With President Donald Trump’s presence at the Tennessee and Texas game, multiple celebrity appearances and ESPN’s “College Gameday,” campus was buzzing with activity Saturday.
This buzz on campus has not been reserved to Knoxville, as Trump has previously attended eight college football games, three of which occurred on college campuses.
Trump made two appearances in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in September 2024 and November 2019, at the University of Alabama. These were regular season games against University of Georgia and Louisiana State University, and they had similar security enhancements and increased foot traffic.
Trump attended the UA vs. UGA game in September 2024, nearly two months after an assassination attempt at an open-air campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
“I would say that it was such an interesting time because it was right during the election cycle when he was having his debates,” Max Krzeminski, The Crimson White’s managing editor, said. “It was right after he had said during the debates, ‘They’re eating the dogs,’ so that became a student catchphrase for us because we were facing the Bulldogs.”
Security measures were certainly extensive because of the past United States Secret Service security failure at the assassination attempt in July 2024. In 2026, at Neyland Stadium, similar precautions were rumored to be set, but they were not nearly as stressful as his appearance at a college football game in 2024.
“President Trump was in a box, and you could very clearly see that they had added another layer of bulletproof glass in front of him. I think they made that modification to that box that he was sitting in because he was also sitting alongside Senator Katie Britt and some other famous political figures,” Krzeminski said.
Both times Trump attended a UA home game, it was in light of a campaign, prior to an election. With the environment of a presidential election, Trump’s presence at Alabama campus was controversial, and was met with mixed opinions. At the November 2019 game vs. LSU, many protested his visit on UA’s campus.
“With signs that said ‘Resist,’ ‘Hate not welcome’ and ‘UA Isn’t Trump,’ about 15 students gathered on Friday to protest Trump’s upcoming arrival. The group intended to sit silently for 20 minutes and 20 seconds on the steps of Gorgas Library to signify the upcoming 2020 election,” Rebecca Gresbach, The Crimson White’s former news editor, wrote in an article.
UA’s campus experienced the chaos that comes with any big football game day matchup, which was increased with Trump’s presence.
“The University of Alabama and (University of Alabama Police Department) do a really good job at shutting down all the streets around campus every single game day. I would say that day in particular they were just shut probably a little bit earlier,” Krzeminski said. “There was increased security. TSA was the ones running security for that event, so it just took longer for everyone to get through. People had to take off their boots, they had to take off their game day pins and bags were definitely getting a lot
more thoroughly checked than they usually would for a home football game.”
While Trump’s appearances in Tuscaloosa were characterized by heightened security and restrictions, his visit to Iowa State in 2023 looked noticeably different. Rather than remaining distant from the crowd, Trump was active on campus and interacted directly with students and fans.
Trump was in attendance at the annual Cy-Hawk football game, a match between the University of Iowa and Iowa State, held in Ames, Iowa in 2023.
With the 2024 presidential election approaching, candidates focused heavily on Iowa early on, as it is the first state in the caucus. Trump used the opportunity to attempt to achieve a more personable reputation and win over the hearts of Iowan voters. Trump set up campaign booths and visited the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity house.
“Students tried to photograph Trump as he worked the crowd outside the red-brick fraternity house and flipped hamburgers at the grill,” Iowa Public Radio reporters Thomas Beaumont and Hannah Fingerhut said in an article.
Trump’s visit to the University of Tennessee was brief, arriving midway into the first quarter and heading out two hours into the game. His short trip and limited airtime did not compare to his community interactions during his Iowa visit.
Trump’s swift exit was similar to the 2024 UA game, with not much notice of his exit, most likely for security reasons.
“I believe they were pretty strategic about what time they were going to take him out of the stadium. That game was pretty much down to the wire for who was going to win. I would say I didn’t experience any trouble getting out,” Krzeminski said.
At UT specifically, fans heavily anticipated the Texas game, and the university felt all the more exciting with a checkerboard Neyland Stadium, ESPN’s “College Gameday,” a visit from the president and an Air Force One flyover.
