One-year-old Theo might have made his first trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium sooner if he had come along in any other year.
But for him and the rest of the fans at Auburn University’s A-Day scrimmage on Saturday, it was hopefully worth the wait.
Auburn hosted its biggest crowd in the stadium since 2019 on Saturday at the Tigers football team’s annual spring scrimmage, bringing in 25,210 to see the squad show off its skills under new coach Bryan Harsin.
Auburn limited attendance for football games to about 17,490 during the fall season, as it encouraged social distancing in the venue as the COVID-19 pandemic wore on. That number represented about 20-percent of the stadium’s capacity.
With vaccine shots going in arms in Lee County and across the country, Auburn bumped the attendance limit to 40-percent capacity for Saturday — meaning many fans were able to get out and see the team for the first time since the pandemic began.
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“I think everybody’s looking for that sense of normalcy — that familiarity of SEC football and tailgating and all that good stuff,’ said Kimberly Baggett from her seat in the stands.
Baggett was there with her 5-year-old son, Harrison, and Harrison’s cousin Theo. For both of the children, it was a first trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Baggett said that it was nice to be able to get back in the stadium for the first time in a while — and joked that it was nice that there was a little more leg room during social distancing, too. But speaking seriously she said she hoped everything was back to normal by the time football season comes back around this fall.
“It’s a beautiful day,” she said. “It’s kind of cool just being able to be out here.”
That sense was certainly felt elsewhere in the stands.
Making it out to a game was a tall task for families last fall. Everything else aside, Auburn opened the general seating to just current students and player parents for its first game last fall, before slowly opening it to donors and other supporters.
Elizabeth Campbell was making her first trip back to the stadium in over a year.
“I went to school here for a few years before I changed my major, and just being back, it’s like being home,” she said. “Just the fact that everything’s open and everything’s going back to normal, it’s just a great feeling.”
Campbell was there with her daughter Sarah, 7, her son Cayden, 4, and her husband Nathan — an Alabama fan.
Nathan smiled as he joked about being dragged out, but he didn’t get to go to any games in Tuscaloosa last fall, either.
“It feels good to actually see a football field again,” he said.
Elsewhere in the stands, Joseph Sansom, 16, was there with his grandparents. He was glad to be out spending time with the two of them again after all the scares the pandemic brought in 2020.
“It’s really nice that’s everything’s opening back up and we can come out here and do this,” he said.
For all of them, they hoped the same: That things can get back to normal before the gates open again, and that the stadium could be safely filled with even more people by the time football season kicks off.