Staton 1

Jon Staton
Professor Visnaw
Writing 121
25 October 2016
Concussions in College and Professional Football
Cornerback Matthew Harris is retiring from football during his senior season this year
after suffering another concussion. 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? It is clear to see that the leagues are not doing enough to
protect their players because too many concussions go unnoticed, there is not enough effective
equipment in place to prevent concussions, and there arent enough rules in place to effectively
reduce concussions.
As previously stated, 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. Chronic Traumatic

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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. 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. This fact could be attributed to the tendency of

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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. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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 sufficient
effect in reducing the amount of concussions. In just three seasons of college football there were
501 reported concussions from 2013 to 2015. 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 take
into account the amount of unreported concussions. With effective equipment provided, the
number of concussions may be reduced and with other factors, could be nearly eliminated.

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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. 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 actually effective. The same effective rules that
are 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 actually make a
difference.
Concussions in the NFL and NCAA are not being prevented like they should be. 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.

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Works Cited
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.
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.
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.
Schlabach: Following the NCAA Money. ESPN.com, http://www.espn.com/collegesports/story/_/id/6756472/following-ncaa-money.
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.
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.

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MARSHALL, By JOHN. Targeting Penalties Remain Roughly the Same from Last Year. NCAA
College Football, http://collegefootball.ap.org/article/targeting-penalties-remain-roughly-samelast-year.