![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2026\/09\/Landon-Walker-running-down-the-hill-909x1024.jpg\")
Landon Walker<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Walker went undrafted in the 2012 NFL draft, but later intended to sign with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent. The only thing that stood between Walker and his NFL dreams was a physical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the physical revealed arthritis in his knee, leaving Walker to face the reality of the condition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI got hit in the face with some reality really fast,\u201d Walker said in a 2023 interview. \u201cThe reality of the decision was that you either try to continue to play football with a knee that has failed an arthritis physical, or you try to do something different.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Soon after the physical, Walker was contacted by Hendrick Motorsports, the winningest team in NASCAR history. The team wanted Walker to attend its pit crew combine, something very similar to the workouts Walker participated in as a football player. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That was 14 years ago. Walker officially joined the organization shortly after the combine and has remained with the organization as the fueler for William Byron\u2019s No. 24 Chevrolet. In the last several seasons, Walker has been part of numerous victories on the No. 24 team, including two consecutive Daytona 500 wins in 2024 and 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jonathan \u201cTig\u201d Willard<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Walker, Willard went undrafted in the 2013 NFL Draft. However, Willard wound up signing with the Tennessee Titans that offseason and joined their practice squad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Willard did not appear in any games for the Titans throughout the 2013 season and did not return at season\u2019s end. This left Willard in a position similar to the one Walker had been in a few years prior, contemplating what life would look like after professional football. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the years that followed, Willard found himself joining motorsports giant Chip Ganassi Racing ahead of the 2017 NASCAR season. Throughout his stint with the organization, Willard served as a jackman for numerous pit crews across the three major NASCAR national touring series. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prior to the start of the 2022 season, Chip Ganassi Racing\u2019s NASCAR program was purchased by Trackhouse Racing, a brand-new NASCAR team. Fortunately for Willard, he was able to remain with the organization in the same role \u2014 a role that led to his being part of NASCAR history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2023, NASCAR took to a street circuit for the very first time in Chicago, and Trackhouse entered a special entry for three-time Australian Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen to take part in his first-ever NASCAR race. Willard was the jackman for Van Gisbergen, who went on to win the race \u2014 the first driver to do so in their first NASCAR Cup Series start since 1963. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the years since then, Willard has joined Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing in 2024 and is currently the jackman for Ryan Preece and the No. 60 Ford. Just last month, Willard was part of the pit crew for Preece\u2019s first career victory that secured him a spot in the NASCAR Chase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A chance for a championship<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Both former Tigers now have an opportunity in front of them to accomplish something they have never done before: win a NASCAR championship. Their respective drivers, William Byron and Ryan Preece, both qualified for the NASCAR Chase \u2014 the sport\u2019s version of a postseason \u2014 and have a chance over the last 10 races to secure the title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chase began on Labor Day weekend in the Palmetto State at Darlington Raceway, and continued this past Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis. With just eight races remaining in the season, the two teams have their work cut out for them, as they both sit more than 100 points behind championship leader Denny Hamlin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While that gap might seem insurmountable, anything can happen, and both Walker and Willard will be working with their teams to put together strong performances to potentially cap off the season as NASCAR champions. Only time will tell if one of these former Tigers will be helping their teams hoist the Bill France Cup in just eight weeks’ time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When college football players graduate and their time as a collegiate athlete draws to a close, they often wind up in careers within the football industry. Whether it be playing professionally or coaching at different levels, those are the typical paths former college football players take. Two former Clemson Tigers opted to take a much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3675,"featured_media":1141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63153,63180,63178],"tags":[],"coauthors":[63150],"class_list":["post-1140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clemson-alumni","category-clemson-athletics","category-motorsports"],"fimg_url":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2026\/09\/Jonathan-_Tig_-Willard-against-Auburn-in-2011-150x150.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3675"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1140"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1147,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140\/revisions\/1147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1140"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1132,"date":"2026-09-07T15:48:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T15:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/?p=1132"},"modified":"2026-09-07T15:48:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T15:48:47","slug":"collegiate-racing-series-announces-strategic-partnership-with-imsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/2026\/09\/07\/collegiate-racing-series-announces-strategic-partnership-with-imsa\/","title":{"rendered":"Collegiate Racing Series announces strategic partnership with IMSA\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n By Nathan Inman<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n Just over a year removed from graduating, a Clemson alum is already making his mark on the world of motorsports. <\/p>\n\n\n On Aug. 27, the Collegiate Racing Series and the International Motor Sports Association announced the establishment of the National Advisory Board for Motorsports Education. Jack Hobbs, \u201825, is the founder of CRS, the official sanctioning body for collegiate motorsports that provides students with opportunities to gain racing experience on and off the track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In just its early stages, CRS already has more than 80 schools participating in the series. