JUMP TO:
- What is college football concussion protocol?
- How long is NCAA concussion protocol?
- How does NCAA concussion protocol work?
- College football concussion protocol timeline
- Why did the NCAA create the concussion protocol?
- College football concussion statistics
- History of NCAA concussion protocol changes
- How college football concussion protocol compares to NFL
Football is a contact sport, but leagues do their best to implement rules that can pair riveting action with player safety. Head-to-head hits can result in concussions, which, at their baseline, are brain injuries.
The NCAA, like the NFL, is striving to make the game safer for players. It is a bigger issue at the collegiate level because players range in age typically from 18 to 24. Concussions can alter players' careers and their lives overall. Similar to the NFL, the NCAA has its own concussion rules and protocols to protect players.
Here is more on college football's concussion protocol, including the NCAA's rules, evaluation process and more.
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What is college football concussion protocol?
Concussion protocol is a general term that refers to the steps that must be taken if an athlete is suspected of sustaining a concussion. It includes a general check, and if the player passes, they can be cleared and returned to action.
If the player is thought to have a concussion, they will enter protocols and start going through the various stages of checks that they must pass to be cleared.
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How long is NCAA concussion protocol?
There are six stages to the NCAA concussion protocol, with symptom resolution required at each stage and progressing at least 24 hours per step.
The steps, in order, are symptom-limited daily activities, light aerobic exercise, sport-specific exercises, non-contact practice, full-contact practice and unrestricted return to play.
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How does NCAA concussion protocol work?
Every college athlete will undergo baseline testing at their university. Before each season, they are expected to be tested for symptom evaluation, cognitive testing and balance assessments. Having these results helps the medical staff during the season with their concussion tests, and drastic differences in results can have players entered into concussion protocol.
When a potential concussion occurs, the NCAA requires that medical personnel specifically trained in concussion management must inspect the athlete. Certain symptoms like loss of consciousness, confusion or poor balance, result in immediate removal from play.
If the athlete is ruled to have a concussion, they will remain in concussion protocol and then also post-concussion management. The latter consists of initial care, the subacute phase with plenty of testing and then re-evaluation.
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College football concussion protocol timeline
Here are the six stages of the college football concussion protocol.
1. Symptom-limited daily activities
The first stage is doing non-strenuous tasks in daily life. The athlete is then re-evaluated to make sure that no symptoms got worse, and then they can progress to the next level.
2. Light aerobic exercise
Once the athlete progresses to stage two, they are allowed to resume light exercise such as walking. Again, they are re-evaluated to make sure there are no setbacks or other symptoms that emerge.
3. Sport-specific exercise
When the athlete passes Stage 2, they are allowed to progress to exercises specific to their sport. This can include some non-contact drills.
4. Non-contact practice
After progressing through Stage 3, the athlete moves to a full non-contact practice. They are allowed to participate in more dynamic drills, provided that their head is never impacted.
5. Full-contact practice
Once they are medically cleared from Stage 4, they are allowed to go through a full, normal practice.
6. Unrestricted return to play
As long as the full practice goes well and the athlete doesn't experience any setbacks or returning symptoms, they will be upgraded to unrestricted practice and game action like normal.
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Why did the NCAA create the concussion protocol?
The concussion protocol was instituted to help provide awareness of head injuries. It also created a regulated system that all programs must align with to ensure that all student-athletes are getting the same process and treatment when it comes to head injuries.
What is CTE?
CTE stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. This term refers to a progressive degenerative brain disease that comes from repeated head trauma. Symptoms of CTE include confusion, memory loss, impaired judgment and mood and behavioral problems. CTE can only be diagnosed from an autopsy.
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College football concussion statistics
Concussion numbers have to largely be taken with a grain of salt because studies have shown that between 20 and 60% of athletes in the studies have chosen not to report their concussion symptoms.
In general, though, concussions occur 3.74 times per 1,000 athlete exposures during games. An athlete exposure refers to one player playing in one game. So, 3.74 players will get concussed per 1,000 players playing in a single game.
Kickoffs have been highly controversial at both the collegiate and NFL levels. Some fans don't like the changes, but data shows that kickoffs had a concussion rate of 4.60 per 1,000 athlete exposures. In a way, this shows that many of the concussions that occurred on average were caused by the kickoff.
One study showed that there are 2.20 concussions per 1,000 plays. It may not seem like much with most college football games averaging out to be 180 plays, but when you think about how there are sometimes 68 college football games played per Saturday just at the FBS level, that would be approximately 12,240 plays in just one day, or roughly 24 concussions.
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When did the college football concussion protocol start?
The NCAA implemented its first concussion protocol in the 2010-2011 season. It has been tweaking it ever since.
Concussion protocol enforcement
Concussion protocol is enforced by a combo of mandatory institutional plans, athlete education every season,
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History of NCAA concussion protocol changes
If you ask the NCAA, it will tell you that its first change to combat concussions came in 1893 when the first leather football helmet was used in a game between Army and Navy. You can argue that the league actually began combating concussions in 2010 by passing new legislation.
1939: All football players are required to wear helmets.
1973: All football players are required to wear mouth protectors.
2010: The NCAA formed a concussion working group that meets in Indianapolis to discuss policies of other leagues and considers legislative changes. The NCAA also adopted legislation requiring all members to have a concussion management plan.
2012: The NCAA moved the kickoff location to the 35-yard line to try and encourage more touchbacks.
2014: The NCAA launched a three-year, $30 million longitudinal concussion study.
2015: NCAA allows player tracking devices to be used for health and safety purposes. The NCAA's five autonomy conferences pass concussion safety protocol legislation. This required each school to submit for NCAA approval a policy for detecting a concussion and a return-to-play policy.
2018: The NCAA allowed fair catches inside the 25-yard line in an effort to promote safety.
How college football concussion protocol compares to NFL
In general, they are very similar. The biggest difference is that the NCAA sets the general guidelines that teams are expected to adhere to, but the actual implementation of the guidelines and the protocol details are left up to the schools individually. This creates some discrepancy across just the 136 FBS programs compared to the 32 NFL franchises. The NFL tends to be more centralized in how it handles concussions.
The NFL concussion protocol only has five steps, while the NCAA's has six. Really though the NFL's final stage is full football activity and clearance, which is what the NCAA has, but the NCAA just splits it into two steps instead of one combined one, so the policies really are the same, including the same general terms for each stage.
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