Staton 1

Jon Staton
John Visnaw III
Writing 121
9 November 2016
Concussions in College and Professional Football
Cornerback Matthew Harris is retiring from football during his senior season this year
after suffering another concussion (Greenstein). Matthew Harris played football for the
Northwestern Wildcats. He started all four years of college football and this year suffered a
concussion during the second game of the season. Matt Harris was not new to concussions. This
was his fourth concussion since playing college football including one in his very first game as a
freshman. Matt decided that it would be the most beneficial for his health if he retired from
football. In week 7 of the 2016 season, Matthew Harris told his team that he was stepping away
from the game. This prompts the question: Is the NFL and the NCAA doing enough to protect
their football players from concussions?
William B. Magnus states in his book, Concussions in Sports, that there is strong
scientific evidence that prevention and detection of concussions can help eliminate or
significantly reduce the chance of concussions (196). This is extremely important because of the
lack of effort of both the NCAA and the NFL. One of the main reasons that the NFL and NCAA
arent doing enough to prevent football concussions is because too many concussions go
unreported. For many years, there have been an extremely large amount of concussions that have
not been diagnosed. This very dangerous because concussions can have devastating effects when
they are not properly treated. One of the effects of concussions can be CTE (Healthline). Chronic

Staton 2
Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE can cause many different issues for people with the condition.
Some of the symptoms are dementia, depression, and memory loss. In a recent study of deceased
NFL players, 96% of the NFL players were determined to have CTE. This is an alarming amount
of NFL players that develop this condition. Because there arent very effective ways of
diagnosing concussions on the football field, the players with undiagnosed concussions may
develop CTE more frequently than those players who develop a concussion and it is recognized
right away. This a huge reason for the need of better means to recognize concussions on the field.
Along with the risk of developing CTE, unreported concussions can be critical is the chance of
the player returning to the field. In many cases, players that contract a concussion may return to
the field of play immediately or in a fashion that did not allow for proper healing (Forbes).
Immediately after getting a concussion a football player can be confused, have a headache, or
even lose consciousness. Some less severe symptoms of concussions like loss of balance may
lead an athlete or trainer to not think that a concussion has occurred. It is also a possibility that
the player that has contracted a concussion to not want to exit the game for competitive purposes.
These are the ways players might remain in the game while they have a concussion. Staying in a
game while experiencing a concussion is a serious risk. When a player tries to function with a
concussion, they are not effective in helping their team and they may seriously further the
severity of their concussion. The player is usually not aware of his surroundings and dizzy. While
in this state, they cannot make plays effectively and exposes themselves to another injury
because they are not in full function. In a study conducted by Harvard University and Boston
University, a key finding was that college football players are intentionally playing through the
vast majority of potential concussions. Intentional reluctance of a player with a concussion to
inform a trainer or coach is a common theme in college and NFL locker rooms (Forbes). This

Staton 3
fact could be attributed to the tendency of college players to master their position and strive to
make it to the NFL. NFL players also may have an incentive to stay in a game because their
salary depends on their performance (Hoffman). This is a major issue when it comes to football
concussions. When a concussion is not healed and incurs another concussion, the effects of it
may be compounded. The compounded concussions have devastating effects as highlighted
earlier, but some coaches dont care. Coaches and players realize the incentive to stay in the
game with a concussion but sometimes look the other way. This is the point where the NFL and
NCAA need to improve upon. Because of the need for a concussion to be assessed as soon as it
happens, the leagues fall short in achieving that goal. A possible solution could be implemented
easily. The leagues could do many things if they wanted including, increasing trainers on the
field during practices and games, requiring players to take a course on the significance of
concussions, or even offer a physical or social incentive for reporting their concussion. For this
to happen, players would need to be educated well.
Along with the amount of unreported concussions in the NFL and NCAA, the leagues do
not provide adequate equipment to prevent concussions. In the NFL alone, the number of
reported concussions spiked to one hundred ninety-nine in 2015. This number is up from one
hundred twenty-three in 2014 (Study). It is difficult to understand why this number increasing if
the technology and protection that protective gear is also increasing. This is because the amount
of effort that the leagues put into protecting their players is not very prevalent compared to the
effort of promotion and marketing of their leagues. In a 2011 article, it was outlined how the
NCAA spends its money and the most money went to sports sponsorships, conference grants and
academic enhancement (Schlabach). These funds are not reflective of the needs of the players.
Although football players are provided with high quality gear and protection, it is not having a