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Through the partnership, NABME will \u201chelp ensure academic programs more closely reflect the skills, experiences and professional expectations required throughout today\u2019s motorsports industry,\u201d according to a release<\/a> from IMSA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat’s been a project we’ve been working on for 18 months,\u201d Hobbs said after the announcement. \u201cWe’ve been working silently in the background, checking boxes, putting things in place to make sure that you know that announcement was not premature, and so we finally got to a point where all the boxes were checked.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hobbs added that \u201cit\u2019s been great and it’s just really special to see the industry kind of come together and understand that education is supremely important to their success.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before founding CRS, Hobbs co-established the Clemson Tiger Racing team. CTR currently races a repurposed Mazda Miata gifted to them by the Department of Automotive Engineering, a car that is now the base of CRS through a separate partnership with Mazda Motorsports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are several key people and entities that we would not be here without them, period, amen \u2014 Mazda is one of them,\u201d Hobbs said. \u201cThey’ve given us unbelievable support in developing the car that our series uses. This is a ground-up car, CRS and Mazda really worked hand-in-hand with big names \u2014 Penske (and) OMP \u2014 to design a car that was both supremely affordable, but confidence-inspiring and safe.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n Hobbs later elaborated on whether he could have ever imagined the partnership with IMSA coming together when he originally founded CTR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat happened is not shocking to me, when it happened is,\u201d Hobbs explained. \u201cWe firmly believe, and have believed, that college and motorsports needed to happen. And we firmly have always believed that the industry would welcome it, and they have.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hobbs added that the timing of how all this came together shocked him the most, as did the level of interest the motorsports industry has shown in supporting the series. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When discussing his time as a Clemson student, Hobbs explained how the University set him up to see this level of success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cClemson does a really good job of preparing you for the unpreparable,\u201d Hobbs said. \u201cThere isn’t a class in the world, there isn’t an opportunity in the world that can prepare you for things singularly. But the culmination of my Clemson experience, the petri dish that it is, to go out and work with Nathan (Chang) to create CTR, and to enjoy that experience\u2026 It’s the culmination of the four years that put me in a place mentally and leadership-wise just to be in a position to handle it all.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n As CRS is experiencing rapid growth in such a short period of time, Hobbs was asked what his goals look like for 5-to-10 years down the road. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf we had to have our goal, we would just hope that the industry recognizes this platform as a legitimate funnel for talent development,\u201d Hobbs said. \u201cThe goal is to develop better people. Something I learned very early on at CUICAR with the Deep Orange program is that the product is not the car \u2014 the product is always the student, and that’s something we\u2019ve taken to heart with this program\u2026 This is for the students, and it always will be.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Nathan Inman Just over a year removed from graduating, a Clemson alum is already making his mark on the world of motorsports. On Aug. 27, the Collegiate Racing Series and the International Motor Sports Association announced the establishment of the National Advisory Board for Motorsports Education. Jack Hobbs, \u201825, is the founder of CRS, the official […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3675,"featured_media":1134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63178,181],"tags":[],"coauthors":[63150],"class_list":["post-1132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motorsports","category-students"],"fimg_url":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-1-1-150x150.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3675"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1132"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1138,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132\/revisions\/1138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1132"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1097,"date":"2026-08-28T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/?p=1097"},"modified":"2026-08-28T00:20:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T00:20:45","slug":"meet-rhbssis-fall-2026-student-intern-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/2026\/08\/28\/meet-rhbssis-fall-2026-student-intern-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet RHBSSI’s Fall 2026 student intern team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n With another school year underway, the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute is proud to introduce its team of seven student interns for the Fall semester. Including three returning students from previous semesters, this group will help advance the Institute\u2019s mission while preparing for the third annual RECESS Symposium in November. We are excited to see all that this team will contribute!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kaelyn Gannon <\/strong> Lucy Hart <\/strong> Ava Ameres<\/strong> Kaelyn Gannon joins RHBSSI as the Communications Lead, bringing experience in social media and public relations. Gannon is a fourth-year communication major from South Florida who also serves as a social media intern for Clemson University and a public relations intern with FerebeeLane in Greenville. Returning for her third semester with the Institute, Lucy Hart will serve as the Events Lead. After graduating from Clemson in December 2025, Hart completed an internship with the Savannah Bananas before returning to Clemson to pursue a master\u2019s degree in public administration. She enjoys spending time outdoors, running and being with her friends and family.