DeAndre Thompson gave his 2010 Big 12 South ring to his mother, Angela McGary, but his Aggie Ring? Thompson takes it off only during football practice. Otherwise, it never leaves his right hand.
"It means everything," Thompson said. "As an A&M former student, you know the Ring is the symbol of the Aggie Network. That's a big draw for the university is Aggies take care of Aggies. I would see people with the Ring. I would recognize it. I would go up to them and talk to them, and they'd always ask the same question: Where's yours?"
Thompson, in his third season on the Aggie coaching staff as a defensive graduate assistant, arrived in College Station in 2008 on a track and field scholarship. He joined the Aggie football team in 2009 and later became the team's special teams captain.
The Alief Taylor product earned two letters in track as a long jumper and triple jumper and two letters in football as a defensive back and special teams player while at A&M. He also earned his bachelor's degree in leadership, education and development.
While Thompson earned the right to buy an Aggie Ring after passing 90 hours, he could never afford it.
"I had a choice to pay my rent or buy the ring," Thompson said. "I decided to pay my rent. After graduating, I still never had the disposal income to be able to buy it. It's always something I wanted to do but just wasn't able to afford it."
Thompson, 28, had given up on the idea of ever owning an Aggie Ring. Or at least anytime soon.
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After graduating in 2012, Thompson decided he wanted to teach, and he returned to Houston to begin his career. He substituted in the Alief School District before taking a full-time job at the Sam Houston Math, Science and Technology Center in the Houston Independent School District.
"I loved it," Thompson said. "I loved being able to see those kids' progress from the first day of school to the last day of school. It was one of those schools with a lot of lower-income kids, a lot of low-performing kids. Showing those kids that they're capable of more than they'd been doing was just awesome."
But Thompson's true love remained football, so when the University of Missouri offered him a job as a defensive graduate assistant in 2015, Thompson jumped at the chance. Then-A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin called him home the next year, offering him the same job.
"Coach Sumlin offered me the opportunity to come back and coach here at my alma mater, which is special, so I'm eternally grateful for that," Thompson said. "When the transition happened [with Sumlin's firing after the 2017 season], I was looking for another opportunity, because with a coaching change, you never know what's going to happen. I was fortunate enough to be kept on by coach [Jimbo] Fisher. It's like I got a new job without having to leave."
Thompson's duties include film breakdown, assisting with the implementation of the defensive playbook, working with the defensive backs during practice, helping with recruiting visits and whatever else the defensive backs coach, defensive coordinator and head coach request.
"I've learned more about football in the past four years than I ever knew," Thompson said. "The amount of work and time that coaches spend on one sheet of paper for us players to look at, it gives you a new appreciation for the guys that coached you."
Thompson's goal is to become a college head coach. His next step is as a position coach, something he hopes happens somewhere next season.
But when he leaves Aggieland this time, he will leave with his Aggie Ring.
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One of Fisher's favorite Aggie traditions has become Ring Day, and the story of his comparing the Aggie helmet to the Aggie Ring will go down in Aggie lore.
During spring drills, Fisher asked his players what the Aggie helmet meant to them.
"Does it stand for anything?" he asked. "Does it put fear in your opponents? Does it stand for a team that's unbelievably physical, team-oriented, tough, have discipline, grit, can execute, play under pressure, play in big moments, play in the rain, play in the snow, play on the road?
"What does it stand for?"
His questions were met with blank stares.
"They couldn't tell me," Fisher said. "I said, 'When our helmet means the same thing as that Ring, we have a chance to be good. That helmet represents everybody who wears a Ring.'"
Fisher twice has handed out Aggie Rings to his players and student staff, awarding eight in April and 21 in September. Thompson was among those to receive a Ring last month, an unexpected gift.
While working on the itineraries for recruits in town for the Maroon & White Game last spring, Thompson decided a visit to the Ring office was a must for the high school players and their parents. He walked into the Association of Former Students a few weeks before the April 13-14 weekend and asked about the possibility.
Thompson introduced himself to receptionist Joy Wurzbach and front desk supervisor Dana Smith and met with Katherine Scarmardo, the coordinator of the Aggie Ring Program, among others. But with almost 7,000 Rings to present on Ring Day, Scarmardo decided the timing wasn't going to work.
