North Carolina Coach Larry Fedora drew heat for doubting a link between football and CTE at Wednesday's ACC Kickoff, saying he believed there were people using the data in hopes of destroying the game.
Fedora was asked about changes to the kickoff rule in college football, and he offered an extended oratory disputing the relationship between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy and suggested that softening the game could be part of a larger concern.
"Our game is under attack," Fedora told reporters. "I fear the game will be pushed so far from what we know that we won't recognize it in 10 years. And if it does, our country will go down, too."
Fedora said he had talked to military personnel who had suggested the success of the United States military was due, in part, to the number of football players who went on to join the armed forces.
After questioning the evidence tying CTE and football, Fedora later backtracked slightly by saying football simply was not alone in dealing with head injuries, and he argued that the game is currently safer than ever before.
"I'm not sure that anything is proven that football, itself, causes [CTE]," Fedora said. "My understanding is that repeated blows to the head cause it, so I'm assuming that every sport we have, football included, could be a problem with that as long as you've got any kind of contact. That doesn't diminish the fact that the game is still safer than it's ever been because we continue to tweak the game to try to make it safer for our players."
Pressed on whether he agreed that there was a correlation between football participation and CTE, Fedora said he believed some studies and not others. Numerous organizations, including the NFL, have acknowledged a connection between concussions suffered while playing football and the development of CTE, which can result in brain abnormalities and depression. Recently, the family of former Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski said his suicide was likely the result of CTE.
Fedora said he was not familiar with the NFL's evaluation of a link between football and CTE, but said players should understand the risks and make their own decisions.
"Are there still injuries? Yeah. It's a violent sport," Fedora said. "You've got big, fast, strong guys running into each other. Something is going to give. But there are risks involved in the game, and everybody that plays the game understands those risks. It's not like they're going into it not knowing that something could happen. And so they have to -- personally have to weigh those risks versus the rewards."
Not impressed
Former New York Giants Coach Ben McAdoo said he was surprised his longtime colleague and Cleveland Browns General Manager John Dorsey selected Baker Mayfield with the first pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, according to a story by Paul Schwartz of NYPost.com.
Not only that, but McAdoo -- who interviewed for the Browns offensive coordinator position in January -- had Mayfield ranked as the sixth-best quarterback prospect in the draft.
"I didn't see a lot of pro-style football in his college tape," McAdoo said. "And if you're short, you have to be able to make up for it someway, somehow, and personality doesn't do that.
"[Mayfield] is kinda like a pocket quarterback that is short and with small hands. That's what I worry about."
Keep in mind this is the same coach who benched Eli Manning last season, ending Manning's streak of 210 consecutive starts.
Sports quiz
Larry Fedora has been the head coach for how many college football teams?
Answer
Two: Southern Mississippi and North Carolina.
Sports on 07/20/2018