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Senior Ava Ameres, a graphic communications major with a minor in brand communications, joins RHBSSI as the Graphic Designer. Ameres recently completed a graphic design internship with the MLB Players Association. Originally from New Jersey, she enjoys cheering on her favorite New York and New Jersey sports teams.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Nathan Inman Aubrey Tarbox <\/strong> Shanque Williams<\/strong> Nathan Inman returns to the Institute as a Motorsports Writer for the second semester. A senior double majoring in sports communication and marketing, Inman has been involved with The Tiger since his first year and currently serves as the publication\u2019s associate editor. He spent his summer completing an internship with The Seneca Journal. Aubrey Tarbox combines her interests in sports and storytelling as RHBSSI\u2019s Sports Science Writer. Tarbox is a junior communication major with a minor in brand communications and spent the summer interning with the San Antonio Missions, a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the San Diego Padres. She currently serves as a senior photographer for The Tiger and is part of the leadership team for Lutheran Campus Ministry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Shanque Williams brings her experience as a track-and-field student-athlete to help RHBSSI create content this semester. A junior psychology major with a minor in business management, Williams represented Jamaica at the 2025 Pan American U23 Games and helped Clemson\u2019s team win its second consecutive ACC Championship. She hopes to continue competing professionally while exploring a career in real estate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Jordan Sowell With a passion for programming and emerging technology, junior Jordan Sowell joins as a Software Developer. Jordan is studying computer science with a minor in artificial intelligence and recently built and launched a cloud-based Bible study app using Amazon Web Services. Outside of school and software development, Jordan enjoys cars, video games, and playing basketball. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With another school year underway, the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute is proud to introduce its team of seven student interns for the Fall semester. Including three returning students from previous semesters, this group will help advance the Institute\u2019s mission while preparing for the third annual RECESS Symposium in November. We are excited to see all that this team will contribute!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4292,"featured_media":1110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63147,63148,181],"tags":[],"coauthors":[63181],"class_list":["post-1097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-posts","category-institute-updates","category-students"],"fimg_url":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2026\/08\/MacBook-Air-1-150x150.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1097"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1130,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions\/1130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1097"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1086,"date":"2026-08-15T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/?p=1086"},"modified":"2026-08-14T01:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T01:40:20","slug":"beyond-the-average-brook-russell-studies-human-performance-at-the-extremes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/2026\/08\/15\/beyond-the-average-brook-russell-studies-human-performance-at-the-extremes\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Average: Brook Russell studies human performance at the extremes"},"content":{"rendered":" By Katie Gerbasich<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Brook Russell<\/a>, Ph.D., studies athletic performance beyond the average. As an associate professor in the Clemson University School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, he examines what happens at the far edges of a data set: human performance at the extremes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russell presented an invited talk in May at the American Statistical Association\u2019s Virtual Sports Analytics Conference about two collaborative research projects examining speed and athleticism among NFL players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The work grew from Russell\u2019s collaboration with Paul Hogan<\/a>, Clemson\u2019s senior assistant football strength and conditioning coach. Russell conducted the quantitative analysis, while Hogan helped interpret the findings and place them in the context of football and human performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a unique collaboration, to be honest,\u201d Russell said. \u201cThere\u2019s probably not a lot of football strength and conditioning coaches working on papers with people in the math department.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The researchers use extreme value theory, a statistical framework traditionally applied in areas such as hydrology and finance to study rare events. Because elite NFL athletes are statistical outliers, this approach allows Russell and Hogan to examine performances at the far end of human ability and find characteristics that might be obscured when the data is viewed as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n Their first project<\/a>, published in 2018 in the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports<\/em>, examined relationships among NFL Combine event performances using both extreme-value and non-extremes-based approaches. The researchers explored how those different approaches could inform the evaluation of NFL prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their second project focused on differences between position groups, comparing cornerbacks and wide receivers across three NFL Combine events: the 40-yard dash, vertical jump and broad jump. The analysis suggested that wide receivers held a slight advantage in the 40-yard dash and vertical jump performances, while cornerbacks appeared to have a small edge in the broad jump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In separate work, a graduate student examined how different Combine events relate to one another across typical and elite performers. The findings could help teams think differently about talent evaluation. If certain events provide overlapping information, teams may not need to rely on every available measurement when assessing a prospect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connecting statistical analysis to practical application is one of the central challenges of sports analytics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s easy to take in a lot of data and really interesting data sets and do interesting models,\u201d Russell said. \u201cBut actually tying it back to some sort of decision-making process in