Ohio State, NFL team up for safety clinic

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The reciprocal admiration between Urban Meyer and Roger Goodell was apparent as the two football titans shared the stage at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Thursday afternoon.

"If I had a son, I would want him to play for Coach Meyer," the NFL commissioner said of the Ohio State head coach.

"He's not always the most popular guy. Guess what? Neither am I," Meyer said of Goodell.

But while Thursday provided the friends of seven years with an opportunity to catch up before the start of their respective seasons, the commissioner's stop in Columbus served a much more serious purpose: the promotion of player safety.

Along with USA Football and its "Heads Up" program, Ohio State and the NFL teamed up to host the first ever Mom's Football Safety Clinic, which placed an emphasis on proper equipment fitting, concussion awareness, engaging with youth coaches, heat and hydration and proper tackling technique. Thursday's clinic was just the latest safety-minded move made by the NFL, which in recent years has made a more conscious effort to improve the health of its product, especially when it comes to head injuries.

"The impetus is USA Football and trying to make sure that we provide the information to moms who make most of the decisions in their households about all of the things that they're hearing about, and to give them a better education and a better sense of what we're doing in football to make the game safer and where they can go to get the right information," Goodell said. "Not just football, but in all sports. When your kids are participating, you want them to do it safely."

For four hours, approximately 300 mothers spent their morning rotating between stations, which ranged from presentations on helmet models to a lecture from concussion specialist Dr. Russell Lonser to tackling drills with OSU assistants Luke Fickell, Kerry Coombs, and Mike Vrabel. With some questioning what type of future an inherently violent sport like football has, Goodell said that it's as important as ever for the game to evolve for the well-being of its players.

"You always want to do what you can to make the game safer," Goodell said. "I'm very optimistic that the game is going to continue to flourish."

The father of a young football player himself, the importance of player safety isn't lost on Meyer, who has seen several changes to the game throughout his 28-year coaching career. But with the game evolving now more than ever, Meyer said that he's had multiple conversations with his players -- and son -- about playing the game with safety in mind.

"It's the freakish athletes that you have playing and the speed of the game is over the top. As a result, when you're trying to tackle a guy that you can't get down, you're going to go in low and just duck your head, and that's not the way to play," Meyer said. "Day 1 (of training camp), we're teaching tackling.

Given his obligations at the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio this weekend, and his relationship with Meyer, Goodell said that choosing Columbus as a destination for this inaugural camp was a no-brainer.

"I'm a big fan of Urban and what he's doing," Goodell said. "He embraced this with a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm and think that's been part of this success, is that Ohio State was really behind us.

For his part, Meyer couldn't have been happier to accept his friend's offer.

"Ohio State's proud to be a part of the first one," Meyer said. "Think about that -- Ohio State's the first one that the commissioner reached out to to educate people about the great game of football."

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