Michael Pratt's mother, Rori, had a project for her son, who just happens to be Tulane's starting quarterback. A research project to be precise.
She was worried about the short- and long-term impact of head injuries suffered in football after her son was leveled by a vicious hit last season against SMU, resulting in concussion-like symptoms.
“After last year, my mom was a little concerned with concussions,” Pratt said. “So, she told me to research it and see what I could find out.”
Pratt spent a few weeks reading and researching everything related to concussions. Pratt discovered that former Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly had missed nine games in a two-year span because of concussions but remarkably missed only one game the following three years simply because he started wearing an experimental collar device on his neck.