practices or games can be a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As sports analytics has grown, the field has drawn students and researchers from communication, marketing, economics and other disciplines. That interdisciplinary environment mirrors Russell\u2019s work, which extends beyond athletic performance to the relationship between sports and business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a separate collaborative project with Angeline Scheinbaum<\/a>, Ph.D., Dan Duncan Professor of Sports Marketing at Clemson, Russell supported a graduate student studying how fans\u2019 perceptions of corporate social responsibility influence their willingness to use a company\u2019s products or services. The researchers are preparing the project for publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether he is studying a 40-yard dash or the relationship between corporations and their communities, Russell uses data to better understand human performance and sports business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Brook Russell, Ph.D., studies athletic performance beyond the average. Russell presented an invited talk in May at the American Statistical Association\u2019s Virtual Sports Analytics Conference about two collaborative research projects examining speed and athleticism among NFL players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4292,"featured_media":1015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[445,63146],"tags":[],"coauthors":[63181],"class_list":["post-1086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","category-sports-research"],"fimg_url":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2026\/05\/brook-russell-150x150.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1088,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1086\/revisions\/1088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1086"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1063,"date":"2026-07-09T14:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/?p=1063"},"modified":"2026-07-09T14:29:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:29:55","slug":"from-clemson-to-the-world-tour-sports-management-alumna-takes-on-savannah-bananas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/2026\/07\/09\/from-clemson-to-the-world-tour-sports-management-alumna-takes-on-savannah-bananas\/","title":{"rendered":"From Clemson to the World Tour: Sports management alumna takes on Savannah Bananas"},"content":{"rendered":" From dancing players to sold-out stadiums and nonstop entertainment, the Savannah Bananas World Tour has become known for creating unforgettable fan experiences. Behind the spectacle is a dedicated team of staff members and hundreds of Gameday Teammates who make every game possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following her graduation from Clemson University\u2019s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management in December 2025, Lucy Hart joined that team as a People Operations Intern, helping recruit and lead Gameday Teammates at stops across the World Tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fans First Entertainment, the organization behind the Savannah Bananas, is known for prioritizing culture just as much as talent. The extensive interview process, which included multiple rounds of interviews and numerous pre-hiring projects, reflects that commitment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey put a ton of effort into making sure the people they hire fit their culture and will serve fans well,\u201d Hart said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before joining the Bananas, Hart served as Destination Experiences Intern with VisitGreenvilleSC, where she recruited and managed volunteers for the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament. That experience sparked her interest in pursuing the people operations role with the Bananas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the World Tour, Hart led the Bananas\u2019 Gameday Teammates, local volunteers who assist with ticketing and merchandise, while helping create a welcoming experience for fans in each city.<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cI love the nature of these two pretty unique roles,\u201d Hart said. \u201cThere aren\u2019t a lot of other jobs out there where you get to work with an entirely new set of people every day with the shared purpose of serving others throughout the day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n People Operations Interns are among the first to arrive at each stadium. While other staff prepare the venue for fans, Hart’s team prepares it for the Gameday Teammates by setting up check-in, organizing credentials and name tags, distributing shirts and ensuring volunteers have everything they need before gates open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur Gameday Teammates work with other Banana Ball staff, and while this may be their first day working with us, our crew has been grinding every weekend in a new city,\u201d Hart said. \u201cI like to make sure we are also supporting our Stand Leads and Ticket Road Warriors. If they are feeling supported and optimistic, then that energy will trickle down to the teammates.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n That emphasis on supporting one another begins long before game day. According to Hart, the organization dedicates significant time to teaching its core values and ensuring every employee understands the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf everyone is making decisions throughout the day guided by the same principles, then ideally, we will all be working towards the same shared vision of putting the fans first and entertaining always,\u201d Hart said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hart encourages students hoping to work in sports to be intentional with every opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From working as a camp counselor to internships with VisitGreenvilleSC, the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute and the Savannah Bananas, Hart credits each role with preparing her for the next step in her career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Every experience that I have had has led me to the next step and then the next,\u201d Hart said. “Trust the process and spend time truly thinking about what you love and what you are good at. The rest will come in time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n This fall, Hart will return to Clemson to pursue a Master of Public Administration while continuing to serve as Events Lead with the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute, bringing the lessons she learned on the road back to campus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Following her graduation from Clemson University\u2019s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management in December 2025, Lucy Hart joined that team as a People Operations Intern, helping recruit and lead Gameday Teammates at stops across the World Tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4292,"featured_media":1064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63153,181],"tags":[63185],"coauthors":[63181],"class_list":["post-1063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clemson-alumni","category-students","tag-prtm"],"fimg_url":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2026\/07\/IMG_8075-150x150.