When Oregon quarterback Dante Moore took a hard hit against USC, Athletic Trainer Brandee Barbee knew immediately where she needed to be.
“I need to get out there.”
Roughly four seconds later, she was.
Moore was on the ground in a fencing posture as Barbee arrived, with concerned teammates gathering around him. She immediately stabilized his head and neck and didn't remove her hands until he was transferred to paramedics.
Moore was transported to Los Angeles General Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with a concussion but no additional injuries.
For Barbee, the response began with her training.
“No matter what happens, if anyone takes a big hit, you always assume that there is an injury to their neck,” she said. “And you’re looking for ABCs. Do they have an airway? Are they breathing? Is there circulation?”
But perhaps the most important part of the story happened months before Moore ever went down.
Barbee and Oregon's sports medicine staff rehearse emergency scenarios every summer and again before games begin.
They don't just review what to do. They practice different situations, put different people in different positions and even work through the language they'll use during an emergency.
“You never know what happens,” Barbee said.
That preparation mattered when suddenly there was no time to discuss what came next.
Barbee said her relationship with Oregon's players didn't make it harder to focus in the moment.
“My job as an athletic trainer is to make sure that if anyone goes down with literally anything, that I do that job and I do it well,” she said. “Because their lives and bodies are at stake.”
Barbee joined Oregon football in 2023 after previously working with the school's track and field program and earning her master's degree at Oregon.
Her own path into Athletic Training began with an Athletic Trainer she looked up to at Fontana High School.
Today, Barbee recognizes that she can provide that same example for someone else — particularly as a Black woman working in a sport where many roles remain male-dominated.
“It’s nice to be the first one out there, be a woman, be a Black woman, and for people to see that and acknowledge that,” she said.
And after a moment that put her work in front of a much larger audience, she hopes someone else might see what's possible.
“I’m just happy to be able to represent and hopefully give some young Black girl, some girl out there, someone to look up to and be an inspiration.”
For Athletic Trainers watching Barbee's response, there's another takeaway too.
Four seconds can look instinctive. But sometimes those four seconds are the result of years of training, and an emergency you've already practiced for.