BATON ROUGE - A group of mechanical engineering professors and students at LSU are developing a helmet that could reduce the chances of traumatic brain in football players after a hard hit or tackle. 

Hunter Gilbert, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at LSU, says most serious injuries to the brain are caused by rotational force. The helmet he and his team are designing would reduce the rotation of a player's head during a rough play. 

"The effects of the head rotating quickly, snapping to the side, are just as bad or worse than being hit in a straight line," he said. "Because the current helmets don't address this rotational phenomenon to the extent that our design does, we think we could really make people safer."

The group is covering all bases by getting input from equipment experts with LSU Athletics. One of those weighing in is LSU Assistant Director for Athletic Equipment, Greg Stringfellow. 

"They're making something that kinda takes some weight out of the helmet to slow those forces down and actually making a helmet that will stay rigid to the head while other parts of it will move around," Stringfellow said. 

While the prototype is only three years in the making, it still has a long way to go before a patented product hits the shelves or the field. Gilbert hopes the LSU Tigers will be the first team to sport the new look. 

The first prototype will be tested in the summer of 2024. Once the testing is done, the team will look for other ways the design could be improved.