WVU Metro News
June 22, 2025
A recent tragedy on the football field has sparked more change in West Virginia.
On August 24, 2024, 8th grader Cohen Craddock, died after suffering a head injury during a practice in Boone County. Craddock collided with another player during a drill and was taken off the field while still conscious, but collapsed before an ambulence reached the field.
Since then, legislation has been brought up in the state to require Guardian Caps — an extra layer of protection over a football helmet — for all youth players. Now, the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute and Riddell, a popular football equipment brand, are coming together to try and better protect the youth of West Virginia on the football field.
WVU and Riddell have teamed up to do a brain study with the use of football helmets for youth football players in Marion County.
Players for Fairmont Senior High School, East Fairmont High, North Marion High, and some middle schools will get 3D scans of their heads and then get measurements for a custom-fit helmet. The study will take data of each player through pressure sensors within the helmets and researchers will then be able to identify locations of hits and other pieces of information, all in an effort to learn more about youth athletes’ long-term health.
Dr. Michael Ebbert, a professor at WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, says Craddock’s death is, in fact, what inspired the study, and once lawmakers started to step in, they wanted to as well.
“Once we heard word, we kind of felt like we wanted to step in and help as much as we could,” Ebbert said on MetroNews Midday last week.
Dr. Javier Cardenas, the director of the Concussion & Brain Injury Center at the WVU Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, who also serves as the vice chair for the NFL’s head, neck, and spine committee, took notice of a similar program Riddell was doing in partnership with an NFL team.
According to Erin Griffin, the senior Vice President of marketing with Riddell, that interest is what her company over to the Mountain State.
“He was really inspired by another program that we’re doing out in Colorado with the Denver Broncos, where we were outfitting the student athletes across the state with similar technologies, and so, we are excited to bring this same type of technology to Marion County this fall,” Griffin said.
With this study, athletes will be using the Riddell axiom helmets. According to Griffin, these lids have the ultimate repertoire of safety features.
“The helmet is a state-of-the-art and top-of-the-line helmet platform. It includes a number of key features including the Tru-Fit, along with an advanced frontal protection system, and a surround flex system,” Griffin said.
The flex system, as Griffin was mentioning, is a shell system with notceable flex panels that improve impact response. The Axiom also comes with Riddell’s InSite smart helmet technology, which gives real-time data on hits and contact to the head through a subscription service.
Griffin says the athletes in Marion County are excited to be dawning the top-quality helmet.
“We know the players are jazzed because their idols wear similar helmets to what they’re going to be wearing in the fall,” Griffin said. “That is really cool to see, and I’m sure they were loving the scanning process.”
Griffin also says this study and the Axiom helmets should put some parents at ease.
“I think the parents are certainly going to have some additional piece of mind knowing that, ultimately, these student athletes are going to be wearing better helmet technology, better fitting helmets, as well as having an additional set of eyes on them through the InSite analytics technology,” Griffin said.
Ebbert agrees that both the athletes and adults are thrilled to be a part of this study.
“It’s very exciting to see the athletes and the coaches and some of the parents coming in with a new sense of excitement with this partnership,” Ebbert said.
Though this is just the beginning of the study in West Virginia, Griffin says it may not be a one-time deal.
“If all goes well, there is a potential that it could expand,” Griffin said.