SLI: Youth football should curb hits in practice

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A group advocating safer sport says it defies logic that there are far more precautions taken to protect NFL players from head trauma than youth and high school football players.

The Sports Legacy Group visited the Super Bowl media center Friday to announce it was launching a national initiative to encourage youth and high school football programs to curb or eliminate contact practices during the offseason, and to advocate for more practices without pads.

Several current and former NFL players are speaking on behalf of SLI's initiative, including Matt Hasselbeck, Kevin Turner, Ted Johnson, Kyle Turley, Hunter Hillenmeyer and Isaiah Kacyvenski.

The players say they love football, but want to make it safer for their children and others, and that limiting hits in practice is "low-hanging fruit.''