David Bright, the student …
What is your major?
"Biomechanical engineering. I came initially thinking I was going to be pre-med and took a ton of chem and bio classes here, and then I started to change it up. Engineering was more to my liking. I felt that combination was perfect. I ended up choosing that, sticking with it, and loving it."
How will you use your major in the future?
"I'd love to work with prosthetics for veterans, in the medical device field."
Do you have an interest in veterans specifically?
"I've always just had a really big respect for what they go through. It's something that's motivated me to want to give back."
What's been your favorite class at Stanford?
"Thermodynamics. I took that my junior year. Later on, I got into my actual biomechanical courses and seeing how they're implemented in the real world has been really cool. From the testing and engineering principles to actual human hearts."
What's your favorite paper you've written?
"I wrote a paper on frog tendons and related that to human Achilles tendon injuries and ruptures. We actually tested frog tendons in a tension machine in a lab."
What did you learn?
"A frog goes through such a wide range of movement when they're about to jump. How does that translate to a human? Are there any differences? We really didn't find too many differences between the two, actually."
David Bright, the athlete …
How does the offensive line define success?
"It's everyone being on the same page, doing their job. It takes five guys up front, plus receivers blocking and all 11 guys on the field in order to have a play be successful. That's the biggest thing, taking care of our assignments. Our best plays are the ones where everyone's on the same page and does their job on that play to the best of their best ability."
What's the biggest challenge for the line?
"Since the off-season, it's been pass pro. That's been a big emphasis for us. In run-blocking, I feel like we've been good and that's a focus, but it's mainly been pass pro. We've been taking things from other teams and Coach Bloomgren has given us great new technique to work with. But that was a big emphasis for us."
If people could look inside the personalities of the linemen, what would they discover?
"We're all so unique in our own sense. You have people that are doing so many different things. The line is a collective group and we're all from different states and have different majors. Everyone has their own background and their own story. That's what makes it really cool. But at the same time, we all can come together and work because that's where we are really like-minded."