Solving for the Scoreboard

Spotlighting the Department of Mathematics and Physics

Stefanie Kraack, a Math major with a minor in General Business, has been following wide receiver stats since the off-season, and it has nothing to do with Fantasy Football. In the final yards before graduation, Queens students complete a capstone project. Kraack partnered with a student in the Sports Management Department and says their work “focuses on . . . determining if the events during [the NFL Combine] are accurate predictors” of the future performance of NFL wide receivers.

Every February, college athletes converge at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, competing for a spot in the draft. They complete specific tests to showcase their strength and agility, but Kraack is gearing up to discover whether these challenges truly reveal star wide receivers. “I am doing statistical analysis of Combine data and college data from wide receivers that played in the NFL anytime between 2009 to 2018,” said Kraack.

First, she had to collect the data. This proved to be a massive challenge. “We wanted to collect data from the player’s total career but also have data for each year for each player” said Kraack. Once in possession of those stats, she started making correlations. Kraack reported using “hundreds of linear regressions and many multi-step regressions to analyze the data.” Through this much wider mathematical lens, Kraack said she could “begin determining which college or Combine variables [scouts can use] most often . . . to predict the performance of prospective wide receivers.”

Queens’ resources were ready to help Kraack tackle her equation. “I used the Everett Library databases to do all my research about previous studies on Combine data effects on NFL performance,” she said. As always, Queens faculty were first-string players. Kraack’s capstone advisor, Dr. Teneal Pardue, is an Assistant Professor in the Mathematics and Physics Department and was always ready to help. “Dr. Pardue . . . assisted me by listening to my ideas and helping find the right process to get the most accurate results I can,” said Kraack.

While her project found traction on campus, Kraack’s training started long before she started her capstone. She said she took “numerous statistics related courses and probability courses [that] helped [her] have a background in the processes” that she would need. With a finance-based class load, Kraack’s friendships on campus led her to new ideas. Teaming up with a Sports Management major in a unique play, Kraack said she “could not be more excited.”

During her time at Queens, she also had the opportunity to study abroad with the JBIB program. She translated the innovation she witnessed in Yap, Micronesia into her work. She said “this [trip] inspired [her] to be creative with [her] capstone and really try to find ways to go about [her] topic . . . in a unique way.”

Sprinting towards final exams and the playoffs, Kraack is excited to present her capstone. She plans to “create a few different predicative models that can assist scouts and General Managers” and could change “the way in which wide receivers are drafted” in the NFL. With the College of Arts and Sciences behind her, Kraack is conditioned and ready to write new formulas into the playbook of the future.

Gabrielle Girard