With Northwestern State University of Louisiana’s homecoming football game against Southeastern Louisiana University inching closer and closer, NSU football’s traditions will soon be in full swing.

The football team will participate in the homecoming parade on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and the following pep rally on Natchitoches’s downtown riverbank’s Fleur de Lis Stage alongside various organizations on NSU’s campus.

Gavin Landry, senior wide receiver for NSU football and business administration major, expressed excitement in participating in the parade in the past and is looking forward to the event this year.

Landry noted that it presents a unique opportunity to bring everyone in the community out and is something even those not interested in sports enjoy.

“Alumni and former players coming in from all areas that have attended NSU at some point. It’s one of our largest attendance games every year in my opinion,” Landry said. “It’s something to be excited about.”

“Homecoming at NSU is just beautiful honestly, from the parade, festival, football game, tailgating, even choosing and honoring the homecoming court is fun and exciting,” Isaiah Longino, junior defensive end for NSU football and health and exercise science major, said.

“The parade is my favorite part about homecoming, other than the game of course,” Longino said. “It’s just fun riding on the truck and seeing how happy and excited this football team makes everyone in our community. It’s very humbling.”

Other traditions not unique to NSU, but more unique to sports like football as a whole such as tailing-gate, which having a watch party of the game outside the Harry Turpin Stadium itself is also a popular tradition.

Freshmen and sophomores who didn’t see NSU’s homecoming traditions also expressed excitement, especially those who went through the hardships of COVID-19 and were not able to enjoy sports in previous years.

“No one last year got to experience a normal year, with homecoming around the corner it allows us to bring back those memories and establish even greater ones,” Leighton Anderson, sophomore biology major, said.