“I think it’s great,” said Ray Tanner, South Carolina’s athletic director in an interview with The Post and Courier. “The whole concussion conversations we’ve been having the last few years have led to this. Concussions seem to me to be too prevalent in college football. We need to take all precautions that are possible in order to reduce those numbers.”
LSU was the first SEC program to field-test the mouthguards last season at a cost of $199 per player. Linear results are sent to data receivers on the sideline — in most cases the smartphones of team trainers — which are then used to analyze and tech players on proper technique and how to avoid possible dangerous situations when preparing to make a tackle.
Concussions and long-term effects from helmet to helmets hits are of heightened concern across all levels of football due in large part to recent horror stories of player suicides and varying other medical ailments that extend after playing careers are over.