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1063"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1055,"date":"2026-07-02T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/?p=1055"},"modified":"2026-07-01T18:17:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:17:01","slug":"world-sports-journalists-day-spotlight-justin-robertson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/2026\/07\/02\/world-sports-journalists-day-spotlight-justin-robertson\/","title":{"rendered":"World Sports Journalists Day Spotlight: Justin Robertson"},"content":{"rendered":" In honor of World Sports Journalists Day on July 2, the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute highlights former writing intern and sports communication student at Clemson, Justin Robertson<\/a>, who recently completed an editorial assistant internship with the Baltimore Ravens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During his internship, Justin wrote stories for the Ravens’ website and app, edited staff content, oversaw publication workflows, and helped manage content presentation across the team’s digital platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One project stood out above the rest: a feature on Ravens draft picks Elijah Sarratt and Josh Cuevas<\/a>, two players who entered college as zero-star recruits before making it to the NFL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It was a difficult project but a very rewarding one that shed light on the obstacles that Sarratt and Cuevas had to overcome in their football journeys,” Robertson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond developing his writing, editing, and interviewing skills, Robertson said his biggest takeaway was learning how to create content that stands out in today’s fast-moving digital landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “With so many people competing for people’s attention, the Ravens’ digital media team does an excellent job of drawing in interest from both local and national audiences,” Robertson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To Robertson, sports journalism is about much more than reporting scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Sports are often one of the few escapes from the negativity of a divided society,” Robertson said. “By reading stories, watching sports programming, or listening to sports podcasts, fans can gain a deeper understanding of their favorite players, coaches, teams, and leagues.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Robertson encourages students interested in sports journalism to get involved in campus media, say “yes” to new opportunities, and build relationships through networking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “There are only so many teams and regions to cover, and the traditional sports media industries are shrinking,” Robertson said. “However, there will always be a need for sports reporters, and if you try to take advantage of the opportunities you have as a student, you will have success.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In honor of World Sports Journalists Day, the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute is highlighting former writing intern Justin Robertson, who recently completed an editorial assistant internship with the Baltimore Ravens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4292,"featured_media":1057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63153],"tags":[],"coauthors":[63181],"class_list":["post-1055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clemson-alumni"],"fimg_url":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2026\/07\/justin-headshot-150x150.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1055"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1046,"date":"2026-06-19T13:43:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/?p=1046"},"modified":"2026-06-19T14:14:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T14:14:45","slug":"clemson-professors-measure-consistency-of-acc-brand-team-colors-across-athletic-apparel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/2026\/06\/19\/clemson-professors-measure-consistency-of-acc-brand-team-colors-across-athletic-apparel\/","title":{"rendered":"Clemson professors measure consistency of ACC brand team colors across athletic apparel"},"content":{"rendered":" By Katie Gerbasich<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Walking through downtown Clemson, it\u2019s hard to miss the sea of orange and purple. Hundreds of t-shirt designs line storefronts using different colors, fabrics, and printing techniques. Still, fans expect one thing to remain consistent: they should be able to recognize their team instantly by color alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Drs. Erica Walker<\/a> and Amanda Bridges<\/a> in Clemson\u2019s Department of Graphic Communications have spent the past several years studying<\/a> exactly that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cColor is a vital part of a brand\u2019s identity, and printing consistent, durable, and accurate brand colors across different materials can be challenging for manufacturers,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After receiving international recognition for their Clemson-branded textile research<\/a>, Walker and Bridges expanded their work to include all ACC team colors. The study evaluates 64 brand colors across multiple textile types and printing methods, including dye sublimation and direct-to-film (DTF) printing, to better understand how color accuracy, durability, and material interact in athletic apparel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBrand colors matter, and fans recognize when their team\u2019s colors are not representative,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To test this, the research compared two printing processes, dye sublimation and direct-to-film printing, across cotton, polyester, and blended fabrics. By analyzing how each method performs on different materials, the study highlights the challenges of maintaining color accuracy at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walker, a faculty fellow of Clemson\u2019s Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute, has received support from the Institute throughout this work, including funding for equipment and conference participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The findings show that the printing method, textile type, and color family play significant roles in color accuracy. Direct-to-film