LSU is doing some work in practice with accelerometers to measure the force of collisions in trying to track any effect on player health. One early finding may be of interest:
The numbers, at first, puzzled Marucci and his staff. While offensive linemen led all position groups, collisions ranged greatly from one lineman to the other.
They finally realized why.
“Some linemen have better technique than others,” Marucci said.
Offensive linemen are taught to use their hands more than anything, especially in pass-blocking. Collins, for instance, has one of the lowest collision rates of any linemen. He’s an experienced veteran whom many expect to be a first-round NFL draft pick next year.
“He uses his hands more,” Marucci said. “He has better technique.”
Boy, talk about motivation for self-improvement.
(h/t Rp)
Get The Picture 
That’s great information. I wonder if others are doing this as well? I would think there would be research money available, but you also need cooperative coaches.
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That is an awesome piece of data. kudos to them for finding it. I think quantified self is going to kick off a whole new level of understanding of what we do impacts us.
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now the union is going to say that a player can only sustain so many collisions per day and after that they have to wait 24 and it is going to ruin football and I will have to start watching something else
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My feeling also. When a guy hits a certain number of collisions, it will trigger some type of alert and he is done with contact for the day. The NCAA will set limits for collisions per day, week, season, etc. Given what we are beginning to learn, this may be a good thing. Coaches and players will have a greater incentive to play like Collins so they can stay on the field more.
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Agreed.
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That’s a good short-term memory loss article, so good in fact it provides a link to another quiet in the house article
http://blog.al.com/wire/2014/04/frankie_knuckles_inventor_of_h.html
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I think I saw that but I can’t remember.
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Which just goes to show that you should have played a safe sport like lacrosse instead of getting your bell rung repeatedly inside a helmet
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Actually took lacrosse as a PE class. Took a direct hit to the forehead. Rang like the Chapel Bell after a win over Tech … all night!
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Also this is super interesting and I think that LSU is going to reap major rewards for this effort. Each new discovery will come faster and easier than the last and provide a great advantage over other teams.
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Holding, against Georgia.
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I don’t know where he is but Mayor of Dawgtown would like to know how you are reading his mind
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Colleges should have the device but high schools must get the device. In one video I saw the high school parents were willing to buy the devices for their kids. The game officials also stated that if the device’s red light comes on the officials can see it and make the player leave the game. It funny how liability and a few good lawyers can make money crazy institutions change their minds.
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Tulane studied it and found an orthopaedic surgeon who is coincidentally not a neurologist to opine that there are no worries about fast, hard objects colliding with the brains of high-schoolers
“The correlation between the number of years of football participation and the performance on the digit symbol substitution test does not support the hypothesis that participation in a collision sport negatively affects neurocognitive function,” Stewart said. “The implication is that the playing of football is not in and of itself detrimental.”
http://tulane.edu/news/releases/pr_03b142014.cfm
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As someone who had the pleasure of working w/ Jack Marucci for a while, he’s one of the best in the biz. Great info!
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