.
Shemar Stewart, junior edge rusher
Stewart finally answers an oft-asked question — what would happen if you slapped a football helmet on a grizzly bear and set it loose on the field? Carnage,...

TexAgs

No. 3 Ags top No. 6 Tigers to secure series opener to claim 10th straight

Game #40: No. 3 Texas A&M 12, No. 6 LSU 7
Records: Texas A&M (36-5, 10-3), LSU (35-6, 8-4)
WP: Emiley Kennedy (13-3)
LP: Sydney Berzon (15-3)
Box Score

Despite falling behind early, No. 3 Texas A&M softball’s explosive offense caged the No. 6 LSU Tigers in a 12-7 victory on Friday night in College Station.

The win is the Ags’ 10th in a row.

With the Tigers draped in their typical purple threads and the Aggies donning bright pink for their annual BTHO Cancer game, Davis Diamond’s aesthetic was...

The Battalion

Beep baseball builds community

Exhausted after a day of travel, battered with baseball-born bruises and in a packed car at 1 a.m., Hillary Oswald ‘18 and her father, Jerry House, saw in the rearview mirror what everyone dreads most: the red and blue glare of police lights.
As the flashing lights neared and the officer approached the driver’s side door, House pulled what Oswald described as “the blind card” to get out of the jam — the car was full of visually impaired athletes, all players on the BCS Outlaws beep baseball team...

TexAgs

No. 5 Aggies add teal accents in 6-2 victory over Loyola Marymount

Game #35: No. 5 Texas A&M 6, Loyola Marymount 2
Records: Texas A&M (30-5, 6-3), LMU (14-19, 0-0)
WP: Kate Munnerlyn (1-0)
LP: Lindsay O’Dell (7-10)
Box Score

No. 5 Texas A&M softball looked a little bit different in its 6-2 victory over Loyola Marymount on Saturday at Davis Diamond.

The Aggies wore teal socks and accents as part of the Southeastern Conference’s “All for Alex Campaign,” which honors Alex Wilcox’s impact on the softball community and the fight against ovarian cancer. Wilcox was...

TexAgs

Kennedy out-dueled in rubber match as Florida downs A&M, 4-2

Game #25: No. 3 Florida 4, No. 4 Texas A&M 2
Records: Texas A&M (21-4, 1-2), Florida (26-2, 2-1)
WP: Kara Hammock (6-0)
LP: Emiley Kennedy (6-3)
Box Score

In the opening week of Southeastern Conference softball, No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 3 Florida split the spoils of the first two games, putting immense importance on Sunday's rubber match.

However, it was the Gators’ barrage of batters that overpowered the Aggies’ lack of consistency on offense in a 4-2 win to claim the series in Bryan-College S...

TexAgs

Davis Drama! No. 7 Ags plate nine unanswered to erase six-run deficit

Game #3: No. 7 Texas A&M 10, No. 19 Baylor 7
Records: Texas A&M (3-0, 0-0), Baylor (2-1, 0-0)
WP: Emiley Kennedy (2-0)
LP: Dariana Orme (1-1)
Box Score

Coming off two wins in Thursday’s Opening Day double-header, No. 7 Texas A&M softball squared off against No. 19 Baylor in a Battle of the Brazos on Friday night at Davis Diamond.

When the Aggies looked dead in the water down 7-1 in the fifth inning, a host of newcomers rescued the game to give A&M a 10-7 win.

“They don't call us the Fightin’...

The Battalion

‘It stings, bro’

No. 20 Texas A&M’s hopes at a trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship were slashed in a 17-7 defeat to No. 3 Texas in the long-awaited return of the Lone Star Showdown.
“Losing our last three conference games and not being able to close the deal and going to Atlanta,” coach Mike Elko said. “Yeah. I mean, it sucks. There’s no sugarcoating it. There’s no soft words around it. We had our opportunities, and we didn’t get it done. And so it’s disappointing.”
Offense gets shutout, fails to capitalize...

The Battalion

Rivalry reborn

With the eyes of the college football world gazing upon Kyle Field, Texas A&M is preparing for one of its most anticipated battles in a decade. For the first time since 2011, the Longhorns and Aggies will meet on the gridiron. This is not just a battle for pride — a spot in the SEC Championship is on the line. 
“What makes college athletics is rivalries, and it was really sad that Texas-Texas A&M rivalry didn’t happen for this long,” A&M director of athletics Trev Alberts said in August. “I thin...

The Battalion

Marcel Magic saves the Aggies

When redshirt freshman quarterback Marcel Reed got off the bench in an attempt by the Texas A&M coaching staff to save a sputtering offensive performance against LSU, the Kyle Field crowd erupted. The scoreboard didn’t show it, and the Tigers didn’t know it — but the 12th Man felt it: Reed was about to flip the script and rescue the Aggies.
No. 14 A&M rallied to beat No. 8 LSU, 38-23, on the back of Reed’s three rushing touchdowns to reward coach Mike Elko’s season-altering gamble at the quarter...

The Battalion

Elko era kicks off against No. 7 Notre Dame

The Jimbo Fisher era at Texas A&M football came with lofty expectations and ended in a whimper with a 2023 midseason firing. Now, coach Mike Elko has returned to College Station to lead the Aggies into a new age.
No. 20 Texas A&M’s season opener versus No. 7 Notre Dame at Kyle Field on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. is a trial by fire for the Aggies’ new regime.
Coming off a 7-6 season marred by injuries and dysfunction, the Maroon and White’s hopes of an improved 2024 campaign start with a competitive F...

The Battalion

Takeaways from Mike Elko’s second Maroon & White Game

On a cloudy Easter-weekend Saturday, the 12th Man finally got a peek into what Texas A&M football might look like this fall. With the White team handing the Maroon squad a 19-7 defeat, fans saw 12 sacks from a disruptive defense group and a host of new faces on offense.
“Another great spring game,” coach Mike Elko said. “The Aggies won, they are now 2-0 in spring games that I’ve been part of. … I thought we had a good spring. Thought we got better, I thought we improved in a lot of areas”
Rebuil...

The Battalion

The world’s strangest job interview

The tape measures and stopwatches are out — and the world’s strangest job interview is entering its final stages.
As the 2025 NFL Draft creeps ever closer, 13 Aggies will take one final opportunity to impress scouts, coaches and personnel executives at Texas A&M football’s NFL Pro Day on Thursday, March 27 at the Coolidge Performance Center.
“[The Pro Day] is an opportunity for a lot of our guys to come back and really put on a show [on Thursday],” coach Mike Elko said. “I’m excited to watch tho...