A week of full-tackling drills and live mode before a crucial game against Cincinnati left Harris feeling "a little fuzzy" before kickoff, and a huge collision with a Bearcats linebacker dazed him midway through the game. His suspicions of a third concussion were confirmed.
Harris' collegiate playing days were over. After a season in which 11 Syracuse players -- more than 10 percent of the active roster -- suffered concussions, Marrone and his staff underwent an offseason of study and change. He decided that increasing the size of his players' necks might help reduce the number of incidents; more strength supporting the head could absorb the blow, he reasoned. It a hunch spawned by the daily neck workouts he endured during his playing days at Syracuse under Dick MacPherson in the early s.
When he read an article early this summer that linked neck strength to a decrease in concussions -- and after Syracuse made it through spring practice concussion free -- he felt confident his team was making strides in the right direction. Several experts in the medical and weight training fields agree that Syracuse's new additions to the strength and conditioning program are positive steps, but they note that significant revisions are needed to maximize results.
They said the program currently lacks the specific neck-strengthening tests that yield the most telling data, which experts hope could one day be measured at the NFL combine. They want to spur a change in philosophy that utilizes more machine-based workouts and less manual resistance in order to guarantee uniform training among all athletes. Simply in terms of increasing neck diameter, though, Syracuse's program has been a tremendous success.
Each player's neck was measured before the start of spring practice and again in the summer before fall camp. William Hicks, the assistant athletic director for athletic performance, said the average growth rate across the board was roughly eight-tenths of an inch -- with some players gaining as much as an inch-and-a-half in diameter.
