After Tragedy, A Renewed Focus On Student-Athlete Safety

This story originally aired in the Sept. 8, 2025 episode of West Virginia Morning.

After a tragic head injury claimed the life of a young football player last year, schools and teams across West Virginia are taking another look at safety standards this season. 

Educational, athletic and medical leaders are coming together to implement technology they hope will make the game safer.

Thirteen-year-old Cohen Craddock died of a head injury sustained during a football practice in Boone County. He was front of mind for Dr. Javier Cardenas, on the field at a youth football safety event at North Marion High School in late August. 

“That incident sparked an initiative, which is why we’re here today,” he said.

Cardenas is director of the Neuro-Performance Innovation Center at the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute at West Virginia University Medicine. His office has partnered with Marion County Schools and sports equipment manufacturer Riddell to create The Marion County Initiative.  

“We are starting this program to reduce repetitive head impact, to reduce concussions and to reduce severe traumatic brain injury as a result of related concussions,” he said.

Beyond technology, Cardenas said the program’s strength comes from information both on and off the field.

“This is an unrivaled, unparalleled program designed to reduce head impact for all athletes,” he said. “What’s really special about the program is that we have education for coaches, athletic trainers and others to reduce severe head impact and emergency action planning.”

Cardenas stresses the program is not limited to football. The initiative is offering baseline testing to athletes in soccer, basketball, volleyball and more. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sport and recreational activities are the leading causes of traumatic brain injuries among children and adolescents. Nationally, 70% of all emergency department visits for sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries and concussions are among children ages 17 and under.

Football leads all school athletics in head injuries. At the high school level, more than 2 out of 3 concussions result from collisions among athletes and football has the highest and most regular rate of athlete collisions.

Erin Griffin is the senior vice president of Marketing and Communications at Riddell, which is providing its Axiom helmets to all football players in the county. 

“Each player that received this helmet actually received a head scan that is providing them a personalized fit,” she said. “So Riddell believes the first step in player protection is proper fit.”

In testing conducted by the National Football League to evaluate which helmets best reduce head impact severity, Axiom ranked number one. However the NFL’s own analysis states that the results of their study should not be extrapolated beyond the NFL to collegiate, high school or youth football.

Griffin said the helmet’s greater visibility, player-specific fit based on individual head scans and integrated impact sensors all contribute to greater safety.

“That actually provides information to sideline staff and coaches about helping players reduce overall head impact exposure through information that can modify player behavior and improve their technique on the field,” she said.

Griffin said over 30 football programs across the state are already equipping Riddell’s Axiom helmet and insight analytics.

Don Neal, head football coach for West Fairmont Middle School, said getting feedback from the helmets is as easy as looking at an app on his phone. That means no waiting for data analysis, just real-time adjustments to student athletes’ tackling techniques during practice, helping young players establish good, safe habits.

“I can tell Brock, for example, ‘OK, Brock, you’re making a lot of contact to the crown of your helmet. Let’s practice this in practice so we can get it fixed to try to lessen those kind of types of things happening, or any injury at all,” Neal said.

Everyone involved is aware that the initiative will not eliminate all risks of concussion or other injuries. But trying to minimize them hopefully means more enjoyment for everyone involved.