Nolan and Sara Beth both grew up in the surrounding Jackson area and likely did gymnastics at the same time. That being said, they did not officially meet until Mr. Upchurch’s AP European History class in the tenth grade. They were assigned a group project in the early months of 2022, and although neither of them remembers what the project was, they do remember using it as an excuse to text each other a lot. Finally, after losing a game of GamePigeon 8 Ball, Nolan got up the courage to tell Sara Beth he liked her. After meeting her parents, he asked her to go out to lunch at Mugshots after the ACT. Even though they were both exhausted after the test, they ended up talking for three hours on the date—to the point that both of their parents called to check on them. On April 13, 2022, Nolan asked Sara Beth to be his girlfriend.

After a few years of dating, many baseball games, and several date parties, it was time for college. Sara Beth decided very early on that she was going to Mississippi State, but Nolan, on the other hand, took a very long time to decide. On the day before their senior prom, he asked her if she would be his date to prom—and to Mississippi State.

Freshman year only strengthened their relationship, especially since they weren’t taking the same classes anymore. They began talking and planning for an early marriage, and although some people may have seen them as crazy, this was what they wanted—and they did it. On October 13, 2025, after fooling Sara Beth into thinking she was taking photos with her childhood best friend, Nolan got down on one knee and proposed. Neither of them remembers what Sara Beth said after that, but the tackle that followed was taken as a yes.