EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsAUSTIN, Texas -- Before walking over to Thursday evening's free Chris Stapleton concert, Texas junior Griffin Shelley checked to see if anyone had gotten in line for the student section ahead of Saturday's game against Ohio State.No one had yet.Shelley texted his buddies to come claim a place up front, then joined them after the concert.He met his group of more than a dozen close friends, a mix of current and former students, while waiting in line for Texas football games.And they're always the first."The closest friends possible," Shelley said. "I couldn't imagine not having any of these people."In the sweltering Austin afternoon heat just outside Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, Shelley was holding their spot up front Friday alongside senior Conner Roll-Bush and graduate student Kez Dunn until the next shift took over.Sitting in lawn chairs under umbrellas, they'd just finished the Chick-fil-A meal that graduate Andrew Eason, who has his own season tickets now, dropped off for them."These are all my best friends," Roll-Bush said. "This is who I spend my time with."And they spend a lot of that time together waiting for Texas football."It started in 2022 against Alabama," Dunn said. "I met a lot of these guys then, camping out with them."The top-ranked Crimson Tide won that game 20-19. But the group had a blast -- and they've since turned stadium camp-outs into a tradition.Though it was 94 degrees Friday, these guys have seen worse.Until the Texas A&M game last year, the front of the line was in the sun. Now, they're at least underneath the shade of a tree."Whoever put the barricade here, I love them," Shelley said. "It's been so nice."That wouldn't have saved them four years ago, when temperatures dropped into the 30s the night before the Longhorns played TCU in November."We all thought we were going to get hypothermia," Dunn said.Roll-Bush's girlfriend, A.J. Forrest, who is also part of the group, drove by Friday to see how they were doing and dropped off a portable fan.Forrest and the entire group of 15 or so will all be in line together by Saturday morning.Another of their friends, sophomore Preston Powe, had just left.Nicknamed "Big Red" because of his hair, Powe has become a local social media celebrity thanks to his antics on the Memorial Stadium jumbotron.Powe makes a cameo playing a Texas football superfan alongside Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in the upcoming TV show "Brothers."Roll-Bush is also known around campus as "Bevo Hat Guy" because of the Bevo plush he wears duct-taped to a cowboy hat in the stands. Jack Maddox made the hat and passed it down to Roll-Bush after graduating in the spring."I'm second generation," Roll-Bush said.The buddy group usually claims its place at the front of the line Friday mornings.But No. 1 Ohio State is an especially big game, so the group knew it had to get there earlier this time."This is the biggest game of the year," Shelley said. "We've never not gotten our front seats at the 20-yard line. We could not let that start happening now for the biggest game since I've been here."
