It all started in 2011 with one junior, Chad Ramey, who had a unique backpack. Over the years, this green backpack that resembles a turtle shell has multiplied and become a tradition, a symbol, and an honor.

“He wore it one day and [the football players] started a pact, they all started doing it because of football,” said senior Zach Ownbey. Now as the backpacks are passed down, so is the responsibility that comes with carrying one.

“You definitely have to earn it, as a football player and off the field,” said Ownbey.

“[The former football players] bought eight of these shell backpacks, and it grew to where they would pass them down to the next leaders of the football team,” said senior Jacob Williams.

The shells come with a status and an expectation that their carriers have to live up to.

The Shells are often in charge of senior pranks and spreading school spirit.

“I think [others in the school] see the people with the shells as leaders, they look to us for the fun things that will happen this year,” said Williams.

The football guys can be seen around the school, carrying their shells with pride. Opinions have been formed about them, but how do they see this tradition?

“I love it. It’s an honor. Since I was a sophomore, I always thought that’s all I wanted to be was a Shell when I got to be a senior. Now that I am, I just feel honored and I hope people look at me and see it the same way as I did,” said Williams.

What started out as a football tradition has now spread to baseball. There’s a new shell in town, and this one has spikes.

“We just thought it would be a cool thing to do for a baseball tradition because we knew football had one, and we wanted to do a similar thing,” said senior Devin Sok-Amnouay.

Sok-Amnouay was responsible for coming up with the idea for the Spikes backpacks, which they bought from Hot Topic.

“[Sok-Amnouay] started a group text and he figured some of the senior leaders on the team could start something new, so we decided we could all wear the same kind of backpack,” said senior Weston Rogers.

The baseball team wasn’t wanting to copy the football team, just trying to start their own tradition in a similar way, they never saw it as challenging the Shells.

“We’re both athletes, so we can do something similar to them, but not copy them,” said Rogers.

“We were trying to think of other options, but we didn’t want to pass down watches or something. We just found the easiest thing,” said Sok-Amnouay.

Similar to the Shell’s tradition, the Spikes will pass down their backpacks to deserving, upcoming seniors. The method and idea are the same, but some differences remain between the two turtle-likening book bags. Despite the differences, the Shells and Spikes are alike enough to cause some tension between the two sports teams.

“I don’t think any of the football players like us, but everyone else, they like us,” said Sok-Amnouay.

“Ours is a lot better than theirs, they’ve got spikes. That’s a lot cooler than a regular old shell, plus they’re probably more comfortable, I think,” said Rogers.

However, the Shells see their spiky new counterparts in a different way.

“I don’t really know what to think about them, it’s kind of messing up tradition. But if they want to do it, they can,” said Ownbey.