My roommate and I were trying to figure out if TAMU's 12th man on kickoffs is a new guy every game or if he is just a new guy every season. Anyone care to set us straight?
Isn't the twelfth man the fans? I know they started a tradition about putting a special walk-on guy on the kickoff team. Do they call him the twelfth man, too? Anyway, I think that is one guy who has the job for the year at least it was when the tradition started.
I believe there are several "12th man" walk ons who practice with the team but only one gets to suit up every home game and play special teams. I believe it is a different guy every game.
There is one walk-on each week who wears #12 and is on the kick-off team. He can be a new guy each week or he can be it many weeks--it all depends on performance in practice. I beleive this year, the 12th man is usually a guy John Ray, but it can change weekly. To sum it up: It is chosen on a weekly, not a yearly basis, but you can be chosen multiple times.
Jackie Sherrill(sp) started the 12th man kickoff squad and originally it was formed with all walkons. Now it is a rarity when it is a squad of all walkons. I think Fran had it a couple times this year, I think against SMU.
I believe back in the day, the entire kickoff coverage team (for home games) was composed of walk-ons. They had a long streak of kickoffs without a touchdown, one of the longest in the nation.
