Texas

Texas A&M Releases Maroon & White Spring Game Rosters After Unique Selection Process

Published

12 months ago

April 18, 2025

Texas A&M Releases Maroon & White Spring Game Rosters After Unique Selection Process

The Texas A&M Aggies will take the field Saturday for the first time since their season-ending disappointing loss to USC in the Las Vegas Bowl. And while Saturday’s game is after all just a scrimmage, it is the taste of football for fans and players alike.

Unlike other programs, the Aggies will be holding a traditional spring game set to be broadcast on SEC+. Yet still, the format for Texas A&M’s spring game will differ from others. Instead of doing one side has the first-team offense and second-team defense while the other has the second-team offense and first-team defense, the Aggies allow the players to draft the teams.

The Aggies’ social media team shared a brief video of the draft where Taurean York made the selections for the Maroon team, while Trey Zuhn III made the picks for the White team.

Credit: @AggieFootball on Twitter / Texas A&M Football

While you may think that starting quarterback Marcel Reed would have been the first pick in this draft, York had another Aggie teammate in mind when he made the selection. York went defense first, selecting rising senior defensive end Cashius Howell first overall.

However, even while he passed up the opportunity of taking Reed with the first selection, he landed Reed as his quarterback anyway. Reed will start at quarterback for the Maroon team, while Jacob Zeno, the UAB transfer, will lead the White team.

As for there playmakers, Reed will have two of the transfer receivers in Kevin Concepcion and Mario Craver, in addition to having Rueben Owens at running back. Meanwhile Zeno will boast Jonah Wilson, and Terry Bussey at receiver among others, with E.J. Smith and Amari Daniels at running back.

Elsewhere, the teams look fairly even. DJ Hicks, Albert Regis, and Scooby Williams, will lead the front seven for team White. While Howell, Tyler Onyedim, and York will do the same for team Maroon.

Marcus Ratcliffe and Julian Humphrey will highlight the secondary for team Maroon, as Bryce Anderson and Dezz Ricks will do the same for team White.

Kickoff for Saturday is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. CT as the Aggies return to Kyle Field for their annual Maroon and White spring game.

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Texas

Opal Lee’s granddaughter advocates for “Grandmother of Juneteenth” to be included in Texas curriculum

Published

9 hours ago

April 8, 2026

Press Room

Opal Lee’s granddaughter advocates for “Grandmother of Juneteenth” to be included in Texas curriculum

The granddaughter of Dr. Opal Lee, famously known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth” was in Austin Tuesday to advocate for the inclusion her grandmother in Texas’ Juneteenth curriculum.

Dr. Lee is nearly 100 years old and lives in Fort Worth. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2024 and was by President Biden’s side when he made Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021.

“I want to petition for her to be a required person to study Juneteenth,” said granddaughter Dione Sims. “People that have to do with freedom, liberty, and unity; she’s the embodiment of that. Helping to get Juneteenth as a national holiday, I think deserves to be mentioned.”

Sims testified in front of the State Board of Education Tuesday night. A final decision is expected in June.

Lee, born in 1926, played a crucial role in making Juneteenth a federal holiday. The North Texas icon walked two and a half miles every Juneteenth to symbolize the two and a half years it took for enslaved people in Texas to learn they were free, after the Emancipation Proclamation. In 2016, she walked from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness.

She didn’t participate in the 2025 walk after being hospitalized.

Lee has also been honored with a Barbie doll that celebrates her advocacy as part of its Inspiring Women collection.

Sims previously discussed expanding Lee’s walk across all 50 states, preserving her grandmother’s legacy with a walk in one city in each state.

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Texas

North Texas Iranian Americans fear for families amid Trump’s threats against Iran

Published

21 hours ago

April 7, 2026

Press Room

North Texas Iranian Americans fear for families amid Trump’s threats against Iran

Tensions are rising between the United States and Iran, as a deadline from President Donald Trump fuels concerns about potential military action.

Just hours before President Trump’s deadline for Iran to accept a deal or face military consequences, Iranian Americans in North Texas feared for their relatives on the ground, saying the focus should stay on the people of Iran.

“We’re in a wartime, so everyone’s worried and following the news,” said Homeira Hesami, the chairwoman for the Iranian American Community of North Texas. “The internet’s still being down, you know, we don’t have a very secure way to communicate with our family and friends back home, so sometimes, you know, they may be able to call out, but it’s very patchy.”

Tuesday, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz, following similar threats he made on Easter Sunday. TCU Political Science Professor Ralph Carter offered this perspective on the potential loss of life.

“In the worst-case scenario, President Trump carries out massive attacks against civilian targets, killing thousands or even millions of people, then I think Congress has to act,” said Carter.

Carter added that targeting an entire civilization could amount to a war crime and raises serious questions about Mr. Trump’s legal authority. He said this also shakes up the U.S.’s relationships with its allies.

“I do think that Iran will survive, whatever happens,” Carter said. “I think the Iranian people will be united in a rally around the flag phenomenon to defend their homeland against an aggressor, and I think, again, this is one of those things where a weaker power outlasts a stronger power, because the stronger power gets tired of the price they have to pay to try to get a victory.”

Hesami believes change in Iran must come from the Iranian people, not through foreign intervention.

“War has proven that sometimes it is not the solution, and the solution is relying on the Iranian people and their organized resistance,” she said.

Less than two hours before his deadline for Iran to either cut a deal with the U.S. or face massive strikes on its power plants, Mr. Trump said he agreed to a “double sided CEASEFIRE” with Iran.

“I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

He said the ceasefire, which he agreed to at Pakistan’s request, was “subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz.”