Before every UF football game this Fall, Terry Peppers slips on a pair of orange-and-blue argyle pants.
“People know me for my pants,” the 20-year-old UF marketing junior said. “If you see them, you’ll know why. They’re over-the-top and funky, just like me.”
Peppers, who became the second UF student to take on the role as the “hype man” this Fall, has attended sporting events as part of the UF cheerleading team. Peppers said he’s excited to be back at the stadium for Saturday’s Homecoming game.
“It’s getting 90,000 people on their feet and ready to get hype for Homecoming,” he said.
At football games, he yells into a microphone and chants along with the cheerleading team to amplify the energy of the crowd.
After talking to the first and former hype man, UF alumnus Bunduki “Duke” Ramadan, Peppers said he felt compelled to try out.
To prepare, Peppers practiced chants on residents who were walking down the halls of Infinity Hall, where he lives.
“Imagine a skinny kid on the first floor of Infinity Hall yelling, ‘Give me a G! Give me an A!’ at 1 in the morning,” Peppers said.
Peppers said his hours of practice paid off when he got the call that he would be the next hype man.
On Sept. 3, he walked out onto the field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, wearing the orange-and-blue pants, as UF took on the University of Massachusetts. The view, he said, was beautiful.
“You can see everyone’s face in a sea of blue and orange,” he said. “There’s so, so much energy and excitement there.”
The hype man guides the energy of the crowd, said Joshua Tylerbest, a fourth-year member of the cheerleading team.
Tylerbest, who cheered in games before the hype man position was created in Fall 2014, said having Peppers on the field makes a difference.
“It gets really loud in the Swamp, which is awesome, but it’s also really hard to hear the cheerleaders,” the 21-year-old UF information systems senior said. “Terry is able to grab the crowd’s attention and get everyone involved in what we’re doing.”
Max Barry, one of the captains of the cheerleading team, said the hype man helps the team lead the crowds through chants.
“We didn’t know what we were missing until we had the hype man,” the 21-year-old UF business management senior said. “It’s exciting to try new things and to use Terry to do things differently than our team has done them before.”
When Peppers goes home at the end of each gameday, he said he passes out for hours.
“You can find me sprawled out on the floor sleeping,” Peppers said. But when he gets up, he’s ready to do it again.
