These 2 Badgers look to impress NFL personnel at the Big Data Bowl
Fans can watch Vinny Anthony II and Mason Reiger later this week in Indianapolis, but behind the scenes, two other Badgers are looking to state their case in front of NFL personnel.
Vinny Anthony II and Mason Reiger are the two University of Wisconsin football players hoping to impress scouts and general managers this week during the NFL Scouting Combine.
But two other Badgers are also in Indianapolis to showcase their talents that don’t involve running 40-yard dashes or performing positional drills.
Shekhar Shah, who works as a personnel/recruiting student assistant at Wisconsin, and Jack Sullivan are finalists in this year’s Big Data Bowl. The NFL Football Operations site states it’s an “annual sports analytics contest” that “challenges members of the analytics community – from college students to professionals – to contribute to the NFL’s continuing evolution of the use of advanced analytics.”
Shah and Sullivan were named among the three finalists from the university track portion of the Big Data Bowl, as seen on its host site, Kaggle, and have already been awarded $9,000. They’ll present their project, “Path Against the Pass,” to personnel Wednesday, and there’s a chance for another $5,000 if they emerge as the grand prize winner of the event.
How their project came to be
This partnership didn’t start in the fall, and it’s not the first time they’ve competed in this event. Sullivan didn’t work for the football program during his time as a student but credited Shah with bringing them together with their interactions at Badger Inquiry on Sport (BIOS) and UW’s Data Science Club.
Sullivan graduated from Wisconsin with degrees in economics and data science in December, and Shah is also a double major in computer science and statistics.
