Oklahoma center Ty Darlington said he would make his future children wait until they were older to play tackle football due to the threat of concussion.
“I don’t think you’re at a disadvantage for kids to not play tackle football until they’re a little bit older,” Darlington said Monday, via CBS Sports’s Jon Solomon.
“Even myself, I pride myself on being a tough guy,” Darlington said. “If I get hurt, I’m gonna stay in the game. It’s hard because something like a concussion, it’s the internal perception of it even within players — not just feeling pressure from coaches. It’s pressure from yourself, and the mentality of the game is that I’m going to tough it out, and that’s something that’s hard to break.”
Darlington is facing a question that many others are being forced to confront as well. His teammate, quarterback Baker Mayfield, refused to even confirm that he suffered an actual concussion in a November game, calling them “concussion-like symptoms” and noting that “I don’t think I really had one.”
Darlington comes from a football family. His father, Rick, coaches the Apopka High School team in Apopka, Florida, and his younger brother Zach plays there. Zach Darlington had to be airlifted to a hospital after suffering a concussion in August 2013.
“My dad was put in a tough situation because they had just won a state championship, they’re the favorite to win another, and Zach is the centerpiece of it, but he’s also a father,” Ty Darlington said. “The doctor I think would let my brother play later in the year, but my dad said, ‘No, your long-term health, you’re not playing.’ I respect the heck out of my dad for saying, ‘No, this is what’s best for you and your future.'”
Darlington said he didn’t begin playing until fourth grade, and that he’d never talked to his dad about whether the sport was simply too dangerous, though he conceded he may do so.
Darlington isn’t the only football player who has concerns about this sort of thing. Mike Ditka has said roughly the same, as has Kurt Warner. Plus, the Concussion movie currently in theaters is raising awareness of CTE and making many reconsider the safety of the game.
