Dante Love and Football Safety

According to Ball State coach Brady Hoke, injured player Dante Love might be able to come home this week after spending time in a local rehabilitation center. He’s been in the hospital since a hard September 20 hit that left him in the operating room and left his friends, family, and teammates worried about paralysis. Football fans everyone held their breath, hoping for a full recovery and offering up tributes.

His football career may be over, but at this point, that’s nothing – he’s going to be ok, pending any unexpected complications.

Is it just me, though, or has college football seemed to be really rough and tumble this year? Even the NFL seems injury-prone this year – it seems like every week, we have guys being strapped down and carted off with suspected spinal injuries. So, is football getting too dangerous, and if so, why?

Well, while I do believe that football is getting more competitive, especially as players try to make impressions that will last come draft day, I’m not sure that’s to account for football as dangerous.

You can also argue that straying from a traditional pro-style offense means that players take harder hits…but really, I don’t think that’s the case either. Players always took hard hits, it’s just directed at different players.

So is it poor coaching – players who aren’t prepared for the game? Lax NCAA rules allowing for too many injuries? Bad officiating?

Or none of the above? I hate to say it, but personally, I think we’re just having a bad year. I think that too much competition, a non-traditional offense, poor coaching, lax rules, bad calls, and more can all lead to more injuries, but I think that the NCAA and each team’s coaching staff does a good job at making sure that we aren’t putting players at risk.

At least at higher risk than normal. The fact of the matter is this: football isn’t safe. Sports aren’t safe. They are as safe as possible, but competing in any sport means that you have a higher risk at injury than if you take up an activity like singing or stamp collecting.

That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t play…it just means that, from the grade school level, players need to constantly be taught to respect the playing field. It is the coach’s job to teach them good habits to help prevent injury.

Your thoughts?

Picture via Newscom.