When he arrived to us, he was comatose and on the ventilator, and he went into renal failure. There have always been injuries in High School Football, but theyre on the rise. They teach us to play hard even when youre hurt. Its instilled in us since we were in Junior High School. But what are the costs for the boys who play the game . Youre only 17 once. I have the rest of my whole life to worry about pain. Tonight, football high. Frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support ffrontline is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. And by the frontline journalism fund, supporting investigative reporting and enterprise journalism. Go to work, go to work, go to work, go to work, go to work. Lets go we got to use what we have. Whoa pick it up, boys . 14, 15, 16, 17. whistle blows lets go, get there, get there. Lets go, lets go, lets go, lets go, lets go, lets go. Hey, tyler, get on up there, lets go. Come on, lets go. whistle blows come on come on, jacob narrator the summer of 2010 was one of the hottest on record in arkansas. You want to win or you want to coast through the season . Right now, youre coasting. You got to run 40 yards, run 40 yards whistle blows narrator despite the heat, High School Football teams across the state were practicing, gearing up for the season. Keep your eyes up here, guys. Got to be able to focus when were tired. We got to be able to think when were tired. Narrator at 3 30 pm on friday, the 13th of august, the heat index in little rock was 112 degrees. Will james, a 16yearold, 250pound lineman for pulaski academy, began to falter. The team was doing updowns, and will starts to stagger. And we ran from here over to here, and we caught him about right in here. siren wailing narrator it was heat stroke. Will was rushed to the icu at arkansas Childrens Hospital. When he arrived to us, he was comatose and on the ventilator. Initially, his kidneys were doing okay, but over the first 48 hours, they deteriorated, and he went into renal failure. His Blood Pressure was really low; it was in the 40s. His temperature was very high. He was obviously very critically ill. The waiting room was full of people there for will teammates, parents, coaches. There were media people roaming around, because not only had will collapsed from heat stroke; two days earlier, another child had, as well. Narrator the other boy was also a High School Football player from a small town outside of little rock. His name was Tyler Davenport. When he arrived at the hospital, his core body temperature was10. Their stories were so similar. They were the same age, same height, the same. You know, kind of the same build, they played the same types of positions. They both presented with very high fever. Both had been playing football, both had been doing practice, both had collapsed. Football players are supposed to be so healthy and athletic, and to see them so critically ill was really hard for everyone. Narrator at arkansas childrens that weekend, there were a total of four high school boys, all in serious condition with footballrelated injuries. Probably at least twothirds to threequarters of the death in sport at high schools in america are related to football. The seriousness and intensity of High School Football in america has just grown by leaps and bounds in the last five, ten years. There have always been injuries in High School Football, but theyre on the rise. The ramping up of pressure on High School Kids, the intensity of high school play, the increase in size, strength and speed. High School Football has always been important, but in the last ten to 20 years, weve seen it become amped up, and its a real concern. tv theme music plays lets go narrator elite High School Football teams compete at a level that didnt exist just a few years ago. Youre watching the under Armour High School all america football game. Narrator the game has grown from a local passion to a national phenomenon. Welcome inside tropicana field. This is on nbc, this is on espn, these are on fox sports. These are events that are getting Major National exposure. Weve had some great players already. Its just an insane amount of attention being paid to the sport. Lets go down to Lowell Galindo for the first of our eight verbal commitments. Hes standing by xavier dickson. A lot of these kids nowadays are doing major press conferences, where theyre deciding what college theyre going to go to. Alabama. cheers and applause there you go. These are 16 and 17yearold kids who have to meet the demands of a rabid fan base. whistle blows narrator at summer camps and tournaments, top Football Players and teams are scrutinized, evaluated and ranked by an army of College Scouts and national media. You seen anybody that you like out here . Oh, yeah. Yeah, weve been right. Tip narrator Dallas Jackson is a Senior Analyst for rivals. Com, a sports recruiting news site. Yeah, cj azumea . Hes a guy who could play wide receiver or cornerback. With the increased exposure that a lot of these places are getting from the internet, from television, theres more pressure. Its just like running a College Program now where, if youre not successful, the coach is going to be fired. Cornerback from griffin is pretty good. And to be a successful High School Football team at this point, its not just, come in august, work out for a month, play the