Football Linemen Get Position-Specific Heat Rules
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- NATA and the National Federation of State High School Associations are urging coaches to exclude linemen from mile runs, serial sprints, and preseason conditioning tests early in the season, and to stop using exertion drills as punishment — a factor cited in 37% of football heatstroke deaths.
- Linemen make up 90% of heatstroke deaths in high school and college football, due to larger body mass, lower aerobic fitness, greater metabolic heat production, and reduced cooling efficiency, the groups said.
- Scott Anderson of the College Athletic Trainers Society said annual heatstroke deaths have barely moved — from about 2.1 per year since 2000 to 2.6 — meaning "we're not preventing fatalities."
- Two 14-year-old linemen in Arkansas and Louisiana were hospitalized for heat-related incidents within the past two months, while Houston senior lineman Jarvis Spires, 18, is still recovering from a near-fatal heatstroke he suffered last summer during practice with a personal trainer.
- The Rankin County (Miss.) School District settled a lawsuit from the parents of Trey Laster, a senior lineman who died of heatstroke in 2022; the suit specifically cited his higher risk due to his position.
- Alabama High School Athletic Association assistant director Brendt Bedsole acknowledged that "old school" coaches may resist: "They probably look at me and say, 'He's soft.' No, I'm smart."
Why it matters: The new guidelines shift heat-safety advice from generic hydration and acclimation tips to position-specific protocols targeting the 90% of deaths borne by linemen. With fatalities flat at roughly 2.6 per year and two teen linemen hospitalized this summer alone, resistance from veteran coaches could keep the toll stuck — and the Mississippi settlement shows districts now face legal exposure for failing to adapt.
