Good Bull Hunted: Aggies for Haiti 2016

It's easy to lose sight of the present when it comes to Aggie Football. Often we get so caught up in the ridiculous nature of the recruiting cycle, that we forget that we have a ton of talented young people on our football team who are led by capable and dedicated coaches.

One of those coaches is Director of Player Development Mikado Hinson. Hired in 2014, Hinson was charged with providing off field guidance and support for Aggie Football Players. In a recent interview, Hinson described his approach to the position:

"I know that there are 105 to 120 young men in the program and everyone needs somebody to use as a sounding board. Someone to talk to when they go through life’s storms or social media, whether it is legitimate or not. I operate off of calling in my life, and I was called to be at A&M. None of this was reactionary to things going on here."

"My job wasn't to come here and clean up anything. My job was to build an in-house personal relationship with young men that are in the best season of their life. These are supposed to be memorable years, awesome years of making lifelong friends with teammates. My job was to come in to maximize their season of life as a student athlete."

Under the direction of Coach Hinson and newly-minted starting quarterback Trevor Knight, a group of 29 Texas A&M Student Athletes, including 15 football players will head out on a mission trip to Haiti as a part of the Mission of Hope Program. Hinson talked about the impact this trip will have on the Aggie Football program:

The whole team isn't going, but the guys who are going have great influence. Myles Garrett, Dasheon Hall, Josh Reynolds, Otaro Alaka, Koda Martin. This is going to change our locker room and I think we’ll be able to bring back stories of what we saw and what we endured while we were there that will help in the locker room. It doesn't matter who signed up, there will be some transformation. People who are listening see the Aggies play football, but that is a small slice of their life. A lot of these guys, I didn't approach, they knocked on my door and said, ‘Hey, I heard about the trip to Haiti, Is that something I can go on?’ I said, ‘Absolutely!"

The trip will take place from May 11-18. If you're interested in donating to their efforts, you can do so here (looks like they are 8k short of their goal).

The last week or so hasn't been easy for A&M football fans, and the PR we've received hasn't exactly been kind. But while things like a player decommitting might take in all the headlines, there are bigger and more impactful stories that go unnoticed. Ones that maybe provide better insight into the fabric and make up of the Aggie Football program. Sometimes we need to pay more attention to those stories and less to the ones that, in the end, won't really matter.