Mike Elko explains choosing Nana Boadi-Owusu as new No. 12

The Texas A&M Aggies have a new No. 12 in Nana Boadi-Owusu. He is someone who head coach Mike Elko feels is incredibly deserving of the honor.

Elko explained when he met with media members after a recent practice how Boadi-Owusu came to earn the honor and what it means to him to have it.

“Just to kind of address the naming of the new No. 12,” Mike Elko said. “Obviously, really important tradition here at Texas A&M, and took a lot of thought into that. Basically, the process that we went through was we narrowed it down to four finalists. We offered a vote to the team. Team got to select one. As you saw yesterday, Nana Boadi-Owusu was named the new No. 12.”

The No. 12 jersey tradition is, of course, part of the greater 12th Man tradition at Texas A&M. It goes back to 1922 and today is a way of honoring those fans at the game, making their mark felt on it. Naturally, given that tradition, being honored by wearing the No. 12 jersey is quite the accomplishment.

Nana Boadi-Owusu is in his third season with the Texas A&M program. He took a redshirt in 2022 and saw the field in just four games in 2023. He was also a part of the 12th Man Kickoff Team, meaning he was a part of the group honored with the Brotherhood Impact Award.

“So, really excited for him,” Elko said. “It’s a huge honor. It means an awful lot to him. You should have seen the smile on his face all night last night at practice, when he got to wear that jersey, you couldn’t take it off of him.”

It was not a runaway for Nana Boadi-Owusu to be honored with the No. 12 jersey. There were several players who were deserving of some recognition, as Mike Elko made sure to point out.

“But also want to shout out the other three finalists,” Elko said. “It was where Randy Bond, Anthony DiNota, and Jacob Graham, and each one of those three would also have been extremely deserving recipients of it. A really special thing, a really good night for us. Was just glad to get that out there.”

In 2023, Sam Mathews wore the No. 12 jersey for Texas A&M. He did so as a graduate student who played in all 13 games and was on that 12th Man Kickoff Team.