Why Texas A&M's Midnight Yell is one of the ultimate college football traditions

“The first time I set foot in an Aggie game, I saw the passion for service that the yell leaders had,” head yell leader Kyler Fife said the night before the season opener against UTSA. “I knew that if one day God could bless me in that position, I would love to use it for service, which is exactly what we do.”

Yell Practice is routinely listed among the top traditions in college football and it is unique. No other school routinely draws some 30,000 people to its stadium in the dead of night to prep for the next day's game.

This all started in 1913 as a post-dinner activity for members of different corps companies to practice yells. The event in its current form dates to 1931 when a group of cadets were in a dorm room before a game against archrival Texas and someone suggested that the freshmen should meet on the steps of the YMCA building at midnight to practice yells.

Word of the event spread and when the freshmen arrived, people had placed railroad flares in flower pots around the building to light the area. A tradition was born.

The event is led by five Yell Leaders elected by the student body. They are all male, and all but a handful over the years have been members of Texas A&M’s Corps of Cadets, a student military organization. They take great pride in their job.

“Midnight Yell is really just the embodiment of the Aggie spirit,” junior Yell Leader Josh Brewton said.

For home games, it’s held at Kyle Field, seating capacity nearly 103,000 but it travels, too. On the road, organizers pick a location near the stadium to yell away.

How it works

At the most recent Midnight Yell, students piled into the stadium, with many wearing costumes or T-shirts. There was a group wearing togas and another in T-shirts with pictures of jack-o’-lanterns on them. As the crowd, estimated to be at least 30,000 people, awaited the arrival of the Yell Leaders, lively music was pumped into the stadium as people chatted and danced.

About 15 minutes before midnight, the Yell Leaders marched into the stadium arm in arm with their dates followed by Texas A&M’s collie mascot Reveille X, who is back after having her right eye removed because of glaucoma. The Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band marched in behind them, with the drum section playing to accompany their march.

Just before midnight, a countdown clock appeared on the big screen and everyone yelled out the numbers until a zero appeared and a cannon was fired to mark the start of the festivities.

The Yell Leaders soon welcomed Texas A&M president Mark A. Welsh III, a retired Air Force general, to the microphone to address the crowd.

“This is the loudest, proudest and most patriotic university in the country,” he said to wild applause.

He then reminded the students of a new Southeastern Conference rule this season that says that schools will have to pay a $500,000 to their opponents if fans rush the field after a game.

“So, let’s not do that,” he said. “Or take a collection before you do.”

What are the yells?

The practice yells haven't changed much over the years. There are many and not every one is used. They include gestures highlighted by Texas A&M's signature Gig 'Em hand gesture, which is just a fist with a thumbs up. (A gig is a sharp tool used for frog hunting).

Each yell is started with a hand signal called a passback that communicates to the crowd which yell is being performed. That's followed by what they call “hump it Ags," where fans are directed to lean forward and put their hands on their knees. Then the yell begins and the Yell Leaders do different and sometimes odd-looking gestures with each one.

The might twirl and do a sort of jazz hands gesture, or reach upward and pull an imaginary train whistle or form an A with their hands.

At the end of yells you'll often hear “whoop!" though only upperclassmen are supposed to say it. You'll also hear fans hissing, which is Texas A&M's way of booing. The booing at Midnight Yell often happens when Texas is brought up.

In fact, Yell Leaders who turns telling the crowd what most would describe as corny dad jokes about the upcoming opponent always seem to find time to mock Texas, which Aggies derisively refer to as TU.

“All week, I was thinking about what I wanted to say and there was one thing that kept coming back to me,” one Yell Leader said. “Of course, we would start our season with none other than the TU reject school. I mean, how irrelevant do you have to be to be a system school to the worst university … in the nation?”

Is it the best tradition?

In between the jokes and revelry, the band plays the “Aggie Way Hymn” and students sing before linking arms and swaying left and right during a portion of the song that says to saw the horns off the Texas Longhorn. Near the end of the 30-minute event, the lights go out, signaling Aggies to kiss their dates.

“At the end of the day we’re here to support the 12th man, the teams that we’re supporting and fire up the crowd to get ready for the game the next day,” Brewton said. “Midnight Yell itself, that’s the whole gist of it.”

Texas A&M junior Levi Lasswell lingered in the stadium after yell practice ended, chatting with friends and posing for pictures. He loved the camaraderie of the event and was asked where he’d rank it on the list of great college football traditions.

“I think this is the top one,” he said. “Nothing else compares to this. There’s some cool other little traditions that other schools do but nothing’s cooler than Midnight Yell.”

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