printing consistently produced more accurate color results overall, while dye sublimation performed best on 100% polyester fabrics. Across both processes, some color families proved easier to reproduce than others. Neutral tones such as black and gray, along with yellow-gold hues, showed higher accuracy across processes and textile types, whereas more saturated colors posed greater challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As athletic departments continue to expand the reach and value of their brands, maintaining color consistency becomes more than simply a design challenge. It becomes part of how student-athletes and fans identify with, represent, and connect to their teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEnsuring that brand colors are seen accurately across mediums, processes, and materials,\u201d Walker said, remains a central goal of the research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By examining how printing methods and fabrics influence color accuracy, the study offers manufacturers valuable insights for delivering consistent, high-quality products. So the next time you buy a Clemson t-shirt, take a second look to see if it is actually Clemson Orange and Regalia purple<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The study evaluates 64 brand colors across multiple textile types and printing methods, including dye sublimation and direct-to-film (DTF) printing, to better understand how color accuracy, durability, and material interact in athletic apparel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4292,"featured_media":1047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[445,63146],"tags":[62091],"coauthors":[63181],"class_list":["post-1046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","category-sports-research","tag-erica-walker"],"fimg_url":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2026\/06\/image-150x150.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1039,"date":"2026-06-16T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2026-06-15T17:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T17:04:26","slug":"anthony-marinos-research-reexamines-the-gold-standard-in-helmet-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/2026\/06\/16\/anthony-marinos-research-reexamines-the-gold-standard-in-helmet-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Marino’s research reexamines the gold standard in helmet testing"},"content":{"rendered":" By Katie Gerbasich<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “It’s unethical to bring people into a lab and hit them real hard in the head,” Anthony Marino<\/a> likes to joke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fortunately for researchers, crash test dummies can take the hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A recent Clemson Ph.D. graduate from the Department of Bioengineering, Marino focused his dissertation on examining the effectiveness of using the Hybrid III, a crash test dummy commonly used in football helmet testing, to replicate the hit a human would take on the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marino conducted his research within the Clemson Headgear Impact Performance (CHIP) Laboratory<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The CHIP Lab has made major strides in helmet safety. Co-directed by Dr. John DesJardins, professor of bioengineering and director of the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute (RHBSSI), and Dr. Greg Batt, a professor in the Department of Food, Nutrition and Packaging Sciences and a faculty fellow at RHBSSI, the lab focuses on improving how protective headgear is tested and developed, particularly for high-impact sports like football. The goal is to bring greater accuracy to helmet testing systems to better protect athletes from concussions and traumatic brain injuries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How human-like is the Hybrid III neckform? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Marino became interested in studying the neck component of the Hybrid III because it was designed to simulate a human response to a frontal car crash, not the multi-directional impacts seen in sports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI saw the opportunity to look at the neck component because I thought that this crash test dummy neck that’s supposed to represent a human response to a frontal crash in a car was going to be a little different than a human response to a football impact.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n To fill the gap left by the lack of active human data, Marino used a computational model in OpenSim to replicate the lab testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though the Hybrid III is commonly used in the field for helmet impact testing, Marino\u2019s research found that, to match the dummy’s performance in controlled low-speed movements, such as neck-bending tests, a comparable human would have to be about 300% stronger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During higher-speed impact testing, Marino found even larger differences. In one scenario, the computational model required a 1,000% increase in strength to replicate the Hybrid III’s response. Even with those increases, Marino said the computational human model could not fully replicate some of the Hybrid III’s injury metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou kind of had to create a superhuman to match our crash test dummy,\u201d Marino said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The findings suggest the Hybrid III may overestimate some injury metrics because its neck responds differently than a human neck, but the dummy\u2019s durability and repeatability are why it remains the industry standard in helmet testing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The why<\/em> behind the work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Marino\u2019s work provides insight into the limitations of the Hybrid III, laying the groundwork for more realistic helmet safety testing in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Discovering tangible impacts is what motivates Marino. During his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at Auburn University, a professor introduced him to biomechanics and the idea that engineering principles could be applied to the human body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s just fascinating because the body really is a perfect machine when it’s working well, and we’re trying so hard to replicate it in other machines,\u201d Marino said. \u201cThen being able to see that you can directly help people, whether it’s injury prevention or rehabilitation and give people a better quality of life through engineering, completely flipped my career path.