Southeast football uses specialized helmet gear

The Southeast Missouri State University football team is using special head gear during practices to reduce the impact on players' brains.

The Redhawks are equipping some of their players with Guardian caps during practices for a second season. The quilted-looking cap reduces impact up to 33 percent, according to the Guardian's website.

"The padding is to help prevent concussions during practice and is used as a safety measure," Southeast football's co-head athletic trainer Ben Fox said.

The Guardian cap is a padded helmet cover that augments any existing helmet to make it flexible, soft and able to more effectively manage energy and mitigate repetitive blows, according to Guardian's website. The cap is being used by interior position players who accumulate routine sub-concussive blows such as offensive lineman, defensive lineman, linebackers and tight ends.

"We understood that there is a hotbed topic about concussions and wanted to address the issue to keep our players safe," Fox said.

More than 100 colleges are customers of Guardian, the website states.

"The equipment, which is connected to the facemask with four elastic straps, cushions blows to knees, hands and the abdomen during inside run and position drills," Fox said. "It also reduces sound and vibrational frequencies, insulates heat in direct sunlight, while preserving the helmets and decals for game day."

The caps are sold with a disclaimer "no helmet, practice apparatus, or helmet pad can prevent or eliminate the risk of concussions or other serious head injuries while playing sports."