Texas DE Breckyn Hager finally has his opportunity to cut his hair

The son of legendary Texas Longhorns linebacker Britt Hager, senior defensive end Breckyn Hager bleeds burnt orange and plays with unmatched intensity, so it was hardly surprising when those two factors combined in 2015 to produce a pledge from which he’s never wavered.

After arriving as a freshman, Hager vowed not to cut his hair until the Longhorns won a Big 12 championship.

Three years later, with his blonde hair now long past his shoulders, Hager will finally get an opportunity to cut it all off when the Horns face off against the Oklahoma Sooners in the Big 12 Championship Game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Saturday.

No one knows what will happen if Texas loses or even how the haircut will go down if the Longhorns win. The original plan was for one of Hager’s roommates, sophomore quarterback Sam Ehlinger, to cut it on the podium with the trophy.

But Ehlinger said that he wasn’t sure about Hager’s plan for that eventuality.

“You never know what he’s going to do,” Ehlinger said on Tuesday. “I’m going to leave that up to him. I know he’s got a plan for something... I leave everything that he wants to do up to him and just kind of go along with it.”

Senior tight end Beck claims that he’s already negotiated with Hager about it, eventually settling on cutting one of Hager’s braided pigtails and putting it in a bag for Hager to keep.

Who would get to cut the other pigtail, then?

Senior defensive tackle Chris Nelson said that he’s the designated cutter.

With Hager, it’s impossible to know what could happen, but the the players will unquestionably have the scissors packed and ready for the potential post-game festivities.

Following a public reprimand by the Big 12 for saying that “OU sucks” after the Iowa State win, Hager wasn’t available to the media on Tuesday, though Beck was able to provide a status report on his roommate.

“He’s excited, man. We’re so close now,” Beck said. “I was with him before I came up here and he was just brushing his hair, like, ‘I hate this thing. I hate this.’ So he’s excited. We’re getting close.”

Regardless of what ends up happening if Texas wins, everyone involved has a similar perspective on the matter.

“I’d definitely be willing to cut it,” Ehlinger said. “We’ve just got to take care of business first.”