COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The University of Minnesota football team soon will be on the cutting edge when its players begin wearing new helmets that can detect concussions.
The Gophers are one of nine NCAA Division I teams that will have headgear equipped with sensors to monitor and record significant head impacts players receive in games and practices.
With concussions a big issue in football at all levels, the Head Impact Telemetry System used by the Riddell sports equipment company could change the way football helmets are designed.
Minnesota coach Tim Brewster said he felt fortunate his players could benefit from the added safety the helmets provide. The helmets also could be used as recruiting tools. Only three other Big Ten Conference teams – Illinois, Indiana and Iowa – plan to use the system this season.
“Anything that will help us with young kids to determine if he has been concussed will be very beneficial,” Brewster said. “These helmets are revolutionary in their safety precaution. It’s something every football player should have.”
Brewster was on board with the idea when Gophers equipment manager Darin Kerns researched the new technology this summer. Kerns persuaded the athletics department to pay for the new equipment.
A typical helmet package with the new technology purchased by a football team costs around $50,000. Kerns said Minnesota bought 70 helmets and encoders, along with the standard sideline processor to retrieve the data and pagers to alert the team’s medical staff of a possible concussion.
The Gophers aren’t wearing the helmets during training camp at St. John’s University, but they expect to have them in time for the Sept. 1 opener against Bowling Green.
“It’s the first time that there has really been a piece of technology that has allowed medical people to see what’s going on with the player’s helmet,” said Kerns, who worked as an equipment manager in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“It’s really something that’s been in need. The technology has been forced because of the history of head injuries. It has become a hot-button topic in the NFL. As well as it should, because there’s nothing more important than safety at any level.”
In 2002, Riddell designed helmets to help prevent concussions. Now, 85 percent of NFL players wear those helmets, according to Riddell. A year later, the research company Simbex first started testing the HIT system in college with Virginia Tech.
Riddell bought the HIT system technology from Simbex in 2005 and distributed it as the Sideline Response System (SRS) to college football programs. The NFL hasn’t caught on, but nine college teams and four high schools are using the system.
“If the NFL were to go with this type of product, they would want every team to have it,” said Dave Eberhard, a Riddell sales manager. “We think it would be a good idea.”
Gophers trainer Ed Lochrie, who has been with the football team for six years, said that in a typical season two or three Minnesota players suffer concussions.
The new system doesn’t prevent the initial concussion, but it can determine who has one, how severe the impact was and where it occurred on the helmet.
“We’re there watching practice every day, but you don’t always see or are able to measure the impact of that hit,” Lochrie said. “We’re really excited that our administration, and our coach supported us in getting this.”
Gophers sophomore receiver Eric Decker remembers suffering a concussion in practice two years ago. He didn’t know how badly he was hurt until he was tested by a team doctor.
“I think (the new helmet) is important, because in college ball now people are getting bigger, faster and stronger,” he said. “It’s going to be really good for us.”