Staton 4
sufficient effect in reducing the amount of concussions. In just three seasons of college football
there were 501 reported concussions from 2013 to 2015 (What Have We Learned). With 501
concussions in three years, that is an average of 4 concussions per team with 120 teams in the
league. That statistic does not even consider the amount of unreported concussions (FainaruWada). I was able to contact the head trainer and a few of the players on the BGSU football team
to interview them and their thoughts. The trainer informed me that there are many players that
come to her the day after a practice or game and report their concussion. The trainer and the
players also stressed that they believe that there should be more advanced equipment to protect
their heads. This is unacceptable. With effective equipment provided, the number of concussions
may be reduced and with other factors, could be nearly eliminated. Instead of using dated
equipment, they might use the best of the best equipment to protect the head. This would require
regulation of research done to improve technologies when it comes to protective equipment.
Another area that the NCAA and NFL lacks in is the implementation of rules that prevent
concussions. There are almost no rules in play that prevent the occurrence of a concussion. This
astonishing considering the amount of concussions that occur in games annually. While there is
an NCAA rule in place called Targeting, it is ineffective. The targeting call results in a 15-yard
penalty and the ejection of the player who commits the foul. Although the ejection and penalty
should deter the players from committing the penalty, the amount of targeting calls have
increased from 2014 to 2015. The increase in calls of this rule does not mean that is effective
though (Marshall). As highlighted earlier, the amount of concussions is not decreasing. Also, the
amount of targeting calls is not reflective of the effectiveness because there are always going to
be missed calls. So, the targeting call is not effective enough in college football and there needs
to be a revised version of it or additional rules that are effective. The same effective rules that are

Staton 5
absent in college football are also not present in the NFL. If there were rules put in place, there
would need to be incentive not to potentially cause a concussion and make a difference.
While there are many difficult steps to make a positive change in the amount of
concussions occurring, the NCAA and NFL do not have a good excuse for not working towards
it. There are too many concussions that are unreported, not enough sufficient protective gear, and
not enough effective rules in place to prevent concussions. A combination of good recognition,
protective equipment, and rules could help the concussion epidemic in professional and
collegiate American football. Until then, the NFL and NCAA are not nearly putting enough in
place to protect their players from concussions. As proposed, there are very sensible corrections
to the flaws in the leagues to reduce concussions and it is very disturbing to imagine a player
experiencing an untreated concussion.

Staton 6
Works Cited
Fainaru-Wada, Mark, and Steve Fainaru. League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions, and the Battle for
Truth, Crown Archetype, New York, 2013.
Forbes. Forbes, Forbes Magazine, http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2015/11/16/60minutes-probes-what-the-nfl-is-doing-to-decrease-brain-trauma-from-headinjuries/#6ca9842831ba, 22 Oct. 2016.
Greenstein, Teddy. Northwestern's Matt Harris Retires from Football, Leaving Hole in Secondary.
Chicagotribune.com, 24 Oct. 2016,
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-matthew-harris-retires-northwesternfootball-spt-1025-20161024-story.html.
@Healthline. Concussion. Healthline, http://www.healthline.com/health/concussion#symptoms2 23
Oct. 2016.
Hoffman, Jan. 'Don't Tell Coach': Playing Through Concussions. The New York Times, The New
York Times, 5 Nov. 2013, http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/dont-tell-coach-playingthrough-concussions/?_r=0.
Magnus, William B., et al. Concussions in Sports: Protecting the Players, Nova Science Publisher,
Hauppauge, N.Y, 2011.
Marshall, By John. Targeting Penalties Remain Roughly the Same from Last Year. NCAA College
Football, http://collegefootball.ap.org/article/targeting-penalties-remain-roughly-same-last-year
24 Oct. 2017.
Schlabach: Following the NCAA Money. ESPN.com, http://www.espn.com/collegesports/story/_/id/6756472/following-ncaa-money 23 Oct. 2016.

Staton 7
Study: 1 in 27 Possible Concussions Reported. ESPN.com,
http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11631357/study-says-26-27-potential-concussionsunreported-college-football , 24 Oct. 2016.
What Have We Learned from 500 Concussions in 3 Years of College Football? 500 Concussions in
Three Years of College Football, http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/americatonight/articles/2015/12/30/500-concussions-ncaa-college-football-reporting.html, 23 Oct. 2016.