ESPN: NCAA suggests contact limits; no more than 2 contact practices per week

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per ESPN:

The NCAA is suggesting that football teams hold no more than two contact practices per week during the season in guidelines that grew out of a safety and concussion summit early this year.

Practice limits were among several recommendations released Monday by the NCAA, which called them guidelines that could change "in real time" rather than rules passed through legislation.

The practice guidelines also recommend four contact practices per week during the preseason and no more than eight of the 15 sessions during spring football. The NCAA already has legislation regarding preseason and spring practices.

http://espn.go.com/college-football...caa-suggests-contact-limits-football-practice

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
per ESPN:

The NCAA is suggesting that football teams hold no more than two contact practices per week during the season in guidelines that grew out of a safety and concussion summit early this year.

Practice limits were among several recommendations released Monday by the NCAA, which called them guidelines that could change "in real time" rather than rules passed through legislation.

The practice guidelines also recommend four contact practices per week during the preseason and no more than eight of the 15 sessions during spring football. The NCAA already has legislation regarding preseason and spring practices.

http://espn.go.com/college-football...caa-suggests-contact-limits-football-practice

Go Gophers!!
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I would argue that during the season, this is already the case. Light drills the day after the game, full pads Tuesday & Wednesday followed by helmet/shoulder pads on Thursday.
 

I don't think practice is the issue. Kids aren't getting concussed in practice. Players tend to hold off when they are hitting their own teammates.

This new guideline wouldn't drop the number of concussions.
 

afurry91 said:
I don't think practice is the issue. Kids aren't getting concussed in practice. Players tend to hold off when they are hitting their own teammates.

This new guideline wouldn't drop the number of concussions.
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Ben Utecht disagrees (per Wikipedia): Prior to the start of the 2009 season, Utecht suffered a concussion during practice, which was aired on the HBO Television show "Hard Knocks". On August 31, 2009, Utecht was placed on the injured reserve list for the Cincinnati Bengals. He was released on November 17 with an injury settlement.
 

maroonedinCA said:
Ben Utecht disagrees (per Wikipedia): Prior to the start of the 2009 season, Utecht suffered a concussion during practice, which was aired on the HBO Television show "Hard Knocks". On August 31, 2009, Utecht was placed on the injured reserve list for the Cincinnati Bengals. He was released on November 17 with an injury settlement.
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Okay fair enough. There are exceptions.

But 2009 was before concussions were really brought in to the spotlight. I'm sure every coach nowadays preaches the importance of staying away from the head in practice. In addition, I would have to think every player is thinking about it too when they go to hit a teammate. I could be wrong though.
 


They're following the NFL's lead on this, attempting to mitigate liability for head injuries when the inevitable class action lawsuit comes down the pipe.
 

afurry91 said:
Okay fair enough. There are exceptions.

But 2009 was before concussions were really brought in to the spotlight. I'm sure every coach nowadays preaches the importance of staying away from the head in practice. In addition, I would have to think every player is thinking about it too when they go to hit a teammate. I could be wrong though.
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Who knows about the last part but I think we can all agree if you simply take away contact in practices the conventional wisdom would be that the risk of concussion during those periods decreases dramatically, regardless of what the coach is preaching. All NCAA motives aside, I applaud the recommendation. Anything to make the game safer.
 

Guys like Utecht probably do have concussion issues due to traumatic injuries, but I believe there is a growing opinion that for interior linemen and probably linebackers the cumulative affect of thousands of hits adds up over time. So saying guys don't get concussed during practice has no validity for those positions. Additionally, I believe Gjere and the big OT from Indiana who had to drop football due to concussions suffered their concussions during practice.
These kids are out there trying to win starting jobs, they do play hard enough to get concussions.
 

afurry91 said:
I don't think practice is the issue. Kids aren't getting concussed in practice. Players tend to hold off when they are hitting their own teammates.

This new guideline wouldn't drop the number of concussions.
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It's not just about concussions. The bigger danger is the constant small collisions. Think lineman blocking each other on each snap. That's hundreds of collisions a week. The brain collides with the skull on each collision. These collisions rarely cause concussions, but they do cause CTE and long-term brain damage. This is what some people don't understand because the mass media doesn't report on it as often as it's not as easy to understand (both by ESPN journalists and the public). The concussions aren't the main problem. The constant collisions are the problem.
 



