Meet Danielle Gillen: Auburn's Head of Football Nutrition who makes sure the Tigers get their fuel

If you go down the hallway behind the Woltosz Football Performance Center's multipurpose room, you'll stumble upon another short and slightly darker hallway.

Down that hallway, you'll likely hear the sound of either blenders grinding, chopping sounds on a cutting board, water flowing or all three at once.

Before you can wander too far, you'll run into an organized, well-lit office, where behind a computer screen outlined by sticky notes you'll find Auburn Director of Football Nutrition Danielle Gillen.

Well, that's if she's not behind one of those sounds in the hallway or doing one of her many jobs to help provide fuel for Auburn football players' often grueling practices, games and workouts.

In the modern age of sports, nutrition has become more important than ever. As sports science and research continues to evolve, more studies have shown the effect nutrition has on the human body's ability to function in sports and activities that require high-level performance.

It's something that multiple Auburn players mentioned during fall camp. Many would argue that there's no more grueling time for a college football player during the year than fall camp and it takes a lot to get a player's body to perform at the highest level.

Even preparing for fall camp takes a lot of work. Summer workouts are intense for a reason. Football is a sport that pushes one's body to its absolute limits at times and the work it takes to prepare for 12 or more games isn't easy.

It's Gillen and her staff's job to help players prepare for that training, and head coach Hugh Freeze was impressed with the job her staff and the strength conditioning staff did before the season.

"I think we're in good spirits and our bodies look good," Freeze said during his press conference to open fall camp. "I'm proud of Dom (Studzinski) and his staff, and Ms. Danielle and her staff and the nutrition world."

Where it started

For Gillen, her introduction to nutrition came at a time of fear and hardship.

When she was in high school, her father was diagnosed with throat, neck and tonsil cancer. Watching him fight through his recovery showed Gillen the importance of nutritional guidance.

"That's where I kind of figured out that registered dietitians existed," Gillen said in an interview with AL.com .

She had a similar realization in college. As a college lacrosse player at West Chester University, her team didn't have the luxury of employing a full-time dietitian. As a student studying nutrition dietetics, not she realized what she and her teammates were missing out on.

"I always kind of think about that," Gillen said. "That's something that really could have helped me, could have benefited me as an athlete, with my own relationship with food and my body and kind of understanding athlete needs."

After a dietetic internship at Maryland and a fellowship at North Carolina, Gillen found herself on Hugh Freeze's staff at Liberty, and eventually followed the head coach to Auburn.

"When you know your head coach, you know the expectations, you know how he likes his program to be run. So that kind of helped my transition here," Gillen said.

While her job entails many different responsibilities, she's not alone. Her staff includes two fellows, Megan Matney and Stephanie Graffeo and a student staff of four.

"We couldn't do any of this without them. They've done an amazing job with everything so far this year," Gillen said.

Being a teacher

For the average 17 or 18-year old, following a dietary or nutrition plan is a foreign concept. Even for the ones who are high-level athletes, putting a strong emphasis on nutrition is rare in high school sports.

When freshman football players arrive on campus, one of the first orders of business is a meeting with Gillen.

The meeting serves mostly as a way for Gillen to understand each player's nutritional background and needs but is also a foundation for players to understand the habits necessary to achieve their goals, whether that be losing, gaining or maintaining weight.

"You can't just decide, 'I'm gonna change my weight.' That's not a behavior," Gillen said. "You have to figure out what behaviors are gonna change your weight."

It's common to see freshmen make a major change to their bodies in their first year of college football. The credit oftentimes goes to the workouts and college weight programs.

Those things are important, but nutrition plays a vital role when going through high-level training like that. It's common to see players gain large amounts of weight when making the transition to college football.

Junior defensive back Champ Anthony said before the season that he had gained 22 pounds since arriving in Auburn before the 2023 season. As a defensive back, it was important for him to gain weight without losing his speed.

When it comes to gaining healthy weight, the most important key, according to Gillen, is the pace at which the gain occurs.

"We're looking for one to two pounds a week. That gives your body time to adjust to that weight," she said.

Gillen encourages all players to fuel every three to four hours but said that frequency is especially important for players trying to gain weight.

It doesn't always have to be food either.

A recent favorite among players is Chobani yogurt, according to Gillen. And milk, juice and protein shakes are all sources of liquid calories that players often utilize.

For Anthony, the gradual weight gain along with his workout plan allowed him to gain the weight he needed to adjust to the Southeastern Conference, while still keeping his speed and athletic ability.

"Doing regular wasn't enough for me, so I had to try," Anthony said before the season. "Going with Miss Danielle and understanding her plan and what she had for me and just executing the plan. Whatever she had for me on paper, that's what I did."

A lot goes into nutrition from food to hydration both in season and during the offseason. How players are eating and hydrating leading up to a game is important too.

The routine can change due to what time the game starts. For an early game, more emphasis is put on what players eat the day before since they'll likely only get one meal before the game.

For a night game, there's more opportunities.

"Everybody's body is different. So we'll kind of give multiple opportunities throughout the day for a night game," Gillen said. "That way, if somebody's at breakfast and pregame meal, if somebody wants a lunch and pregame meal, we can kind of mix and match what they need that day."

Right before and during the game, there's a fueling station in the locker room with snacks, collagens and various fluids for hydration.

When it comes to what players eat and drink, the most important thing on gameday is consistency.

"You don't really want to introduce new things on game day," Gillen said. "You really want to keep things, I know it gets repetitive, but your body knows what that specific food or snack feels like, and how long that energy is going to last."

Bigger than football

It's easy for nutrition to become somewhat of a chore for young players who may not yet understand its importance. When many young people think of eating healthy, they might think back to being a child and not being allowed to leave the dinner table until they finish their vegetables.

For Gillen, she sees part of her job as a way to change how players think about nutrition.

"The relationship with food is really crucial. It's really challenging. But I also want to make sure that it's set up right so that they can be successful, whether or not they're playing football, when it comes to nutrition," Gillen said.

From Freeze down to Auburn's assistant coaches and support staff, it's hard to talk to any of them about the program for long without talking about the close-knit nature of the program coming up.

That's no different with the nutrition staff, especially when it comes to working with players to transform their bodies.

Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Bradyn Joiner said he lost 50 pounds since enrolling at Auburn in 2023. It was a journey that was difficult for him both physically and mentally, dealing with the death of his father in April.

Obviously, Joiner's plan to lose weight worked. From sending a picture of all three of his meals each day to Gillen to extra workouts after practice, Joiner's increased role on the field is a direct result of his body transformation.

Even bigger than that, the time he spent with Gillen and Studzinski built a relationship that went beyond the field.

"I feel like Coach Dom and Ms. Danielle did a great job and they're great people," Joiner said during fall camp. "They're better just to talk to and stuff like that. We built a relationship without just talking about food and all that stuff."

Gillen's work helps many players be their best on the field, but she hopes it can benefit them beyond their football careers. Even if it's not with the intention to lose 50 pounds, she hopes more athletes can take her nutritional bodies to take care of their bodies in football and beyond.

"This is a bigger picture thing than just right now," Gillen said. "If I can get them comfortable to ask questions, understand why we're doing what we're doing, then that way, when they have to go make those adjustments, they know I'm always here, so you can call me, but when they have to go make those adjustments on their own, they understand why we did what we did."