The Inevitable in Football.

Reno — Nevada. The exciting college football regular season has come to end. Fans are eagerly waiting to watch the playoff matchups unfold on New Year’s Eve.

The playoffs are the biggest stage in college football. But while some fans are focused on winning a championship, others will be concerned about if players are hiding the fact they have a concussion.

In the game of football, injuries are inevitable. Injuries are a part of the game. But what is not inevitable is that certain players hide their injuries from coaches, medical training staff members, and other players when they have a concussion or symptoms of a concussion.

Former walk-on safety for the University of Nevada, Reno, football team, Michael Jarwish, offered insight on why some players might hide that they have a concussion.

“They hide their injury because as an athlete you’re so competitive you just want to help your team compete and win at all costs necessary. When athletes get injured they feel they’re letting themselves, teammates, and coaches down because they aren’t in the game playing,” Jarwish said.

The NCAA has a policy regarding concussions in football. The athletes who sustain a concussion must go through and pass a series of treatments and tests through the concussion protocol to be eligible to return to the field of play.

But still, some players break the rules created by the NCAA. Jacob Becker, former offensive tackle for the University of Las Vegas Running Rebels football team, gave a unique perspective on why players hide the fact that they have a concussion.

“They don’t want to sit out because either somebody might take their spot or they might get looked at as soft. Kids that usually get concussions hide it from the trainer or lie to them,” Becker said.

These players are risking their lives by not telling a coach or a member of their team’s medical staff that they have a concussion or symptoms of a concussion. Traumatic brain injury is a common cause of death among football players.

According to a story in Sports Illustrated, The Monday Morning Quarterback, by Kalyn Kahler and Dan Greene, there have been a total of eleven high school football players who died in 2015 regarding traumatic brain injury on the field of play.

Kahler and Greene found out that Kenny Bui, a 4.0 student-athlete at Evergreen High in Seattle, Washington, suffered a traumatic brain injury from a play in a football game. Bui lost his life a few days after the on-field incident occurred.

“An ambulance took Bui to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, and the wolverines canceled the rest of the game. Doctors performed emergency brain surgery, but three days later Bui died of blunt-force trauma to the head,” Kahler and Greene wrote.

A concussion can occur when the brain moves inside the skull, which can cause traumatic brain injury and lead to death. Concussions commonly occur on the football field when a player delivers or receives a big hit around the head or neck area.

Concussions are a major issue regarding football, especially at the college level. Jon Solomon, Sports Senior Writer for CBSSports.com, found a study from Football Championship Subdivision players that would suggest that players are hiding their concussion-related injuries.

“College football players reported having six suspected concussions for everyone diagnosed concussion, according to a recent study of 730 Football Championship Subdivision players,” Solomon wrote.

A ratio of six suspected concussions to one diagnosed concussion for college football players is sickening and scary to think about. Players and coaches need to take concussion-related injuries more seriously than they have been in today’s era.

Most coaches and medical staff members are focused on winning, but in reality, they should be more focused on their player’s safety and health.
With all the rules made by the NCAA to prohibit players to play in the game while sustaining a concussion or concussion-like symptoms, there are still players who choose to bend the rules set by the NCAA regarding concussions.

Edwin Campbell, first-year safety and linebacker for the Concord University football team in West Virginia, gave insight on how players who sustain a concussion or concussion-like symptoms bend the rules of the NCAA regarding the concussion protocol.

“Most of the players that get concussions don’t tell the trainers until after the game,” Campbell said. “Because they feel like they are letting the team down if they cannot go out there and perform.”