Gopherguy0723 said:
It's not just about concussions. The bigger danger is the constant small collisions. Think lineman blocking each other on each snap. That's hundreds of collisions a week. The brain collides with the skull on each collision. These collisions rarely cause concussions, but they do cause CTE and long-term brain damage. This is what some people don't understand because the mass media doesn't report on it as often as it's not as easy to understand (both by ESPN journalists and the public). The concussions aren't the main problem. The constant collisions are the problem.
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Fair enough. That is valid. I didn't know small collisions contribute to CTE.
 

afurry91 said:
Fair enough. That is valid. I didn't know small collisions contribute to CTE.
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Here are a couple excerpts from articles that I immediately recalled reading in The New Yorker.

That’s why, Cantu says, so many of the ex-players who have been given a diagnosis of C.T.E. were linemen: line play lends itself to lots of little hits. The HITS data suggest that, in an average football season, a lineman could get struck in the head a thousand times, which means that a ten-year N.F.L. veteran, when you bring in his college and high-school playing days, could well have been hit in the head eighteen thousand times: that’s thousands of jarring blows that shake the brain from front to back and side to side, stretching and weakening and tearing the connections among nerve cells, and making the brain increasingly vulnerable to long-term damage. People with C.T.E., Cantu says, “aren’t necessarily people with a high, recognized concussion history. But they are individuals who collided heads on every play—repetitively doing this, year after year, under levels that were tolerable for them to continue to play.”

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all

What was missing from this picture was the effect of all that impact on the brain. You got your “bell rung,” they used to say. You’re “just a little dinged up.” This was not merely macho sideline-speak; it was, as recently as a decade and a half ago, the language of the N.F.L.’s leading doctors. Elliot Pellman, who served until 2007 as the Jets team physician, once told a reporter that veteran players are able to “unscramble their brains a little faster” than rookies are, “maybe because they’re not afraid after being dinged.”

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., is the name for a condition that is believed to result from major collisions—or from the accumulation of subconcussions that are nowhere near as noticeable, including those incurred in practice. It was first diagnosed, in 2002, in the brain of the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame center Mike Webster, who died of a heart attack after living out of his truck for a time. It was next diagnosed in one of Webster’s old teammates on the Steelers’ offensive line, Terry Long, who killed himself by drinking antifreeze. Long overlapped, at the end of his career, with Justin Strzelczyk, who was also found to have C.T.E. after he crashed, fatally, into a tanker truck, while driving the wrong way down the New York Thruway.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/31/110131fa_fact_mcgrath?currentPage=all
 

Way back in the day of my high school years of going 4 years in a row with no losses. (31-0-2) on Mondays we had no pads, walk thru opponent offense with no contact on defense. On tuesday we had walk thru opponent defense with no contact on offense. On Wednesday we had live action, full pads, full steam. On Thursday we had minimal contact, kick off return and kick off defense, punt return and punt defense. We won because we had more studs than our opponents.

GO HARMONY CARDINALS SEASONS 1958 THRU 1961. FYi, my junior year our defense went the entire year UNSCORED ON!!!

So you modern day miracles have nothing but your video games to claim your superiority. Even wren.
 





I believe Bernie Bierman and John Gagliardi both limited contact in practice contact, so the concept is not new. I believe CKill said last year that by late in the season there is not much contact during practice.
 

maroonedinCA said:
Ben Utecht disagrees (per Wikipedia): Prior to the start of the 2009 season, Utecht suffered a concussion during practice, which was aired on the HBO Television show "Hard Knocks". On August 31, 2009, Utecht was placed on the injured reserve list for the Cincinnati Bengals. He was released on November 17 with an injury settlement.
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Are you saying that Utecht was in NFL and suffered a concussion during practice? Comparing College football practice to NFL practice (where millions of dollars are on the line and players will go all out in practice if it means making $$$) is silly. That being said, I think limiting contact to 2 x per week makes a lot of sense. Hopefully it will help college kids stay healthy and keep playing the game
 

needmorecowbell said:
Comparing College football practice to NFL practice (where millions of dollars are on the line and players will go all out in practice if it means making $$$) is silly.
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Why would professional players risk their millions going all out in practice?
 


needmorecowbell said:
Are you saying that Utecht was in NFL and suffered a concussion during practice? Comparing College football practice to NFL practice (where millions of dollars are on the line and players will go all out in practice if it means making $$$) is silly. That being said, I think limiting contact to 2 x per week makes a lot of sense. Hopefully it will help college kids stay healthy and keep playing the game
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I'm not "saying" Utecht was in the NFL and suffered a concussion during practice. He WAS in the NFL and suffered a concussion during practice.