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the Hybrid III remains the industry standard, Marino’s findings raise important questions about how closely current testing systems reflect real human movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe dummy isn’t humanlike at all, but it’s giving us data that’s protecting the player so far,\u201d Marino said. \u201cThe device is durable and repeatable, which is the real reason it’s adopted so widely in this industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A recent Clemson Ph.D. graduate from the Department of Bioengineering, Marino focused his dissertation on examining the effectiveness of using the Hybrid III, a crash test dummy commonly used in football helmet testing, to replicate the hit a human would take on the field<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4292,"featured_media":1040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63146],"tags":[],"coauthors":[63181],"class_list":["post-1039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-research"],"fimg_url":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2026\/06\/an1-150x150.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1024,"date":"2026-06-05T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/?p=1024"},"modified":"2026-06-04T16:06:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T16:06:30","slug":"student-travel-grants-expand-learning-opportunities-across-three-departments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/2026\/06\/05\/student-travel-grants-expand-learning-opportunities-across-three-departments\/","title":{"rendered":"Student travel grants expand learning opportunities across three departments"},"content":{"rendered":" By Katie Gerbasich <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As the fiscal year wraps up, we are looking back at the Clemson students the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute (RHBSSI) supported through travel grants this year. Spanning three departments, this funding allowed students to attend sports conferences, competitions and experiential learning events that furthered their education and professional development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In August, Bianca Henline, Sydney Savage and Abbie Underwood attended the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB) Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n Henline presented her thesis research, which focused on the development and application of a method for simulating commotio cordis-inducing impacts to evaluate the effectiveness of football chest protective equipment. The presentation represented the culmination of approximately 2.5 years of dedicated research with the Clemson Impact Performance of Sports Protective Equipment Creative Inquiry team, which she led.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her most significant takeaway from the conference was learning from companies in the forensic industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBefore attending the conference, I had committed to a position in the forensic field, and engaging with the research and findings of others provided insight into potential applications within my own professional responsibilities,\u201d Henline said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Later in October, senior Bioengineering student Chloe Izant attended the Biomedical Engineering Society Conference in San Diego, California. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In February, Enzo Ferriera attended the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA) Conference in St. Augustine, Florida, where he presented research on behalf of a group of fellow Ph.D. students.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n Their project, Navigating Research Practices as Graduate Sport Management Students: The Issue of Miscitations in the Sport Literature<\/em>, explored their experiences conducting rigorous academic research and highlighted the issues of miscitation encountered throughout the research process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The presentation examined possible reasons for the prevalence of miscitations in research practices and literature. It offered recommendations for graduate students and faculty to strengthen research practices in sport and recreation management. The project also served as a stepping stone toward publication, as the group prepares the final version of the manuscript to increase rigor across the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe RHBSSI has always been supportive of our group\u2019s scholarship and professional development through travel grants, events on campus, and partnerships with our faculty advisors,\u201d Ferriera said. \u201cThese avenues have certainly paved the way for us to succeed in academia and our future goals in the sport management world, as well as making it possible for our research initiatives to reach the audiences that they need so that they can create an impact on the field right away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n In May, Benjamin Hinckfoot and Innhoo Baek attended the North American Society for Sport Management Conference (NASSM) in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Hinckfoot presented research titled Assessing Holistic Outcomes of a Short-Term Service Abroad for Intercollegiate Athletes<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alongside Department of Automotive Engineering student, Hadley Smith, PRTM students Jenny Pinion, Emma Shurley, and George Rieger participated in a case-study competition at the Women in Motorsports Mobil 1 event in Indianapolis, Indiana, where they placed second and received a $1,500 award.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n After advancing in the Lap 1 pool, which comprised 21 universities from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, the team presented to five industry leaders against five other universities at the<\/span> Dallara Convention Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their final-lap challenge involved developing an idea for a corporation already involved in, or planning to enter, the motorsports industry to engage the rapidly growing global community of female fans, a demographic characterized by high emotional investment and purchasing power.<\/p>\n\n\n Faculty fellows Felipe Tobar and Ashlyn Hardie served as co-advisors for the group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWorking with these four bright students has been a joy and a testament to the fact that when we give them the tools and the opportunity to pursue their dreams, they will shine,\u201d Tobar said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Students in faculty fellow Brandon Boatwright\u2019s COMM Sport and Social Media Class traveled to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground, where they watched a practice and received an exclusive tour of the new Emory Healthcare Studio, a first-of-its-kind media operations facility. The class spent the semester developing social media strategies for Atlanta United FC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The trip allowed students to connect with their client while exploring potential careers in the sports industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSeeing the new studio was truly a testament to how social media is changing the sports industry,\u201d Katie Gerbasich, a student who attended the trip, said. \u201cThe content team at Atlanta United was able to advocate for their importance and get major funding for state-of-the-art equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, the Institute was thrilled to financially support seven individual students and two student groups to attend sports conferences and events in fiscal year 2026, which began July 1, 2025 and ends June 30, 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Click here<\/a> to learn more about the Institute’s Clemson Student Travel Grant program. