As NFL mandates Guardian caps in practice, area high school football teams have been using them for years

Aug. 22—KINGSLEY — "Don't forget your Guardians!"

That command echoed several times through the parking lot at Kingsley High School as the Stags varsity football team left the film room and players made their way to the practice field.

The call wasn't referring to the baseball team out of Cleveland or Clarence from "It's A Wonderful Life!" and his cohort of angels. No, instead it was for the padded contraption known as the Guardian Cap — which is to be worn over helmets and is making football players across the country look like Toad from Super Mario Bros.

And it is also a manner to try and keep them safe from concussions and other head injuries while practicing. A far more important purpose that is worth the sacrifice of looking a little less cool.

"It's pretty simple," Kingsley football head coach Tim Wooer said. "You're always looking for ways to decrease concussions. Anything we can do for the safety of our kids, we'll do that."

Football players at Kingsley have been required to wear Guardian Caps during practices for the previous three seasons as well as the 2022 season. The NFL recently mandated that all 32 teams wear them through the second preseason game, which is when the league said head injuries are most common.

NFL representatives said laboratory research indicated the 12-ounce Guardian Caps result in at least a 10 percent reduction in the severity of impact to a player's brain. Studies revealed that number climbs to at least 20 percent if both players involved in a collision are wearing them, according to the NFL.

"I can say that our concussions have drastically decreased," Wooer said. "In the last four years, definitely less than 10 and probably less than five in practice."

Several NFL teams tested the caps last year and the league's competition committee mandated all teams use them this summer.

Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL's chief medical officer, told the Associated Press the league will analyze data from the training camp practices and review the feedback it gathers from all 32 teams to see what impact the shells actually had on reducing head trauma and to inform future health and safety efforts.

Wooer said he remembers seeing college programs use them several years ago and thought it would be best to bring the safety effort to Kingsley as well.

"To me, it was like, 'Why would you not?'" Wooer said. "Our administration was fully supportive, so why would you not take that extra level of protection for the safety of the kids?"

Kingsley is far from the only high school football team in northern Michigan to wear them. From Kingsley to Traverse City Central to Charlevoix, the cushioned protectors are being employed many area teams as efforts continue to protect student-athletes and decrease head injuries.

Don Jess, who is in the fourth year of his second stint as the Charlevoix head coach, began using the Guardian Caps when he came back on the job in 2019.

"We saw the technology on them and figured it was another measure to keep our players safe. Whatever we can do to make our players safer, we're going to try and do it," Jess said. "The community certainly helped with the fundraising part of it. They're certainly not cheap when you're buying 50 of them."

Online prices show the Guardian Cap costs about $59 before shipping, but discounts are provided if bought in bulk. Jess said buying the caps was a great investment.

"It's helped tremendously for us," Jess said. "We have not had a concussion or any type of head injury in practice. We've been wearing them in our scrimmages at the beginning of the year. The only time they come off is during games."

"I don't fault other schools for not having them," Jess continued. "They're not cheap, and football is an expensive sport when you're buying helmets and shoulder pads."

Jess said he has seen no negative effect on practice while the players have worn them. Only positive.

"It's not like the old days where you'd get hit and get right back in there," he said. "To me, it's the safest the game has ever been."

And the players seem to be fine with wearing them as well.

"It's just nice to have them," Kingsley running back/linebacker Sam Goethals said. "We try to go full speed in practice; and when you're hitting each other, knowing you have this extra layer helps that you won't get anything to the head."

Fellow Stag Eli Graves agreed.

"It's a great thing for kids," Graves said. "You want to protect your head from injuries that can mess you up in the future."

Patrick Sterrett, a standout player for Charlevoix, said he doesn't even notice when he's wearing the Guardian Cap.

"It's an extra layer of protection that I know I don't have to worry about getting hurt in practice," Sterrett said. "They do look a little bit funny, but I don't notice it so I don't really mind it at all. It's just there to protect us a little bit more."

But some aren't sold on the cap.

"I read a couple of comments from some coaches, and it didn't really make sense to me on why they didn't like them," Jess said. "It's one of those things where change is hard for people."

The Associated Press reported that Chris Nowinski, co-founder and CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, is "more than a little skeptical" that the extra padding helps prevent head injuries — and wonders if it could be doing more harm than good.

"Adding weight to a helmet can make things worse for the brain when it comes to rotational impacts," said Nowinski, who previously served as a co-director of the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. "Adding size to the helmet does the same thing. It's very difficult to recreate this in a lab. We aren't sure if this will be a net positive or a net negative."

New York Jets coach Robert Saleh also relayed concerns to the AP.

He questioned whether players are using their heads more now because the Guardian Caps soften the blow — something he believes could be an issue once the caps come off and actual games begin.

"Anyone who's played football before knows that the first time you take those (caps) off or you hit with your helmet, or you have a collision, there's a shock," Saleh said. "If you're waiting until the first game for that shock to happen, I think it's ... I don't know. Time will tell."

But Wooer said having the Guardian Caps on shouldn't take away a coach's responsibility to teach how to tackle properly. That is something he has been focusing on for the last 10-15 years.

"Once the science came out about concussions, we started to change the way we played and our philosophy on defense," Wooer said. "We preach defensively that we're going to fly to the football and we're going to run to the near hip. If the guy cuts back, the posse is going to be there. Everything that we do is sprinting toward the football, two-hand touch below the waist, palms up to get yourself in a football position. Our emphasis is taking great paths to the ball."

Safety concerns about head injuries in the NFL — and football in general — have been on the rise for years.

The AP reported that Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, has been found in the brains of more than 300 former players, according to the Concussion Legacy Foundation. Junior Seau, Andre Waters and Jovan Belcher are just some of the players who have died by suicide and later were determined to have the degenerative brain disease associated with repeated blows to the head.

The league announced in February there were 187 concussions during practice and games in 2021.

That's one reason the NFL's competition committee, given the data presented to them by lab researchers, mandated that offensive and defensive linemen, linebackers and tight ends — players who see the most head impacts during practice — wear the Guardian Caps this summer after five teams and about 100 players experimented with them last year at training camp.

Wooer said the Stags don't hit live in practice for probably more than 30 minutes throughout the entire season — total.

"But if kids get the wrong call or you have two guards that pull at the same time, you're going to have accidents," Wooer said. "To me, using these caps was an easy decision. What's the disadvantage of wearing something during practice?"

When asked if there was a downside, Wooer said only aesthetically at first.

"Initially, the kids thought they looked goofy, they look odd, they look like a mushroom on top of their head," Wooer said. "But it's just what we do now. Just like in the weight room and how there's an expectation, how we practice, there's an expectation."

Wooer said he and his staff have open communication with the players and their parents about concussions and about safety.

"There are certain things that are enveloped in our program that are pillars of what we do and how we do it," Wooer said. "It's how we train, how we practice. We're going to wear our Guardian Caps. We're going to keep our teammates safe. If we get injured now, what good is that? We want to have 30 healthy kids by the time we play McBain."