Members of the pit raise their mallets amid a percussion performance during the Cornhusker Marching Band's annual exhibition concert August 22 at Memorial Stadium. The band will make its regular-season debut September 6 at the stadium with pregame and halftime performances during Nebraska's football home opener against Akron
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA (08/29/2025) — Grace Lawrence of Le Claire, Iowa, is part of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's 300-member Cornhusker Marching Band, which will make its 2025 football season début September 6 at Memorial Stadium with pregame and halftime performances during Nebraska's home opener against Akron.
Lawrence, a freshman majoring in psychology, plays trumpet.
This year's band includes representatives from nearly every region of the country, with 79% hailing from Nebraska communities. Twenty-three percent of the members are students in the Glenn Korff School of Music, while the remainder represent more than seventy other academic programs across the university. Each student completed two auditions to earn a spot in the band.
Drum majors for the 2025 marching band are senior Travis Cloyd of Omaha; graduate student Jake Green of Lincoln; senior Tanner Maas of Gretna; and senior Gretchen Muth of Hastings. The twirler is senior Britney Berry of Omaha.
Tony Falcone, associate director of bands in the Korff School, is the director of the Cornhusker Marching Band. Doug Bush is the assistant director of bands and assistant marching band director. Carolyn Barber, Ron and Carol Cope Professor of Music, is director of bands. Rose Johnson is the administrative technician, Jan Deaton is the office associate, and Nolan Schmit is the "voice" of the band. Other band staff members are graduate teaching assistants Sarah Aymond, Andrea Mack, and Colton Schaefer. Jacob Wrobel is the percussion instructor, and Samantha Houston Brown is the color-guard instructor.
The Cornhusker Marching Band, which resides in the Korff School, was founded in 1879 as an ROTC unit and is one of the oldest marching bands in the nation. The band has received many honors throughout its 146-year history, including a Distinguished Recognition Trophy presented by John Philip Sousa in 1927 and the John Philip Sousa Foundation's Sudler Trophy in 1996. The Sudler Trophy is the highest honor given to collegiate bands.
The "Pride of All Nebraska" has been seen by millions of viewers on television. The band was the first collegiate ensemble to perform at all the major football bowl games: Rose, Orange, Fiesta, Sugar and Cotton. For more information, visit https://arts.unl.edu/music/CMB.
For the full list of 2025 Cornhusker Marching Band members, visit https://go.unl.edu/5a8t.
