Alabama high school QB’s death highlights football head injury risks
By Jon Paepcke
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SELMA, Alabama (WVTM) — Caden Tellier was kicking off his junior season as the starting quarterback Friday for Morgan Academy in Selma.
During a play against Southern Academy, he suffered a severe head injury and later died.
“I was devastated. I said a prayer for him and for the family. And I was very sad because that is exactly what we’re trying to stop,” Dr. Joe Ackerson said.
Ackerson is a leading pediatric neuropsychologist and has worked on the Alabama Sports Concussion Taskforce for more than a decade.
Auburn head football coach Hugh Freeze even took a moment Monday to offer his own condolences.
“Just can’t imagine the difficulty they’re going through, so our thoughts and prayers are with them,” Freeze said.
Ackerson said foam-shelled practice helmets teams use have helped cut down on the number of post-concussion patients he is seeing these days.
However, the violent force between two players can still cause extreme damage.
“You can have massive strokes because a certain blow will actually cut off the blood flow from the carotid artery. And then the blood’s not getting to the brain,” Ackerson said.
He claimed he could not remember any other state high school players dying from such complications suffered on the field.
“In Alabama? I don’t know if I’ve heard of one from a brain injury ever,” Ackerson said.
He said his task force helped pass a law in 2011 requiring all athletic groups to teach coaches and players how to react to concussion symptoms.
“If you want to make sure you survive this and get out, and you’re probably going to be completely okay, you have to recognize and get out,” Ackerson said.
Morgan Academy has canceled all sporting events this week, including Friday’s football matchup with Wilcox County.
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