Guys,

As a university Equipment Manager for the past 11 seasons one of the big changes I have seen is how the helmet is designed.

Until the Riddell Revo was put on the market all helmets had jaw pads that covered the entire ear. With the Revo their jaw pads only covered the front part of the ear. This made it much easier to remove the helmet, as you no longer had to pull out on the helmet to get it around your ears. All helmets have now gone to this type of design. Even Schutt, the only company using jaw pads on their new models have redesigned the jaw pad so that there is no longer complete coverage of the ear.

Now we are getting somewhere. Maybe someone should tell the manufacturers that their product can not provide protection to the player's head if it is rolling on the the ground while the play continues. It seems to me that an important quality of the helmet would be to remain on the head that it is designed to protect.

Apparently there is a manufacturer of a newly designed football helmet that is already being used at the collegiate level and in the NFL. The company is Xenith, LLC who manufactures the Xenith X1 football helmet. The design incorporates newly designed shock absorbers, incorporated into a "Shock bonnet" that includes an anchored chin strap assembly that is designed to reduce the overall incidence and severity of traumatic brain injury.

Their web site is Xenith.