By now, you’ve probably seen something about the new NCAA guidelines on contact practices, the key thing about them being guidelines, i.e. suggestions, and not mandated rules. Read this quote from Ron Courson and you’ll understand why that’s all they could do at this point.
“Common sense would seem to think you would have a decrease, but where do you draw the line?” Courson said. “That’s the debate in coaching circles. For example if you say, we’re only going to do contact once a week, that might translate better in the NFL than in college because in the NFL you have guys that are very experienced and know how to hit. In college, maybe you bring in an 18-year old freshman and they need to have good fundamental work. If you don’t get that in practice, are they more prone to get hurt in a game because they’re going out there and they don’t know how to practice?”
Where do you draw the line between player safety and game preparation? I suspect Courson would draw it in a different place than, say, George O’Leary would.
The ADs are the ones stuck in the middle. But I also suspect a couple of bad concussion verdicts and most of them will start siding with the Coursons of the CFB world.
Get The Picture 
I can’t for the life of me understand why the schools don’t invest in the new equipment that records the impact of the hits that a player takes in a game or practice. The trainers can monitor the computer and inform the coaches that X has had a bad hit. It seems that the NCAA and the schools are only giving lip service to the concussion problem and not trying to slow it down. They are going to get hammered soon on this just like the NFL did only there are a lot more former players out there that will make for a big class action. I still say this issue will kill high school and college football faster than any union or player pay.
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They don’t invest in it because the equipment manufacturers providing the helmets, pads, etc… threaten to pull their support from any school that uses impact monitoring devices. They don’t want the massive liability that would go with having their equipment claims tested (and occasionally failing) on every single hit.
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Too bad the equipment manufacturers don’t have immunity and limitations of liability
“Plancher’s parents subsequently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against UCF Board of Trustees and the UCF Athletic Association (UCFAA), alleging negligence in failing to properly screen for and treat SCT….a jury awarded the Planchers a $10-million dollar judgment, finding negligence on the part of the UCFAA. On appeal, the UCFAA argues that, as a Direct Support Organization (DSO), it should be considered a state agency, thus triggering the state of Florida’s sovereign immunity statute and limiting its liability to $200,000. To date, eleven other colleges and universities in the state of Florida have signed an appeal brief in support of the UCFAA’s argument in the case.”
#winningforthestudentathletes
http://tbo.com/list/sports-columns-mfennelly/fennelly-what-message-does-plancher-ruling-send-20130906/
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There you are. Hmmm?
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College players need fundamentals work. That’s the way to prevent concussions. Teach appropriate “heads up” techniques. If you do that, you don’t have the targeting penalties and you minimize the missed tackles.
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I expect 1-2 contact practices/week to be a rule within a year or two. I expect it to be completely out of high school football before long, too. More and more kids are already choosing other sports like soccer and lacrosse.
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If football every looses its golden egg in the pros or ncaa, then maybe this group http://www.ugarugby.com/v2/ will get some new options on personnel. I’d have love to have seen #34 cruising along in this game and someone try to tackle him or catch him for that matter….
Unlike soccer, and if football ever received some kind of death sentence in the courts – which will never happen $$$$$, I think we could step on the world stage within a few rugby world cups and be a serious contender…
The NFL Pro Bowlers would be America’s second Dream Team… http://www.usarugby.org
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