And you're right, no kids that are trying to go from walk-ons to scholarship, or from former sophomore backups to all-B1G or from 3rd Round Projections to 1st round picks would be motivated to go all out. In fact, a strong argument could be made that those individuals could be more motivated to give it their all prior to getting their payday rather than risking injury after already cashing it (as in your hypothetical).

Anyway, would you like to continue making a stupid non-point only to ultimately agree with my overall premise?
 


This whole argument about whether or not practice is dangerous has now become silly. Life is dangerous, but we learn to mitigate. There are dozens of things you do during the day that could lead to a concussion. We have learned to avoid them. Practice is just as dangerous as games.
 

Safety is important but it is not everything. Fun (a.k.a. risk) is also part of the equation. Few things in life don’t have risks. Frankly the more risky an activity, generally the more fun it is. Take for instance the X-Games. I doubt the X-Games would attract many participants and spectators if safety became the sole driving factor. If it was all about safety, we’d only see “sports” like horse shoes, shuffle board, and bingo (not there is anything wrong with those things, Grandpa).

Someone I loathe but who made a salient point about the sport of boxing and safety related to head injuries was Don King. Donny was being interviewed years ago and was asked why they didn’t require boxers to wear protective head gear during fights. Donny said something like “the next thing you know, the boxers will be dressed up like bed mattresses and who is going to pay to see that?” Exactly and football is no different. If it was all about safety, it would be flag football with only mommy and daddy watching the games.

It is obvious that the more you’re exposed to a contact sport, the greater the chance an injury will occur including concussions. Although limiting the number of “contact” practices should reduce all types of injuries, this should not be the only consideration. Preparing players for Saturday requires some degree of game day type practice during the week. Unless they start playing two-hand touch, some contact during practice will be needed to get ready for game day. Keep in mind that most coaches are not dumb and are already balancing the amount of contact they’re willing to tolerate during practices. Coaches know that they must limit the amount of contact so that players are ready come Saturday.

Given their track record, I doubt the NCAA can really figure out the right balance of contact vs. non-contact. Heck, I doubt they can get an agreement on what constitutes contact let alone how much is okay. I think the NCAA would be better served by figuring out ways to make helmets safer, playing surfaces more forgiving, etc.

Get over it. Football has inherent risks. Let’s talk about other important things! Beer is always a good segue and it must be Noon somewhere?
 

It seems much more reasonable to have players watch a video on the dangers and potential life long damage and then sign a waiver. For underage kids, its the parents that must sign. I think the next thing you will see is a child endangerment case against the parents of a kid who gets hurt playing a sport.
 

GopherinPhilly said:
It seems much more reasonable to have players watch a video on the dangers and potential life long damage and then sign a waiver. For underage kids, its the parents that must sign. I think the next thing you will see is a child endangerment case against the parents of a kid who gets hurt playing a sport.
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IMO, two things more than anything else would decrease the number of head injuries in the game of football:
(1) Get the steroids and PEDs out of the game. The men are way too big, way too fast, too aggressive. Sure, people love to see overgrown and overbulked men beat on each other. But this isn't professional wrestling.
(2) Reduce the pads. If it actually hurts to hit someone, then you don't hit them as hard. But the pads allow the guys to run full blast and hit someone as hard as possible. Then things like knees and brains get blown out, which just can't be padded to the same extent.

You guys ever play football in the snow? Of course you have. What's great about that? Soft landings and slower speeds. Everyone goes home cold, but relatively injury-free. American football is too fast and the athletes are too big; the forces applied could be lessened. But would it ruin the $$$$ part of the game to do so?
 

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