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the fiscal year wraps up, the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute would like to highlight the student travel grants it supported. Spanning three departments, these opportunities allowed students to attend conferences, competitions and experiential learning events that furthered their education and professional development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4292,"featured_media":1028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63147],"tags":[],"coauthors":[63181],"class_list":["post-1024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-posts"],"fimg_url":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2026\/06\/bianca-group-150x150.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1014,"date":"2026-06-01T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/?p=1014"},"modified":"2026-06-02T15:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T15:24:16","slug":"rhbssi-adds-two-clemson-faculty-members-to-fellows-cohort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/2026\/06\/01\/rhbssi-adds-two-clemson-faculty-members-to-fellows-cohort\/","title":{"rendered":"RHBSSI adds two Clemson faculty members to fellows cohort"},"content":{"rendered":"\n The Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute is excited to welcome two new Clemson faculty members to its cohort of Faculty Fellows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Associate Professor of Applied Statistics, School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Russell<\/a> is an associate professor in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (SMSS), with a portion of his research and mentoring activities focusing in sports analytics and human performance. He has collaborated with Paul Hogan, Senior Assistant Football Strength and Conditioning Coach at Clemson University, to understand the extreme athleticism of football players. This collaboration has resulted in the manuscript Analyzing dependence matrices to investigate relationships between National Football League Combine event performances<\/a><\/em>, published in the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports<\/em> in 2018. In this work, they analyzed National Football League Combine event performances using both extreme-value and non-extremes-based approaches and explored how these approaches can inform the evaluation of NFL prospects. This research was then presented at the New England Symposium on Statistics in Sports<\/em> in October 2021. Dr. Russell aims to further examine the performance characteristics of elite football prospects and contribute to the growing body of research on sport performance metrics and talent evaluation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He is also currently partnering with the Institute’s Dan Duncan Professor of Sports Marketing, Dr. Angeline Scheinbaum, to understand how sponsorships of local sporting events impact corporate community involvement. McQueen Quattlebaum Professor of Industrial Engineering and Bioengineering <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Srinivasan<\/a> is the McQueen Quattlebaum Professor of Industrial Engineering and Bioengineering, and a Faculty Scholar in the Clemson University School of Health Research. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2010. She worked as an EU Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Musculoskeletal Research in Sweden. She joined the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech in 2016 and served as an assistant and associate professor there prior to joining Clemson in 2021. She currently directs the Biomechanics, Ergonomics, Safety and Training laboratories<\/a> at Clemson University. She is also the director of the Clemson SHERPA Center, which focuses on human performance and worker safety\/health. She has over two decades of research experience in human performance assessments, human motion modeling (including digital human modeling), injury prevention, and collaborative and wearable robotics, including exoskeletons to improve performance, health, and safety. Her research program has been funded by multiple grants from the NSF, NIOSH, NIH, and industry sponsors totaling nearly $28 million in the last 10 years, resulting in over 85 peer-reviewed journal publications and almost 200 international conference presentations to date.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute is excited to welcome two new Clemson faculty members to its cohort of Faculty Fellows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4292,"featured_media":458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63147,445,63148],"tags":[],"coauthors":[63181],"class_list":["post-1014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-posts","category-faculty","category-institute-updates"],"fimg_url":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2025\/01\/sirrine-logo-150x150.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1014"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2026\/09\/Jonathan-_Tig_-Willard-against-UNC-in-2011-1024x683.jpg\")
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Communications Lead<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Events Lead<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Graphic Designer<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-27-at-12.18.43-PM-edited.png\")
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<\/strong>Motorsports Writer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sports Science<\/em> Writer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Content Developer<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/strong>Software Developer<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Department of Bioengineering <\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Department of Communication <\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.clemson.edu\/brookssports\/files\/2026\/06\/atlanta-u.jpeg\")
\n\n\n\nBrook Russell, Ph.D.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nDivya Srinivasan, Ph.D., CPE<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n
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