SOUTHFIELD–Brandon Martin loves football. He played in high school and junior college in Texas and California. And his brother and business partner played at NCAA Division III powerhouse University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
But after seeing a 13-year-old football player become paralyzed from a dangerous head-down hit, Brandon Martin was dismayed—and inspired.
The incident, Martin said, gave him an idea for a new piece of football practice equipment—an idea that is now a business, Reaction Technologies, a client of Lawrence Technological University’s Centrepolis Accelerator, which serves fledgling manufacturing startups like Martin’s.
Reaction Technologies’ product is an accessory that wraps around a tackling dummy. It displays a number on a large LCD screen. Players hitting the practice dummy are required to tell a coach what the number was that they saw. If they approach the dummy with an improper, dangerous head-down technique, they won’t be able to see the number and tell the coach what it was—and the coach will take the player aside to teach proper, safe tackling technique.
“Coaches are trying to find ways to minimize those head-down hits,” Martin said. “I think our product can really make a difference.”
The product was tested at practices leading up to the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association’s All-Star Game, played in June at Lawrence Tech. And it’s being further tested with high school and youth teams this fall. LTU’s speed and conditioning coach is also working with Reaction Technologies to fine-tune the product.
Martin said he started working with the startup accelerator Ann Arbor Spark on the product, and officials there directed him toward Centrepolis—one of the few business accelerators in the country that’s geared toward physical products, not software or apps.
“Truly, being an athlete, seeing this kid get injured changed my life,” Martin said. “We are doing this because we have a passion for football.”
Martin said the device can also be used to emphasize proper defensive technique in other contact sports—rugby, lacrosse, soccer, even basketball.
Martin said he hopes to have the Reaction Technologies product hit the market in early 2025 at a price of $379.
For more information, contact Martin at bmartin@reaction-tech.com. For video about how the product works, visit www.reaction-tech.com.
The Centrepolis Accelerator, housed in Lawrence Technological University’s Enterprise Center in Southfield, is 6,300 square feet of business assistance for physical product developers and manufacturing companies, a unique niche among accelerators in Michigan. Clients include climatech, manufacturing startups, and existing companies looking to move up to the next level in product innovation. Services include product design, engineering, and prototyping, as well as business planning services, office space, co-working space, workshops, mentors, and events. Learn more at www.centrepolisaccelerator.com.
Lawrence Technological University is one of only 13 independent, technological, comprehensive doctoral universities in the United States. Located in Southfield, Mich., LTU was founded in 1932 and offers more than 100 programs through its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Business and Information Technology, Engineering, and Health Sciences, as well as Specs@LTU as part of its growing Center for Professional Development. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 11 percent of universities for alumni salaries. Forbes and The Wall Street Journal rank LTU among the nation’s top 10 percent. U.S. News and World Report list it in the top tier of the best Midwest colleges. And LTU is included in the Princeton Review’s “The Best 390 Colleges 2025 Edition,” a list of the nation’s top 15 percent of colleges and universities. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 107-acre campus include more than 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.
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