Donnielle Gallman watched as her son Trey Gallman returned a kickoff 18 yards in the third quarter of LSU’s game against Texas A&M in 2017. 
He had told Donnielle he had a surprise for her before the game. The surprise was Trey was finally going to get his first chance to play — the kickoff return was extra.
“As soon as the ball came off the kicker’s foot, I saw him spot the ball because he played baseball in high school also,” Donnielle said. “I was sitting there and I grabbed my husband’s hand, and I was like ‘he’s going to catch the ball, and he said what do you mean? And I said he’s tracking the ball like a baseball, he’s getting ready to catch it.’
“The whole time I was closing my eyes thinking ‘whatever you do, don’t drop the ball. Whatever you do, don’t drop the ball.’ That’s all I kept saying until the play was finished.”
It’s the life of being a walk-on. Hoping you don’t drop the ball when given a chance.
Make no mistake about it, Gallman didn’t drop the ball. Instead, Orgeron gave Gallman a surprise of his own when it was announced the fifth-year senior was placed on scholarship this fall along with sophomore Zach Von Rosenberg and seniors Tiger Scheyd and Turner Simmers.
Gallman said none of the players had any idea they were about to be put on scholarship until Orgeron said it in a meeting before practice.
“[Orgeron] named us four guys, called us up there and told us how proud he was, and he gave us a moment to kind of tell the team how they much meant to us and how proud we were and how honored we were for the opportunity.”
While it was a really cool moment for Trey that showed his hardwork paid off, it was more emotional for Donnielle, who began crying and says it all surreal seeing everything her son wanted to accomplish happen.
“He had two goals when he came to LSU,” Donnielle said. “One was to get a degree, and the second was to earn a scholarship. Since he had gotten his degree in August, the same day football camp started in the fall, and a couple weeks later to find out they had offered him a scholarship it was just like, ‘wow.’ It’s pretty amazing to see your child set some dreams and to watch them come true and watch them happen. It’s been an amazing ride.”  
Gallman will be one of the 18 seniors honored during LSU’s senior day ceremony against Rice on Saturday, and it’ll be a time to reflect on his career at LSU.
He started out as an offensive lineman at Dutchtown High School just outside of Baton Rouge in Geismar, Louisiana, with scholarship offers from instate FCS schools like Southeastern, Northwestern State, McNeese, and Nicholls State and preferred walk-on opportunities at Louisiana Tech, Georgia and of course LSU among others.
“He said ‘I think I’ll go farther in life and I’d rather never play one down of football again and be a part of the LSU Tigers for four years than make every start for four years,” Donnielle said.
Trey wasn’t originally on LSU’s radar, but he caught the eye of former offensive coordinator Cam Cameron who was watching Dutchtown’s special teams film while recruiting safety Justin Reid, the younger brother of LSU safety and Pro Bowler Eric Reid. The younger Reid eventually decided to head west to Stanford and was drafted by the Houston Texans in the 2018 NFL draft, but his stock opened the door for Gallman at LSU.
“[Cameron] came in, and at the time I was like 285-290 pounds, and he was like ‘what do you think about coming in and losing 30-40 pounds and come play fullback?’ I said ‘Hell yeah I want to do that, are you kidding me? That’d be awesome.’”
Once at LSU, Gallman dropped weight and shifted between tight end and fullback his first four seasons, but his first impact came on special teams. It was a rule instilled into the players by former running backs coach Frank Wilson, who said players had to play on special teams before playing on offense.
Eventually, Gallman made his way up to offense and earned first career start at fullback in place of Tory Carter against Southeastern – an ironic moment for Gallman considering Southeastern was one of the few schools to offer a scholarship.
“I thought it was kind of funny, but I didn’t think nothing of it,” Gallman said. “Some of the guys were messing with me about it, ‘Oh, this is a big game for you.’ It was just another opportunity to play ball.”
Trey didn’t give Donnielle any warning he’d be making his first start either. As usual, he just told her he had a surprise for her.
There wasn’t a kick return this time around, but Gallman had a crucial block sealing off a linebacker to open up a hole senior running back Nick Brossette turned into a 42-yard gain.
On Saturday, Gallman is going to get another chance to put a linebacker on his back, but that’s all after he comes running out the tunnel to meet his family on the field and hears his name announced over the speakers.
“It’s going to be a challenge to not get emotional on the field,” Donnielle said. “I think the thing that I’m most excited to see that I haven’t seen in person is the little circle on the front of the jersey that says SEC graduate. That’s what I’m most proud of.”
For Trey, it’s just another moment to cap off a life as an LSU Tiger.
“It’s all cliché because you always hear the older guys say it every year, but really taking it a day at a time,” Gallman said. “Instead of trying to go to practice waiting for it to be over with, actually going to practice every day and getting better, and like coach [Tommy] Moffitt says it’s all about making memories.”
“I know whenever my time is up here, however it plays out the rest of the year from here, I definitely gave it all I had up to that point.”