HOUSTON, Texas — The bowl week festivities continued ahead of Wednesday night’s Texas Bowl, and before Texas A&M takes the field against Oklahoma State, both programs came together to give back to the Houston community.
The Texas Bowl partnered with the DePelchin Children’s Center, who's services focus on foster care, adoption, prevention, and early intervention programs to promote healthy families.
Tuesday morning the teams paired up with families from the center to run through football-themed drills with the kids on the field.
“It's awesome — it's so cool to come out and serve the community,” said Aggie junior linebacker Andrew Merrick.
“We love being around the kids, it's cool that we're able to do this and that the Texas Bowl provides us. It's fun being around them and just providing for the community.”
One of Texas A&M’s core values is selfless service, and the players embrace every opportunity to give back to the community.
“We love giving back to the community — that's super important at A&M and our football program,” Merrick said.
"We do a lot outside the community and we love serving others. We love going out and helping these kids, and so it's just fun to be able to be out here and basically provide them with a fun time.”
Merrick knows this is much bigger than just drills on the field, it’s an experience that will create lifelong memories.
“I remember when I was little, I did that like Play 60 thing — it's super cool because it's like you look back and I remember those moments,” Merrick said.
“It was like so cool to be a part of that and now we're able to provide that for those kids, so that's pretty awesome. It's exciting this is one of the most exciting days they have in the year, so it's super cool just to be able to be a part of it and make this day better for them.”
After multiple pre-bowl events, the Aggies are ready to take on the Cowboys, looking for their third Texas bowl win in program history on Wednesday night at NRG Stadium. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.
