The Vols will kick off its 2022 season Sept. 1 against Ball State at Neyland Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. EDT and SEC Network will televise the season-opening matchup.
Following the Vols’ first practice, second-year head coach Josh Heupel discussed Tennessee utilizing Guardian Caps on helmets during fall training camp.
“You talk about concussions and repetitive hits, I think player safety is at the forefront now of what the NCAA is trying to do and what everybody is trying to do across the country, the NFL as well,” Heupel said. “We’ve been doing it here for a long time. We’ve been fortunate that at the end of a training camp or at the end of the season, we always go back with our medical and strength and conditioning staff to look at the injuries.
“Concussions are a major part of what we look at. How do we prevent, and how do we put them in a position to stay healthy in the immediate, but long term too? Our medical staff does a fantastic job. I wish I was smart enough to recall every stat on that. I can’t, but there is a dramatic improvement in keeping kids healthy from the concussion side from those caps.”
Guardian Cap owner and CEO Erin Hanson discussed her vision to help players’ safety throughout football.
“We started this whole project in 2010, so it is a 10-year overnight success story,” Hanson told Vols Wire. “Our whole goal in starting it was really to just help players across the board. We really did not get buy-in from high schools and youth until we started moving it through college.
“Once South Carolina and Clemson used it, it kind of validated the product for high schools.”
The Guardian Cap augments existing helmets to make them more flexible and softer, becoming more effective to manage energy and mitigate repetitive, cumulative blows.
As of 2020, NFL testing has validated the benefit of Guardian Caps and the NFL and NFLPA permit the Guardian Cap to be used by lineman in NFL practices. The Jacksonville Jaguars are currently using Guardian Cap.
Six schools throughout the Southeastern Conference have used Guardian Cap: Arkansas, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
“Coach Pruitt was at the SEC meetings and Jimbo Fisher was praising them,” Tony Plagman of Guardian Cap told Vols Wire. “Coach Fisher used them at Florida State and then brought them with him to Texas A&M.
“It is one thing to hear from a sales guy that says these things are helping, but it is another thing to hear from a coach you know, respect and coached with say they are helping.”