"He wasn't going to take no for an answer," Wurzbach said. "He was very friendly; he was very positive; and he was very persistent. He wanted to find a solution to this challenge. . . . DeAndre kept at it and kept at it, offering all sorts of ideas about what we might do."
As it turned out, bad weather forced Aggie Ring Day to move to the Ford Hall of Champions at Kyle Field, allowing the high school student-athletes to visit the Ring Office and try on their Rings during the weekend.
"One of the statements he made even before we looked at his finger and realized he didn't have a Ring was, 'These kids are going to come here and play with the hope of winning a national championship, but that Aggie Ring will mean so much more to them and get them further in life than what any national championship ring ever will. I just really want to instill that in them,'" Smith said. "He had such a passion for those kids to get that Aggie Ring on their finger, and such a passion for what that Aggie Ring meant.
"Whenever we realized he did not have one himself, it resonated even more with me: He's carrying this dream for these kids who don't even know what the dream needs to be yet, and he doesn't have the Ring himself."
Wurzbach and Smith became the Ring leaders in making sure Thompson got one of his own. Neither had ever donated money to buy a Ring for anyone, but Thompson left that big of an impression.
Wurzbach, Smith, Kathryn Greenwade, vice president of communications and human resources at The Association of Former Students, Marisa Kahla, a Ring program assistant, and Carrie Lutz, a Ring program associate, donated to cover the cost of Thompson's Ring.
Smith called Thompson late on a Friday afternoon, asking him to come into the office the following Monday. What Smith didn't learn until later is Thompson fretted all weekend that one of the recruits might have done something to get him in trouble.
Thus, Thompson arrived at the Clayton W. Williams Jr. Alumni Center on Monday with a noticeable nervousness.
After the five shared their surprise, Thompson burst into tears. Everyone, in fact, was crying.
"It was just such a priceless moment," Smith said.
Thompson and his mother cried again at the football team's Ring ceremony.
Thompson's Ring finger was a size 12, perfect symmetry as a Class of 2012 graduate and as a former member of the 12th Man Kickoff Team. Â
Wurzbach and Smith asked only one thing of Thompson: Pay it forward.
"I have no doubt he will remember this and share with somebody else," Wurzbach said. "Helping out somebody else is such a wonderful experience. This won't be my last time doing something like this."
"It means everything," Thompson said. "As an A&M former student, you know the Ring is the symbol of the Aggie Network. That's a big draw for the university is Aggies take care of Aggies. I would see people with the Ring. I would recognize it. I would go up to them and talk to them, and they'd always ask the same question: Where's yours?"
Thompson, in his third season on the Aggie coaching staff as a defensive graduate assistant, arrived in College Station in 2008 on a track and field scholarship. He joined the Aggie football team in 2009 and later became the team's special teams captain.
The Alief Taylor product earned two letters in track as a long jumper and triple jumper and two letters in football as a defensive back and special teams player while at A&M. He also earned his bachelor's degree in leadership, education and development.
While Thompson earned the right to buy an Aggie Ring after passing 90 hours, he could never afford it.
"I had a choice to pay my rent or buy the ring," Thompson said. "I decided to pay my rent. After graduating, I still never had the disposal income to be able to buy it. It's always something I wanted to do but just wasn't able to afford it."
Thompson, 28, had given up on the idea of ever owning an Aggie Ring. Or at least anytime soon.
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CALLED HOME
After graduating in 2012, Thompson decided he wanted to teach, and he returned to Houston to begin his career. He substituted in the Alief School District before taking a full-time job at the Sam Houston Math, Science and Technology Center in the Houston Independent School District."I loved it," Thompson said. "I loved being able to see those kids' progress from the first day of school to the last day of school. It was one of those schools with a lot of lower-income kids, a lot of low-performing kids. Showing those kids that they're capable of more than they'd been doing was just awesome."
But Thompson's true love remained football, so when the University of Missouri offered him a job as a defensive graduate assistant in 2015, Thompson jumped at the chance. Then-A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin called him home the next year, offering him the same job.
"Coach Sumlin offered me the opportunity to come back and coach here at my alma mater, which is special, so I'm eternally grateful for that," Thompson said. "When the transition happened [with Sumlin's firing after the 2017 season], I was looking for another opportunity, because with a coaching change, you never know what's going to happen. I was fortunate enough to be kept on by coach [Jimbo] Fisher. It's like I got a new job without having to leave."
