TYLER, Texas — There are plenty of ways to hype up a football team, but none are as effective for the Tyler Legacy Red Raiders than JaiShawn Lee's pregame ritual.
"You see it, and you're like, that's clean," a his teammate said.
Lee, the varsity starting safety for the Red Raiders, storms out of the tunnel with his teammates, into a roundoff that finishes with a backflip. It's something he's done at the start of every game in the 2024 season.
"It gets us fired up for the game," Lee said. "[My teammates] love it. They're like, Oh, my God, that's a back flip. Heck, yeah, let's get let's get rolling.”
Lee learned the flip after asking his cousin to show him years ago.
"He's the one who ended up teaching me how to back it was like, Oh, that's cool. Can you teach me how to do it?" Lee said. "We spent, like, a whole day doing it, building up my confidence, and now I can just do it. I've been able to do it for a few years now.”
That confidence has carried into his play onto the football field, but his time as a Red Raider is nearly over. Lee, a senior, will be making his final flip in front of Tyler Legacy fans against Rockwall on Friday.
“I plan on doing it the rest of the season, and God, God willing, you know, playoffs." Lee said. "So it feels bittersweet, because it's like, yeah, it's my last guaranteed home game, but it's also like, I'm gonna come out and be the team I haven't beat ever.”
Tyler Legacy currently sits in the districts fourth playoff slot, but a win over Rockwall Friday would make Lee's flipping future quite a bit brighter.