Performing on The Plains: Chelsea alumni Dalton Odom, Parker Mercier leading Auburn fans this season

When Auburn kicks off its season opener the evening of Sept. 4, two former Chelsea graduates will be leading the fans in the stands.

Dalton Odom, from the Class of 2017, will be leading the crowd as Auburn’s mic man. He will be on the 50-yard line leading the Tigers’ cheers, then move to the sidelines and take his place atop the platform in front of the student body to help the cheerleaders lead throughout the entire game.

Parker Mercier, from the Class of 2019, is one of four drum majors for the Auburn University Marching Band. He will lead the band as they run out of the tunnel for their pregame festivities, then direct music in the stands before and after their halftime performance.

Although they were two years apart in high school, they did know each other, but Mercier graduated with Odom’s younger sister. They will get to know each other better this year as they communicate with each other across the stands to keep the momentum going during the games.

It’s going to be a whole lot of fun, and I’m excited to get to represent Auburn like this. I’m thrilled and honestly honored to do it.

Dalton Odom

THE MAN ON THE MIC

Dalton Odom said he has wanted to be the mic man at Auburn since he was 13 years old.

“I remember watching the Georgia game and seeing this guy up on the stand and he looked like a cheerleader and he was leading the student section,” he said. “I did that in high school, and I knew I wanted to do that when I got to Auburn.

Odom comes from a family divided, with his mom being for Auburn and his dad for Alabama.

His mother’s dad went to pharmacy school at Auburn in the 1970’s and Odom grew up going to games with him and his mom and aunt.

“We always tried to go to the first game of the year wherever it was and we made that a tradition,” he said. I’ve always been an Auburn fan. I grew up coming down here going to games. Every time I came down here, I felt like I was back home. I never saw myself going anywhere else.”

Although there wasn’t a mic man position at athletic events at Chelsea, Odom said he and his friends were always in front of the student section at basketball and football games engaging the crowd. His house became the spot where many of his friends came to get ready for games, build floats for homecoming and prep for game days.

For Odom to make his dream a reality, he had to attend cheerleading clinics and then had to participate in tryouts for mic man. During the process, he met the squad coaches and learned the routines and worked on perfecting his mic man voice.

“I went in and they played the fight song and made it like a game day situation, they make sure you know all of the cheers and judge you off of that,” Odom said. “From there, I made it to the next round to have an interview. You need to be a good cheerleader, but more importantly, be a good representative of the university whether you are in uniform or not.”

Odom was up against three other people vying for the position. As part of the tradition, winners are announced at Cater Callouts, where every major campus organization calls out their new leaders on the steps at Cater Hall.

“Normally mic man is the first name called out, but this time I was the last one called out. I was shaking and I was so nervous,” Odom said. “They finally called out my name and I got to lead my first War Eagle with the new [cheer] team with all my family and friends around.”

Lots of work goes in before the first game of the season. The team had two official practices in June and July while doing strength and conditioning throughout the entire summer. From Aug. 1 through Aug. 15, Odom said they go nonstop.

“I am putting in just as much work as the cheerleaders, but am not having to toss girls in the air all day, so I’m not as physically exhausted. We work 10 hour days for those two weeks,” he said.

After football season, Odom will also be on the mic at other sporting events including volleyball and basketball, along with making three to four appearances each week.

“It’s going to be a whole lot of fun, and I’m excited to get to represent Auburn like this,” he said.

“I’m thrilled and honestly honored to do it.”

Odom said he plans to try out again for the position next year. He is in his fifth year at Auburn for his undergraduate studies and will continue to graduate school next year for his public relations major.

BAND LEADER

Parker Mercier started playing trombone for the Chelsea High School band when he was in 6th grade and began marching band in 8th grade.

“I always said I was going to Auburn and be in the marching band. I was a drum major at Chelsea and knew I would try out in college,” Mercier said.

He tried out going into his sophomore year for the experience and was named trombone section leader instead. The second time was a charm though, as he made the cut from 24 people and six other finalists.

Tryouts take place near the end of football season in November and are a month-long process consisting of two rounds. In the first round, anyone is welcome to try out and then six finalists are chosen. They go through live band conducting, runout on the field and game day scenarios.

The winners are usually announced after the bowl trip, but since there wasn’t one last season, they were announced at the end of year banquet, where only seniors and leadership were present. Mercier was there as the trombone section leader.

“When they announced my name, I was very excited,” he said. “I was pretty confident in my ability throughout the audition process.”

While the majority of drum majors who are chosen are seniors, this year there are two juniors and two seniors in an entirely different group from last year.

There is one head drum major and the other three are equals. They each have their strengths and are put in different positions throughout the semester. For marching shows, they each rotate between the center ladder and three side ladders.

Preparations began in January for camps and auditions throughout the spring semester. The band’s first live performance was in April for the annual A-Day game.

Band camp ran from Aug. 2 through Aug. 16. Practices were 12 hours per day with lunch and dinner breaks. The drum majors also meet once a week to prepare their routines. Once classes begin, the band practices from 3:30 to 4:50 each day and have full days on Saturdays.

The band will perform three different shows throughout the season. The first will be a  Roaring 20’s theme, one will be a special Sept. 11 tribute show and the third one is to be announced at a later date.

The drum major role runs from January to January. After the marching season is over, Mercier is involved in other campus ensembles including syphonic, winds, jazz band and pep band.

He will later go through another audition process for next year’s drum major.

Mercier said he knew that Odom wanted to be the mic man at Auburn since they were in high school and that was his dream.

“We haven’t really met up much, but we’ll be working together at the games,” he said.

“We do a lot of energetic things in the stadium and we will coordinate through hand signals inside the stadium.”

Mercier is looking forward to the first game when he gets to run out of the tunnel for the pregame show and high stepping with his mace across Pat Dye Field at Jordan-Hare Stadium.