Fans and families will pack the bleachers tonight in high school stadiums across the country

as football season kicks off in earnest. But after at least seven deaths tied to the sports since August, including three teenagers

who sustained fatal brain injuries, questions are being raised again about the

safety of the game played under those Friday night lights.

William Bringham has more. under those

deaths was a boy named Cohencratic a 13-year-old from West Virginia who suffered a head injury

after making a tackle in practice his father is now advocating for the use of

padded helmet coverings known as guardian caps and he wants his son's teammates to

stick with the game. I told them that, you know, this is a bad accident to move forward.

You know, I didn't want them to have the weight of my son on their shoulders, but I wanted them to play for him.

I wanted them to play Cohen Strong.

I don't think we need to take away football.

I just think we need to maybe put more safety measures out there to protect our kids.

For more on the risks and rewards of youth tackle football, we were joined by Chris

Nowinsky.

He's the co-founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation,

a neuroscientist and a former college football player himself.

Chris Nowinsky, welcome to the news hour. We just heard from that father Ryan Craddock who tragically lost

his son to a traumatic brain injury in football help us understand these numbers in

perspective why is it that it seems that tackle football exerts such a heavy toll?

Well I'm going to focus on the traumatic brain injuries and I don't think unfortunately it can be that

surprise that a few kids die every year playing football.

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