Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon football fans may be looking forward to the Ducks and Beavers games this weekend, but this week national sports analysts have been watching the Gators of the University of Florida.

The number one team in the nation saw its star quarterback suffer a serious head injury, two weeks ago, and it’s not clear if he’ll play in a big game Saturday.

As Rob Manning reports, the Florida Gators and a number of Oregon high schools are using the same concussion tests - though they may not reach the same conclusions about when a player should get back in the game.

Tim Tebow has won a national championship and the coveted Heisman trophy as the starting quarterback for the Florida Gators. That made his injury two weeks ago a big story for sports network, ESPN.

ESPN: “Number one Florida losing its quarterback Tim Tebow last night in Kentucky after a blow to the head, carted off the field, exhibiting signs of a concussion, Tebow was hospitalized overnight....”

According to news reports, the University of Florida uses a test called ImPACT to see if team members are fit to play after suffering a concussion.

It’s the same test used by 50 Oregon high schools to test their players.

At McMinnville High, Dr. Craig Winkler helped implement the ImPACT test.

Standing on the sideline before a game against Tualatin High, Dr. Winkler says he knows what his decision would be with Tebow.

Craig Winkler: “He wouldn’t be anywhere close to playing. When you get dinged up enough to be in the hospital overnight, that’s a big concussion.”

The immediate response to any kind of football injury can look similar, regardless of where it happens. Trainers race to the fallen player, and if it’s a head injury, there are tests administered on the sideline.

But in McMinnville, trainers and doctors test every player at the start of the year, so they can later gauge the severity of a concussion.

Craig Winkler: “You get a baseline study on your, how you function – neurologically, in terms of reaction time and memory, which are the main things that get injured during concussion, and it allows us to track that, if you get injured.”

McMinnville trainer Bruce Scanlon has worked with high school athletes for almost twenty years. He says before he had the test to lean on, he’d hold kids out for two weeks, normally – and then ask the student how he felt.

But of course, much of the time, students want to play.

Bruce Scanlon: “And there were always instances where you just weren’t sure if an athlete was being above board with you – telling you exactly what was going on with them, if they were still having headaches, if they were still having some dizziness, or other complications, that sort of thing.”

In spite of the differing opinions in a case like Tim Tebow’s, McMinnville trainer, Scanlon, says the test, which costs in the range of a few hundred dollars,  offers some objectivity and a tougher standard.

Bruce Scanlon: “We have made a bit of a paradigm shift – everybody thinks ‘if I don’t have a headache, I can go out and play.’ Now we have to deal with the issue of ‘this test tells us a totally different story’.”

The varsity team hasn’t had any serious head injuries so far this year, but Dr. Winkler remembers evaluating ten potential concussions last year-- the first year McMinnville used the imPACT test.

One player was kept on the sidelines for seven weeks, while he recovered.

The team’s head coach, Greg McNally, says he appreciates the safety aspect of the program, but admits to feeling a little frustrated that players he relies on to win games get sidelined.

Greg McNally: “It’s tough, I’m going to be honest with you as a head coach, you know, you want those kids out there, you want the kids to play, and probably, I’m sure with Florida right now, they want him to play. It’s tough. But I think at a high school level, it’s a good program, but you got to communicate and make sure all the parties are communicating.”

McMinnville’s coaches and trainers alike are looking forward to new concussion rules passed last session by Oregon lawmakers intended to improve student health.

Not every high school will have to implement the ImPACT test, but Dr. Winkler says those that do, should expect some tension.

Craig Winkler: “The first year, man, we got so much grief from parents. ‘Why isn’t my kid out there, he looks perfectly fine.’ And then you test him, and you show them the results, and they say ‘hmm – but he’s a senior, can’t he still play?’. ‘No.’ And then two weeks later, he’s out and ready to play, and hopefully he won’t have a long-term brain injury.”

Officials are more and more cautious about concussions. New laws or rules like Oregon’s are coming to high schools from Hawaii to North Carolina. And a recent study of long-term effects from concussions helped create a hotline that professional players can call, if they feel coerced into coming back too soon.