Andrew Luck, the first overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, knows a few things about concussions. The Indianapolis Colts' newest quarterback has been around concussions before, and has also been part of a Stanford University study on the subject of head trauma. Still, neither of those things are likely to change his choice in mouthguards or his love for the game.
2012 NFL Draft: Andrew Luck Talks Concussions, Mouthguards
Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback Andrew Luck knows a thing or two about concussions.
“I will wear a mouthpiece,” Luck said at the NFLPA Debut event on Wednesday night. “Maybe not the big clunky one. We’ll see.”
The big clunky one is an Impact Sensing Mouthguard. What makes it different, besides its size, is an electronic device built into it that measures the force of hits, the impact when a player hits the ground and the brain’s movement inside the skull. Stanford football players, as well as player at Notre Dame and the University of Washington, wore those mouthguards to gather data related to concussions and brain injuries.
Stanford was the first university to conduct field research with the devices. One of Luck’s teammates, wide receiver Chris Owusu, was wearing one of the mouthguards at the time he suffered his third concussion in a 2011 game against Oregon State.
Owusu has since been medically cleared, and ran a 4.36-second 40 at the Combine this year. However, teams are dropping his draft stock because of his concussion history. Jim Trotter of SI.com reported earlier in the week that one NFL general manager told him that Owusu was off their draft board completely.
This comes at a time when hundreds of former NFL players are suing the league over concussions and head injuries.
Luck expressed his faith in efforts to reduce the seriousness of the problem.
“It’s tough, but I know the league, the NFLPA, they’re working round the clock on finding ways to maintain the integrity of the game, but also keep it safe,” Luck said. “It doesn’t bother me. It’s the greatest sport in the world, and it’ll all be great.”
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