The Ivy League, a leader among its peers when it comes to college football player safety initiatives, has recently provided the NCAA with some fascinating and important data: Concussion rates on kickoffs.

Prior to the 2016 season, the league implemented an experimental rule (approved by the NCAA) for conference games: Kickers would kick off from the 40-yard line instead of the 35-yard line. Touchbacks would then be placed at the 20-yard line.

Over the three previous seasons, the Ivy League averaged six concussions per year during kickoffs conference play. Last season with the experimental rule implemented, the Ivy League had zero.

The conference provided this information to the NCAA Football Rules Committee in February and shared it with The All-American this week.

“The totality of it, and the clear reduction in concussions, was very gratifying,” Robin Harris, the executive director of the Ivy League, told The All-American on Monday. “In addition, we did not see an increase in the number of returns, and we did see an increase in the number of touchbacks.”

Kickoffs are “the most dangerous play in the game,” Bob Bowlsby, the Big 12 commissioner and chairman of the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee, told The All-American last week. Bowlsby then outlined some of the key findings in the early injury data collection, mostly related to the severity and frequency of injuries sustained during kickoff coverage plays.

Harris said one alarming detail that helped prompt the experimental rule was this: Approximately 24 percent of the league’s concussions sustained during games came during kickoffs, which only accounted for six percent of all plays. She spoke to Ivy League coaches about the issue and where kicks were landing; many were landing inside the 10-yard line.

The coaches supported the idea of moving the kickoff line up, with the hope that it would lead to more touchbacks and fewer violent collisions on the play.

Both happened when the experimented rule was implemented. In addition to the decrease in concussions, kickoffs into the end zone and touchbacks now happen twice as often in league play than they do in nonconference play. Half as many kicks land between the goal line and the 10-yard line as in nonconference play. There hasn’t been an appreciable increase in the number of onside kicks, either.

“All of the data we collected really reinforced the purpose of this rule,” Harris said.

One area the Ivy League and its coaches will continue to monitor is the potential increase in pooch kicks or short kicks with longer hangtimes aimed to pin kickoff returners close to the goal line. So far, the league hasn’t seen that happen.

Harris commended her coaches for their willingness to adopt new measures designed to prioritize player safety. The Ivy League has also eliminated full-contact tackling at practices during the season, a change it made prior to the 2016 season.

“Our coaches recognize the value in taking a strong stance once they looked at the data, and so it really was quite easy,” Harris said. “It demonstrates to the world at large, including high school athletes and their families, that we really care about the current and future welfare about the individual student-athlete. So, it’s really a positive for us. It’s fascinating to me that others don’t follow, too.”

(Top photo: Steve Musco / Yale Sports Publicity)