Helmet design deviations.

Michigan football players have exactly one helmet their entire career, unless one is broken beyond repair. There aren't any practice helmets. Every year the helmets are sent to the manufacturers for repairs/refurbishment. I'm pretty sure these deviations have to do with the difference in the placement of ventilation holes in different models of helmets. Also, if you look at Michigan football helmets over the years, there's been tons of variations and changes to the very basic design.

Gross

Tate's helmet is also HUGE. It makes him look a little bit like a bobblehead doll.

They do not wear different shaped helmets between practice and games....this is false. Same helmets worn during the week as on game day. They are just washed/scrubbed, touched up w/ paint, and polished for games.

This must be true, if only because it allows for a concise explanation of last season: Ray Roundtree must have accidentally left his own helmet in the lockerroom at halftime at Illinois, and was forced to borrow Denard's for the first series of the second half.

(sorry)

because Denard runs so fast, the heat generated by the air friction across his helment has deformed the shape of his wing....Kind of like a space ship during re-entry....

Nice pic, and although Tate does wear a Schutt, you can't ever trust the strap to be of the same brand as the helmet...I remember alot of guys used to swap them out all the time.

is now being used for photographic evidence of helmut usage. I feel like we could solve the Kennedy assassination with the brainpower we have assembled at mgoblog.

Peyton Manning wears a Riddell Revoution which was also what Chad Henne wore while he was at Michigan: Other players that used the Revolution that you might be familiar with are Will Campbell, Mike Martin, Stevie Brown, Larry Fitzgerald. Tate wears the Schutt DNA helmet, newer design, generally looks a bit wider than traditional helmets. Steven Threet also wore this one. Other helmets that are popping up are the Riddell Revolution Speed helmets. These are futuristic looking and feature jagged edged facemasks. I saw a lot of players last year switch to it midseason including Donovan Warren, Carlos Brown, Jonas Mouton, Obi Ezeh, and Mark Moundros. I believe Mike Williams wore one for the entire season : Denard wears the traditional Riddell Helmet, easily recognizable with its round shape and a raised strip that goes down the center from the front of the helmet to the back. Schutt also makes a helmet very similar to this design. Schutt: Comparing this to the helmet Denard and Devin wear, you can notice that the Schutt helmet has vents on the top that are absent from the Riddell, as well as a smooth surface that is not as spherical. I've always wondered why players still use the old Riddell helmets. A lot of people i've talked to said that the newer Schutt and Revolutions are much more comfortable and the increased protection they provide is apparent from the moment you strap them on. It would be interesting to see if there is a correlation with concussions and older helmets.

This is the rankest, armchair speculation, but maybe it was his concussion last year that led to the switch. I read an article years ago that discussed concussions in football players. A lot of it was about a dentist in Massachusetts who'd theorized that concussions were often caused by an impact to the jaw, which created, in effect, a shockwave that was transmitted to the brain, causing an injury to the brain tissue itself. The dentist invented a mouthguard that cushioned shocks to the jaw and seemed to prevent a lot of concussions. A lot of Patriots' players wear them and, I think, the team has a lower than average incidence of concussions. If the dentist was right, changing the shape and configuration of the facemask could change the protection of the jaw, maybe for the better.