Daniel Marsula, Post-Gazette Click illustration for larger image. Related article: Wecht: Long died from brain injury

Twice last season, college football players received serious head injuries from violent head-to-head collisions with an opponent.

Drew Hixon, a wide receiver from Tennessee Tech, spent almost two months in a coma after being hit by two South Florida defensive backs in a game Sept. 11, 2004. He is OK and returned to school, but he will never play football again.

The other incident came two months later in a nationally televised game between Georgia and Auburn. Georgia receiver Reggie Brown was knocked unconscious by an illegal hit from an Auburn player and had seizures on the field. Brown had a concussion, recovered and is now a rookie with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Georgia athletic trainer Ron Courson attended to Brown on the field that day, and the hit made him think long and hard about the rules that govern helmet-to-helmet contact in NCAA football.

Courson also is chairman of the National Athletic Trainers Association.

Inspired by the injuries to Brown and Hixon last year, Courson sponsored a rule change that was passed by the NCAA in the spring that prohibits spearing.

"We had been looking at it for some time," Courson said. "But the two incidents from last season got the coaches' and the administrators' attention."

The original rule was passed in 1976 and stated that spearing was "the intentional use of the helmet [including the facemask] in an attempt to injure an opponent."

The "intent" was taken out of the new rule, which now states spearing is the use of the helmet (including the facemask) to butt or ram an opponent or attempt to punish him.

The rule change appears to be coming at a good time.

In 1976, there were 30 cases of quadriplegia each year in high school and college football. That number had dropped to the single digits in recent years until another spike the past two years. There were more than 10 cases of quadriplegia in high school and college football in 2003 and '04, according to Courson.

Despite the rise in injuries, officials had been lax in calling the penalty.

Morry Gash, Associated Press Penn State quarterback Michael Robinson is taken off the field in an ambulance last September in a game against Wisconsin. Robinson was temporarily paralysed; no penalty was called after a helmet-to-helmet hit initiated by Badgers defensive end Erasmus Jones. Click photo for larger image.

The NATA surveyed 200 officials from the BCS conferences, and 80 percent said they had never made a spearing call. The most any official had called in one season was three.

According to NCAA statistics, last season there was one spearing penalty called in every 50 games, or one out of every 833 penalties was a spearing call. To lend some perspective, one out of every six penalties were for holding.

"We went to the officials and all they kept saying was they couldn't determine intent," Courson said. "We said, 'Does it make a difference if there was intent?' If you break your neck, you can't take that back."

Officials from every NCAA conference have been given instructions to make spearing calls more frequently. The Big Ten produced a segment in an officials' instructional videotape on spearing and other personal fouls.

Last season, when Penn State played at Wisconsin, Lions quarterback Michael Robinson was temporarily paralyzed when Badgers defensive end Erasmus James struck him in the chin with his helmet. No penalty was called.

David Parry, the Big Ten's coordinator of officials, said that hit likely would be a penalty this year because of the rule change.

"We told our officials to focus in on helmet-to-helmet contact when the player uses the head as a weapon," Parry said. "It's been a major point of emphasis for us."

Parry said he didn't know the exact number of spearing calls Big Ten officials made the first week of the season because the officials do not differentiate between spearing and other personal foul calls in their postgame reports. But in evaluating the videotapes from games with Big Ten officials in the first week, he said a couple of spearing calls were missed, including one in the Pitt-Notre Dame game.

Parry said he expects a high number of spearing calls to be administered early in the season.

"The bottom line is we want to eliminate spearing," Parry said. "Officials have been told to focus hard on this. My guess is we'll see more fouls called early in the season because it's been given a point of emphasis. Once the coaches see it's a point of emphasis, then hopefully it will curb itself."

Coaches and players are well aware of the rule change. The NCAA sent out posters in late August to all member schools about spearing and the dangers of initiating contact with the crown of the helmet. They are hanging in locker rooms around the country.

And even though the three injured players identified in this story all played offense and received the blow, Courson said four times as many defensive players have serious head and neck injuries because of spearing or head-to-head contact.

Courson said it's going to take some time for the rule change to take effect among players.

"A trainer I know approached one of his players after he made an illegal hit and asked the player if he realized what he did," Courson said. "The player answered, 'When they start calling it, I'll stop doing it.' "

Courson is excited that he helped get the rule changed, but he said the attention that has been drawn to spearing and its consequences is the most important thing for young and impressionable players at all levels.

"My biggest thing is the media," Courson said. "I have a 9-year old son, and he watches ESPN. Sometimes the illegal hits are glamorized. The more we can do educate the media and the general public the better because the high school kids see it and want to emulate it. We're trying to educate people. We're trying to show kids this is what can happen when you lead with your head."

A trainer I know approached one of his players after he made an illegal hit and asked the player if he realized what he did. The player answered, 'when they start calling it, I'll stop doing it.'