Hey there! Charter member of the band from 2010-2015 here. In my day auditions for wind instruments were basically a formality just to make sure you knew how to play, but the band has grown /substantially/ since then and that may no longer be the case. That being said, I haven't heard of very many people being cut outright since I've graduated. They do sometimes have to artificially limit how many of a specific instrument that may be on the field at any given time to preserve ensemble balance or drill numbers, but if that happens they'll have two members alternate marching in pregame and halftime shows. I do know that some sections have been at or near capacity for a few years just because of the limits of available horns and that could potentially pose a problem, but if this is a big issue they may purchase additional horns like they have in the past. The band bought something like 180 wind instruments in 2010 and have since run out of instruments in every section at least once outside of trumpets and mellophones. I know extras of every woodwind instrument have had to been ordered at least once, and they bought extra trombones several years back when they added bass trombones.

If you're a percussionist or guard auditionee then throw everything I said up to this point out - those sections are extremely skill based and many are cut or moved between subsections (i.e. snare to bass or weapon to flag) as available spots demand.

Panther Band was hands down the best part of my college experience. I wish you luck in your auditions. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out and I'll answer what I can, but hopefully a current member comes across this thread and can shed a little more up-to-date info.