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Tragic news out of Pullman as WSU QB Tyler Hilinski was found dead in his apartment of an apparent suicide after a welfare check was done to check in on him after not showing up for a workout. Hilinski was expected to be WSU's starting QB next season.

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Wow... such a waste of a young man's life.

Prayers for his friends, family, and teammates.

That’s awful. Really shows that depression/other ailments can strike anyone.

Such bummer news. Praying for his fam/friends.

His autopsy showed CTE. https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.c ... t-january/

maxduck wrote:His autopsy showed CTE. https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.c ... t-january/

QBs typically also have the least amount of hits to the head relative to other positions. HS players are largely all being found with CTE too in those that have died. On a side note, I thought Boston University was the place to send brains for CTE research. My nephews will be playing other sports when they get older.

QBs typically also have the least amount of hits to the head relative to other positions. HS players are largely all being found with CTE too in those that have died. On a side note, I thought Boston University was the place to send brains for CTE research. My nephews will be playing other sports when they get older.

Honestly, I've often wondered whether athletes of other sports might also be affected by CTE, and whether it really takes actuall blows to the head for it to happen as opposed to repeated, long-term jostling of the head that you'd get simply from hard, prolonged training.

Love watching football, but the sport is going to have to change, at least at the youth levels. Adults deciding to play football is one thing -- I'll gladly watch and support that. But I can't help but feel it's morally wrong to allow kids to play a sport that is likely to result in irreversible brain damage. Not saying football should be axed completely, but the game at youth levels could be profoundly changed to seriously address the threat of CTE, which by now seems like something that happens on a stunningly regular basis.

Will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the coming years. My gut tells me not much will change, and that we'll mostly see token adjustments to the rules that don't really address the underlying problem.

Some of the issues you see in football are also being seen in rugby, MMA, wrestling, and to a lesser extent, soccer. Concussion issues in rugby are very much as real as football here, with certain rugby players having said they'll donate their brains to CTE research when they die. Another major issue with rugby is the amount of paralyzing injuries they suffer at all levels of competition, mainly due to scrums. MMA has well-known issues with concussions and brain injuries due to the amount of hits they take in sparring practice and actual matches. Wrestling is fairly safe compared to MMA since there aren't strikes to the head from punches and kicks but falls to the mat and full-contact nature of the sport does mean they have their share of brain injuries. Soccer is by far safer than contract sports but recent studies have found CTE in former players, likely due to concussions from heading balls, falls to the ground, and hitting opposing players' heads, elbows, and shoulders while heading or jostling for position. Basketball and baseball are seen as less-likely sports to get head injuries since there's not a lot of violent contact and the head is not used to hit things. In baseball, I'd say that catchers are probably the most likely to end up with head injuries because of swinging bats, foul balls, and collisions at the plate.