SU marching band to perform at the Super Bowl

And the band played on!

The Syracuse University Marching Band, that is.

The NFL, with its long history of including college marching bands in the Super Bowl, has selected the 200-member SUMB to perform at Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium. Also selected was the Rutgers University Marching Scarlet Knights.

Both bands are expected to perform at 6 p.m., before the 6:30 p.m. kick-off.

Longtime flute player and marching band member Rachel Reymann expects the band’s Super Bowl performance to be “one of the most incredible feelings you will ever experience.”

Reymann, a communications and rhetorical studies senior, has been a part of “The Pride” for three years. She has performed twice at MetLife for Syracuse football season starters, and said that there’s nothing quite like a packed stadium.

“There’s this feeling when you’re marching and people are really excited to be there; there’s just this energy that you feel,” she said.

The Syracuse University Marching Band performed at the 2014 Texas Bowl at Reliant Stadium. Photo: Mitch Franz

The flautist said Prof. Justin Mertz, Director of “The Pride,” sat band members in the stands of the Dome following a junior college bowl championship to tell them the big news.

“Everyone just went crazy,” said Reymann. “To think that we get to march at the Super Bowl – there’s nothing like it.”

Mertz said that when NFL contacted him, it was “out of the blue – a complete surprise.”

“It started with an email,” he said. “We all thought at first it was either junk mail or some sort of scam or a joke.”

After a few phone calls, Mertz learned that the NFL had evaluated “The Pride,” and noted it as a premier program in the region.

Mertz was a member of the marching band, too. He played the saxophone, and graduated from SU in 2001. He said he is overwhelmed with pride.

“This kind of recognition is rare and a once in a lifetime thing for a band program,” he said.

“It’s just nice that there’s going to be a little bit of Syracuse at the Super Bowl.”