[Spiny_Norman]

There is one trend in the game that Stanford really cannot mitigate - the focus on head trauma and lifetime injuries. We don't know if any of the retirements are related to that. But we have seen some alumni careers ended due to these factors. AJ Tarpley retired from the NFL because of too many concussions. Coby Fleener sat out the season after being cut by New Orleans because of lingering concussion symptoms.

Football is a violent game. At some point, players (especially those with good options for their post-college career) may say "enough." Insurance companies are close to that point now according to this ESPN story.
http://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/2577...leges-espn

[Spiny_Norman]

There is one trend in the game that Stanford really cannot mitigate - the focus on head trauma and lifetime injuries. We don't know if any of the retirements are related to that. But we have seen some alumni careers ended due to these factors. AJ Tarpley retired from the NFL because of too many concussions. Coby Fleener sat out the season after being cut by New Orleans because of lingering concussion symptoms.

Football is a violent game. At some point, players (especially those with good options for their post-college career) may say "enough." Insurance companies are close to that point now according to this ESPN story.
http://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/2577...leges-espn