Thompson's duties include film breakdown, assisting with the implementation of the defensive playbook, working with the defensive backs during practice, helping with recruiting visits and whatever else the defensive backs coach, defensive coordinator and head coach request.
"I've learned more about football in the past four years than I ever knew," Thompson said. "The amount of work and time that coaches spend on one sheet of paper for us players to look at, it gives you a new appreciation for the guys that coached you."
Thompson's goal is to become a college head coach. His next step is as a position coach, something he hopes happens somewhere next season.
But when he leaves Aggieland this time, he will leave with his Aggie Ring.
Â
THE RING'S THE THING
One of Fisher's favorite Aggie traditions has become Ring Day, and the story of his comparing the Aggie helmet to the Aggie Ring will go down in Aggie lore.During spring drills, Fisher asked his players what the Aggie helmet meant to them.
"Does it stand for anything?" he asked. "Does it put fear in your opponents? Does it stand for a team that's unbelievably physical, team-oriented, tough, have discipline, grit, can execute, play under pressure, play in big moments, play in the rain, play in the snow, play on the road?
"What does it stand for?"
His questions were met with blank stares.
"They couldn't tell me," Fisher said. "I said, 'When our helmet means the same thing as that Ring, we have a chance to be good. That helmet represents everybody who wears a Ring.'"
Fisher twice has handed out Aggie Rings to his players and student staff, awarding eight in April and 21 in September. Thompson was among those to receive a Ring last month, an unexpected gift.
RING DAY
While working on the itineraries for recruits in town for the Maroon & White Game last spring, Thompson decided a visit to the Ring office was a must for the high school players and their parents. He walked into the Association of Former Students a few weeks before the April 13-14 weekend and asked about the possibility.Thompson introduced himself to receptionist Joy Wurzbach and front desk supervisor Dana Smith and met with Katherine Scarmardo, the coordinator of the Aggie Ring Program, among others. But with almost 7,000 Rings to present on Ring Day, Scarmardo decided the timing wasn't going to work.
"He wasn't going to take no for an answer," Wurzbach said. "He was very friendly; he was very positive; and he was very persistent. He wanted to find a solution to this challenge. . . . DeAndre kept at it and kept at it, offering all sorts of ideas about what we might do."
As it turned out, bad weather forced Aggie Ring Day to move to the Ford Hall of Champions at Kyle Field, allowing the high school student-athletes to visit the Ring Office and try on their Rings during the weekend.
"One of the statements he made even before we looked at his finger and realized he didn't have a Ring was, 'These kids are going to come here and play with the hope of winning a national championship, but that Aggie Ring will mean so much more to them and get them further in life than what any national championship ring ever will. I just really want to instill that in them,'" Smith said. "He had such a passion for those kids to get that Aggie Ring on their finger, and such a passion for what that Aggie Ring meant.
"Whenever we realized he did not have one himself, it resonated even more with me: He's carrying this dream for these kids who don't even know what the dream needs to be yet, and he doesn't have the Ring himself."
Wurzbach and Smith became the Ring leaders in making sure Thompson got one of his own. Neither had ever donated money to buy a Ring for anyone, but Thompson left that big of an impression.
Wurzbach, Smith, Kathryn Greenwade, vice president of communications and human resources at The Association of Former Students, Marisa Kahla, a Ring program assistant, and Carrie Lutz, a Ring program associate, donated to cover the cost of Thompson's Ring.
Smith called Thompson late on a Friday afternoon, asking him to come into the office the following Monday. What Smith didn't learn until later is Thompson fretted all weekend that one of the recruits might have done something to get him in trouble.
Thus, Thompson arrived at the Clayton W. Williams Jr. Alumni Center on Monday with a noticeable nervousness.
After the five shared their surprise, Thompson burst into tears. Everyone, in fact, was crying.
"It was just such a priceless moment," Smith said.
Thompson and his mother cried again at the football team's Ring ceremony.
Thompson's Ring finger was a size 12, perfect symmetry as a Class of 2012 graduate and as a former member of the 12th Man Kickoff Team. Â
Wurzbach and Smith asked only one thing of Thompson: Pay it forward.
"I have no doubt he will remember this and share with somebody else," Wurzbach said. "Helping out somebody else is such a wonderful experience. This won't be my last time doing something like this."