Auburn safety and Texas transfer Jerrin Thompson didn’t forget about Bevo, he just said the University of Texas’ mascot didn’t really count.

“He wasn’t moving like that,” Thompson said of Texas’ live longhorn mascot. “He stays stationary.”

Thompson’s comments came hours after he watched Auburn’s golden eagle, Aurea, carry out the pregame Eagle Flight tradition ahead of Saturday’s A-Day spring football game at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“I thought it was pretty cool, you know,” Thompson said. “Training a bird, I ain’t ever seen nothing like that.”

For Thompson, it was his first time seeing the uniquely Auburn tradition in person — which is to be expected considering Thompson has only been on campus since January.

However, seeing the feat for the first time on Saturday wasn’t exclusive to the new faces on Auburn’s roster.

Auburn wide receiver Camden Brown, who will be entering his third season on The Plains come the fall, also watched the pre-game Eagle Flight for the first time on Saturday.

“That was actually my first time seeing it, because when I was in high school, I never really went to a game. So I was like, ‘Wow. That was pretty cool,’” Brown said. “I heard that he goes all the way around the stadium, so that was pretty cool.”

Auburn’s War Eagles — both Aura and Independence, the university’s bald eagle — do, indeed, go all the way around the stadium before every home football game.

Such has been the case since 2000, when Tiger, also known as War Eagle VI, flew from endzone to midfield ahead of Auburn’s game against Wyoming.

However, players and coaches being able to watch the Eagle Flight is a rarity. Generally, the team is still in the locker room when Auburn’s eagles take flight minutes before kickoff.

But Saturday was different as Auburn’s football team remained on the field after warmups, giving players and coaches an opportunity to watch Aurea’s flight.

“It was right next to me. I was like ‘Wow, that’s an eagle,’” Brown said. “I ain’t know what was going on.”

All that said, as cool as it was watch Aurea circle Jordan-Hare Stadium and touchdown near midfield on Saturday, both Brown and Thompson said they weren’t sure they’d want to be out on the field to see every flight.

“Probably because there’s already so much attention on it when I’m ready to play a game,” Brown reasoned. “It’s a cool thing, though. When everybody be like, ‘War Eagle!’ That’s exciting, too. I like that tradition.”

Thompson, on the other hand, just isn’t the biggest fan of large birds.

“I done seen some eagles tear some big mammals up,” Thompson joked. “So I’m not going to mess with that.”