UGA band preparing for Rose Bowl - CBS46 News

At the School of Music on the University of Georgia campus, hard work is finally paying off.

Band Director Cynthia Johnston Turner said the Redcoats hit a high note when the football team was selected to play in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. 

"Everybody is feeling the excitement, the stress and the tension, and you just say yes to all of these opportunities because you just never know," says Turner. 

The Redcoat Band is preparing to perform in one of the most historic college football venues in the nation, and they’ll also take their battle hymn to the front lines of the Rose Bowl parade.

"It’s been a long time since we’ve had this sort of thing, and it’s just something when you’re in middle school band you dream about, something like this, getting the opportunity to march in the granddaddy of them all," says band member Chandler Dickerson. 

The experience will be extra special for one student who has dreamed about the opportunity and leaned on his band family the last few years while overcoming cancer.

"There is no group that I’d rather be doing this with than the ones who helped me through what I’ve gone through, so now we get to tackle this challenge together," says band member Jaron Lehman. 

The Redcoats will be doing some additional physical training in the coming days because they will have to march more than five miles in the Rose Bowl parade wearing their redcoats in fairly warm temperatures.

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