Combine Education Conference
February 28, 2026
NCAA Headquarters
Indianapolis, IN
Agenda
7:30-8:00 AM
Registration and Light breakfast
8:00-8:10 AM
Welcome
Dave Puloka
8:15-9:15 AM
Speed Programming
Randy Huntington
9:30-10:30 AM
Monitoring Training Load and Athlete Response in American Football
Marc Lewis, Houston Texans
10:45 AM -12:00 PM
RTP Roundtable
Jon Hernandez, Thomas Barbeau, Ryan Grubbs
12:15-1:00 PM
Lunch
1:00-2:00 PM
Tendon Health Strategies for American Football
Jake Tuura
2:15-3:30 PM
Sports Science Roundtable
Ryan Bellerose, Josh Nelson, Dan Ridenour
3:45-4:45 PM
Recovery Science for the Elite Athlete: An Individualized and Prescriptive Approach
Josh Hagen
4:45-5:15 PM
Sponsor
Evening Social to follow
Featured Presenters
Randy Huntington
Randy Huntington is an elite track and field coach widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts in the sprints and horizontal jumps. With decades of experience at the highest levels of sport, he has coached Olympic and World Championship medalists. Known for his technical precision, innovative training methods, and athlete-centered approach. He has worked with a number of elite NFL players as well including Trace Armstrong, Ed McCaffery, Henry Ellard and Terry Kirby. In addition, he has most recently trained Christian McCaffery, Luke McCaffrey, and Bijon Robinson this past off-season.
Marc Lewis
Marc Lewis, PhD is the director of applied sports science for the Houston Texans. He has extensive experience in human performance as a sport and performance scientist, strength and conditioning coach, educator,and researcher. Prior to his role with the Texans, he served as the associate director of applied health and performance science for Penn State University. He earned his doctoral degree in exercise physiology and metabolism from Virginia Tech, while concurrently serving as the assistant director of strength and conditioning for football. Prior to starting his college education, he served as an Airborne Infantryman in the United States Army deploying on missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Josh Hagen
Dr. Josh Hagen: Is the Faculty Director of the Human Performance Collaborative (HPC) at Ohio State University. His research involves optimization of Human Performance in athletes, military, clinical, and general populations through the measurement of physiology and data analysis. Currently, he leads 2 core research components: Sports and Tactical Performance Science, and Recovery Science. Dr. Hagen is a Ph.D. in Chemical and Materials Engineering and has been working in the field of biosensors for 24 years.
Jake Turra
Jake is a strength and conditioning coach with 12 years of experience, specializing in patellar and Achilles tendon rehabilitation. Through his podcast “jacked athlete” he has spoken to some of the world’s most renowed experts related to tendon health. In addition, he coaches athletes and consults with coaches and therapists on tendinopathy.
RTP Roundtable
Thomas Barbeau
Thomas is the Return to Play Coordinator and an Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Carolina Panthers, where he has worked since 2020. With more than 10 years of experience in high performance sport, Thomas specializes in return-to-play strategy, movement analysis, and strength development. Prior to joining the Panthers, he served as an Athletics Performance Coach at Baylor University and directed strength and conditioning programs at Plymouth State University. Thomas holds a Master's degree in Exercise Physiology from Baylor University and a Bachelor's degree in Health and Physical Education from McGill University. His work focuses on bridging rehabilitation and performance, helping athletes safely and effectively return to football.
Ryan Grubbs
Ryan is the Director of Reconditioning and Speed Development for the Houston Texans. He has been with the team since 2022. His role involves the training and performance of short term and long term rehabilitation athletes, off-season speed and power development of the team, and the individualized training of select athletes year round. His extensive work in kinematic movement analysis, implementation of modern technology in the training environment, and use of orthopedically sound training techniques has shaped his philosophy for both healthy and load compromised athletes alike. Prior to joining the Texans, he has served in a variety of roles at the collegiate level spanning Liberty, Purdue, Louisiana Tech, and Ole Miss. He is also part owner of Speed Solutions, where they focus of movement analysis of sprint/cod/deceleration actions with world renowned Speed Coach Jonas Dodoo.
Jon Hernandez
Jon Hernandez enters his 13th NFL season and his 11th with the Los Angeles Rams. In his role as Director of Rehabilitation, he is responsible for leading, planning, and executing return-to-performance (RTP) and long-term rehabilitation strategies. He supervises bridging sports medicine and performance to assist with decision-making related to player health, workload management, and medical performance. Before joining the Rams, Hernandez spent the 2014 and 2015 NFL seasons as a physical therapist/assistant athletic trainer for the Buffalo Bills. He originally entered the NFL as a summer intern for the Carolina Panthers in 2008. Hernandez earned a Bachelor of Science degree in athletic training at the University of Delaware and continued his education at the University of Southern California where he completed a doctorate of physical therapy and sports residency. He is also a certified strength and conditioning specialist. A native of Paramus, N.J., Hernandez currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Sports Science Roundtable
Ryan Bellerose
Ryan is the Director of Sports Science for the Carolina Panthers, currently completing his fifth season with the organization. He has proven experience integrating sports science, strength and conditioning, and performance monitoring at both the NFL and SEC levels. Prior to rejoining the Panthers in 2022, he served as Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach and Director of Sports Science at Vanderbilt University and prior to that held multiple performance roles at the University of South Carolina, finishing as Associate Director of Strength and Conditioning. Bellerose holds a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from Plymouth State University and a master’s degree in Sports Science, and is known for his applied, collaborative approach to optimizing athlete performance, availability and return to play.
Josh Nelson
Josh is currently the Director of Performance Science with the Atlanta Falcons. Prior to joining the Falcons he served as the Assistant Athletic Director of High Performance at Penn State University for 5 years. With over 12 years of experience in Performance. Nelson is a graduate of Emory & Henry College with a Bachelor and Masters degrees. He was also a 4 year letter winner on the baseball team and a student assistant coach for the football staff. He completed his doctorate degree in coaching and teaching studies at West Virginia University.
Dan Ridenour
Dan is the Head of Applied Sports Science and Assistant Strength Coach for the Minnesota Vikings, whom he has worked for since 2022. Prior to the Vikings, he worked as the Assistant Director of the Nebraska Athletic Performance Lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. With over a decade of experience, he has worked with athletes from dozens of sports and settings in addition to being the first Director of Performance at Wilmington College. He holds a master's degree in Exercise Science from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and is currently pursuing a Professional Doctorate in Human Performance and Innovation from the University of Limerick.