CLEMSON, S.C. – Clemson softball head coach John Rittman announced that Taylor Roby, Ben Blizzard, Andrew Long and Dylan Taylor would be joining the softball staff for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
Roby joins the staff in a full-time role as the Director of Player Development after serving as a graduate assistant with the team during the 2024 and 2025 seasons while completing her master’s degree in athletic leadership. She joined the staff after a standout playing career at Louisville. She was a dual threat for the Cardinals and was an NFCA Second Team All-American and All-ACC First Team member in 2023. During her final season at Louisville, she posted a career-best .360 average at the plate with 59 hits including 23 home runs and nine doubles. She finished her career as a three-time NFCA All-Southeast Region Second Team honoree and posted Louisville’s career (63) and season (23) home run records. She had a brief stint at the professional level when she played for the USSSA Pride in 2023.
Blizzard joins the Tigers as a graduate assistant after previously being with the Georgia Softball program. He spent four seasons with the Bulldogs as a student manager where he threw batting practice, managed the setup of practices, charted pitches, assisted with bullpens and helped with elite skills and weekly hitting camps. He also oversaw and managed equipment during travel. While with the Georgia program, Blizzard joined the team during their 2022-24 postseason runs. Blizzard comes to Clemson with experience working for Athletes Unlimited Softball during the 2024 season where he served as a batting practice facilitator in Wichita, Kansas. He completed his undergraduate degree in sports management in the spring of 2025.
Long joins the softball strength and conditioning staff in his second year at Clemson. He also works with the men’s and women’s golf and cross-country programs and is responsible for the implementation of training programs while working in collaboration with the athletic training staff regarding protocols for return to play and injury prevention. Prior to his time at Clemson, Long spent two years at CSU, Chico as a graduate assistant while also having intern stints at Butte College, CSU, Sacramento and Clemson. He graduated from CSU, Chico in 2022 with a Bachelors in Kinesiology – Movement Studies before earning his Masters in Kinesiology – Biomechanics in 2024. He played collegiate baseball at Butte College, where he received his associate’s degree in kinesiology. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist through the NSCA and holds a Level 1 Titleist Performance Institute certification.
Taylor joins the softball program as the team’s athletic trainer after spending 2024-25 working with the Clemson’s Men’s and Women’s Tennis programs. Prior to coming to Clemson, he spent three years in professional hockey working as an assistant athletic trainer with the Iowa Wild and as the head athletic trainer with the Rapid City Rush. During that stretch, he worked with over 80 professional hockey athletes in conjunction with NHL athletic trainers, team physicians, strength coaches, nutritionists and physical therapists. He also had stints as the Head Athletic Trainer at Millsaps College and as an Assistant Athletic Trainer at Holmes Community College. Taylor graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training before completing his Master of Science in Advanced Topics in Athletic Training in 2019 at the University of South Florida.
