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Moline High School football team taking extra safety measures

They help protect against concussions
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MOLINE, Ilinois  --  Moline football head coach Mike Morrissey has his players wearing extra padding on their helmets.

The padding is called Guardian Caps. They are said to absorb 33% of the impact when players hit heads. They are supposed to help prevent concussions. Morrissey bought 55 caps for the varsity team.

" Anytime we're doing contact stuff, they put these on," Morrissey said. " Every one of our players gets one on the varsity level and eventually we are hoping to get enough to go all the way through the entire roster."

The caps are only worn during practice and Morrissey says they try not to hit as hard. Varsity running back Aboubacar Barry says he thinks he gets hit harder now on varsity compared to junior varsity.

" I just haven't ever felt that kind of hit before," Barry said.

Barry says he gets almost every other play and that the guardian cap makes him feel safer. He says the padding is lightweight and he barely notices it.

Morrissey says the money for the caps came from fundraising. They need almost $2,000 to get enough caps for the junior varsity team.

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