"I love being able to take real data and make real observations. The experience has helped me find a passion for sports analytics, an area I'm now very interested in pursuing further."

When Max Wilson '27 entered Bucknell as a business analytics major, he couldn't have imagined he could turn his fantasy football hobby into an academic endeavor. "I have had a passion for football ever since I was a little kid, and the opportunity to apply analytics to football — and actually talk to NFL staff about analytics — has been very special," he says.

The NFL Top 100, an annual player ranking voted on by NFL players, became the focus of Wilson's research. To better understand what factors players most consider when ranking each other, Wilson has been producing "data vignettes." "It's a lot of spreadsheet work that also requires a working knowledge of football," says Wilson.

The project began after Wilson wrote a paper for his first-year foundation seminar evaluating the current system. Professor Sam Gutekunst, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Data Science, approached him about expanding the paper. "He came to me and said that he thought that the paper brought up some original research questions and offered me the opportunity to explore it with him," say Wilson, who is from Needham, Mass.

Professors Sam Gutekunst (right) and Joe Wilck (center) discuss an NFL-related research project with student Max Wilson '27 (left). Photo by Emily Paine, Marketing & Communications

Wilson decided to remain at Bucknell over the summer to continue research with Gutekunst and Joe Wilck, associate professor of practice in analytics & operations management. It gave him the chance to explore Lewisburg and the surrounding areas and connect with professors and other students doing research. "I found that doing research over the summer gives you a great chance to get closer with both peers and professors," says Wilson. "I don't think I would've gotten so close to Sam and Joe if Bucknell weren't such a small school."

Wilson is still in the exploratory phase of the research process, though early results show that public perception and player legacy have a substantial impact on how players perceive and rank other players. "I've been looking at how player ranks are correlated with performance, based on statistics like their approximate value. This helps us identify how and where player ratings deviate from metrics and, in turn, understand what NFL players most value."

Wilson shared his research with the NFL, which led to a meeting with the director of the Top 100. They discussed his work, and Wilson gained access to exclusive behind-the-scenes data that will inform his ongoing project.

"I've learned a lot about what it means to embrace different approaches to a single question," Wilson says, who chose business analytics because of the versatility of the major and his affinity for numbers. "I love being able to take real data and make real observations. The experience has helped me find a passion for sports analytics, and it's something I might be interested in pursuing in the future."