One major thing I had to learn about the day-to-day operations of a media relations department at the college level was balancing responsibilities while making sure press releases were clear and informative. The goals are different than in previous positions I held and in a day and age where writing well can be low on the priority for some, it is very important to me that I hold myself to a high standard.
No. 3 Baseball Prepped for No. 2 FDU to Open 2026 NEC Tournament - Wagner College Athletics
Baseball Lands Four on 2026 All-NEC Teams - Wagner College Athletics
Baseball Clinches 2026 NEC Tournament with Win Over Coppin State - Wagner College Athletics
A lot of what I did for the Savannah Bananas was intangible, which is the nature of a lot of media relations work, but my favorite project was also the most tangible — the media guides. I sent a different version out each week depending on the weekend’s matchups, but overall, these guides are a reflection about the mass amounts of information I learned about the organization and what I aimed to communicate each week.
Each version is an accumulated group of information that I felt best served the people coming to cover us and I’m quite proud of the finished product.
2024 Banana Ball Media Guides - Google Drive
My favorite story I’ve ever written was also the hardest to write. As a sportswriter, it is hard to be prepared for the scope of covering a mass shooting, but that’s what I found myself faced with in April 2023 and this story of incredible strength and perseverance is one of the outcomes of that.
Opelika head coach Erik Speakman told me before the 2024 season that we would have to talk to Makai “when” he was back on the field, not “if.” Once he made it back and we sat down to talk, I learned how much faith Speakman had in his player to even say the word “when” considering the physical state Makai was in.
Opelika’s Simpson returns to football field months after being shot 6 times in Dadeville tragedy
It's impossible to talk about my feature on Clyde Pittman without talking about his semifinal performance at the end of the season. The only senior of our All-Area football superlatives who wasn't signed to play in college at that point (He's since signed with SMU), I felt a specific pressure to get his story right. He's soft spoken and selfless to a fault, so I had to talk to multiple people to do his career justice but I feel like I did.
Playing against rival Central High School in the state semifinals, Clyde was absolutely dominant on the field and then speaking with him afterwards, he was incredibly complimentary of his teammates and their effort in repaying a loss they'd suffered to the Red Devils in the exact same game of the 2021 season.
He was a great player on the field and off it, he seemed like a solid example of everything Auburn High School had been working towards all season. He's one of those players that will live on in their record books, and for good reason.
‘We did that’: Auburn High gets revenge against Central on way to state title game
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: ‘Warrior’ Clyde Pittman set records at Auburn High