Colonel Esports to Compete at a Red Bull Campus Clutch Last Chance Qualifier

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Colonel Esports’ VALORANT team represented Nicholls on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, in Birmingham, AL, at the semi-finals for the Red Bull Campus Clutch tournament, a global university student esports tournament where players team up and represent their campus with the chance to play on the world stage. 

 

The team placed second out of 24 teams from the delta region in the Open Online Qualifier on Oct. 1, 2022. The top two teams qualified to compete at the regional qualifier in Birmingham the following weekend where the VALORANT team would compete against two teams from a neighboring region. 

 

Red Bull provided Colonel Esports with flights, hotel rooms and uber vouchers for the weekend. The semi-finals was a LAN tournament, or in-person, and was considered the final showdown before the national championship of the Red Bull Campus Clutch in Dallas. 


 

Unfortunately, the VALORANT team fell short in both series against the University of Alabama and Louisiana Tech University. The University of Alabama won the regional qualifier sending its teams to compete in Dallas for the national competition. The winner of the national tournament will then compete in the global finals set to take place in Brazil.

 

“I am so proud of the team. This is one of our scholarship teams, and they are representing the university and Louisiana esports in such a groundbreaking way. We are so excited to see our program continue to grow and for these players to get the recognition they deserve. It isn’t easy keeping the work, school, social and competition balance, but our students do it with grace,” said Coordinator of Colonel Esports Elizabeth Layton. “Red Bull really enjoyed us and saw us as one of the most professional teams they’d seen at the competitions. Our group made a great impression on the company, and they would like to do more with us.” 

Although the team did not place in the national finals, it can still stamp a wildcard ticket to Brazil at a Last Chance Qualifier. Red Bull is holding its Last Chance Qualifiers for teams who lost at their regional tournaments. This competition will be held in four regions including Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America and Latin America. 


 

Each of the four regions will host two preliminary rounds, and the victors of those two qualifiers will go head-to-head in a Grand Final to determine the winner of the region’s wildcard. This means that over 1,000 teams worldwide can launch their last-ditch campaign, but just four of them – one from each region – will join the World Final lineup as wildcards.

 

The following are the Nicholls students and VALORANT team members in attendance of the Birmingham tournament:

  • William “Waka” Lanier
  • Phillip “Pog Racing” Constant
  • Andre “Insight” Chauvin
  • Masen “Tyr” Hashenburger
  • Evan “Whasian” Moore
  • President: Darren “Chicken Gumbo” Pitre, Jr. 

 

Red Bull Campus Clutch is a grassroots esports initiative bringing up-and-coming student VALORANT players of every skill level together as they team up and experience competitive gaming like never before. The tournament is played on VALORANT, the 5v5 character-based tactical First Person Shooter (FPS) video game with over 15 million active players. Regional and National Finals will take place in respective countries throughout November, and the global final where one team will be crowned the best student VALORANT team in the world will take place in São Paulo, Brazil in December. Last year’s competition saw 25,000 student players of all levels from 50 countries take part. 


 

Esports, which involves competitive multiplayer online gaming, first found a home on college campuses in 2017 and has since spread across the country. Established in the spring of 2021, Colonel Esports has quickly become one of the most popular and successful clubs on the Nicholls campus. 

 

Colonel Esports is an organization dedicated to competitive gaming and the gaming community. It not only encourages participation from those that like to compete but also those that would like to learn about the way an esports team runs. The team has hosted guest speakers and panels to debunk gaming myths and discuss the benefits of video games. The program also conducts academic research about how gaming can be applied to wellness and educational and social theories. 

 

In addition to its VALORANT teams, Colonel Esports offers Call of Duty, Rocket League, Overwatch, League of Legends, and as of fall 2022, Super Smash Bros. Earlier this year, Colonel Esports announced it will offer scholarships to its Call of Duty and VALORANT teams for the 2022-2023 school year.


 

Currently, Colonel Esports has a prominent university presence with 52 students involved in its competitive side and over 400 active students in the community discord. It is an inclusive program that strives to represent the university in all of its endeavors and to be the best esports program in the country. The organization is always looking for players and students who want to learn leadership skills and assist with coaching new teams as Colonel Esports expands its horizons. 

 

For updates about tournaments, events, community outreach and support, follow Colonel Esports on its social media platforms, @colonelesports. Watch teams compete on twitch.tv/colonelesportsteam. For more information, please visit https://www.nicholls.edu/club-sports/esports/.