season, go home. A lot of these programs are just. Are football factories. marching band playing narrator it takes a certain kind of team to succeed in the new landscape of High School Football, and the Shiloh Christian saints are one of them. What is your profession . team shouting narrator shiloh is a small private high school in springdale, arkansas, with a student body of less than 300. Come on, baby narrator several years ago, few outside of arkansas knew who shiloh was, but thats changed. Whats happened here the last five years is just phenomenal. We came out for the First Time Ever being the Number One Team ranked in the state of arkansas. We were nationally ranked, and. And pretty well by everyone. cheers and applause narrator the rise of shilohs Football Program has been largely the design of ronnie floyd. Floyd is the father of the teams head coach and pastor of arkansas biggest megachurch, which owns and operates Shiloh Christian. I want us to bow together and prepare our hearts for the preaching of the word. About the mid1990s, we decided that we really wanted to try to become a national Football Program. And with that, everything began to advance. So, we pray tomorrow that youll help us do the very best we can. How do you explain what has happened here . I mean, youve got this little Football Program that has emerged to a national stage. The only way i could explain it is the favor of god. Thats it. Narrator but it takes more than divine intervention to build an elite Football Program. It takes money and commitment. Shilohs coaches start the boys working out with weights as soon as the football season is over, and the team trains 12 months a year. If youre in a Great High School program, you will spend more time working in high school than you will in college. A lot of people dont understand the way college works. In a full sevenday week, you have 20 hours to complete all footballrelated activities in nc. Under ncaa rules. Theres not a Great High School program in america that does anywhere near 20 hours. Theyre considerably over that. whistle blows eyes up, eyes up, eyes up, eyes up. Narrator shiloh has six fulltime coaches on staff for only 40 players. Chicago scissor blue three. Chicago scissor blue three. Blue go narrator . Along with specialized private coaches. There we go. Nice. Felt that all the way through. Stay relaxed. Narrator . To work on speed, strength and agility. Good, good, two more. Shiloh christian is where they are for a reason. There we go. Good, much better. Good breath that time also. They go the extra length. They go, whats it going to take to make our players faster, stronger, better . Cross hook. There you go. Nice job, nice job. Ready, switch kick. If you want to go the next level, youve got to find the extras. Do you not have the strength . Go get the strength coach. Do you not have the flexibility . Go get the flexibility coach. What do you need . cheers and applause narrator shiloh declined to tell frontline how much it spends its Football Program but, by 2006, the investment it had made began to pay off, and the schools reputation lured some of the regions best athletes players like number 53, sam harvill, who lives on a farm in missouri, 75 miles from shiloh. We owe this place were going to show them shiloh football and who we are narrator his parents rent an apartment in arkansas so sam can be eligible to play for the saints. They think they own it. This is our house. cheers and applause narrator and in 2008, shiloh was able to attract what it needed most to break through to the next level, a true superstar. Kiehl frazier, now, hes looking to throw. Hes in some trouble. Now, he escapes. He escapes a second time narrator Kiehl Frazier is ranked one of the top five High School Quarterbacks in the country. Hes a sixfoot, threeinch running and passing threat with a strong arm and a sprinters speed. He is going to be a great football player. He may win the heisman one day, his own self. I had some ninth grade students that i teach. They come in there and they were like, oh, man, Kiehl Frazier signed my shirt. Narrator there was buzz about Kiehl Frazier long before he ever got to high school, when he played in the pee wee leagues as a tenyearold in rural arkansas. Doggone it, anyway narrator recognizing kiehls potential, his parents decided to move the family to springdale, and enrolled him in shiloh. After kiehls sophomore season, he got his first scholarship offer. Id never even heard of a kid getting offered a College Scholarship as a sophomore before. Narrator the College Offers streamed in. By the summer of his senior year, kiehl was being recruited by more schools than any High School Athlete in arkansas history. Its pretty cool to get the letters. I mean, like, my first ones from miami and, like, notre dame. Those are, like. Theyre my favorite just because theyre probably the top schools. This means you are a real recruit. When the head coach sends you a letter and gives you his cell phone number, the head coach, and says, call me, thats as far as they can go in football to say we want you. Kiehl has a. A very well plannedout future for himself. He has a real opportunity. Hes smart, and he has a milliondollar smile. His dad called me last night and hes like. Narrator Walt Williams is a local sports promoter who kiehls family hired to help advance their sons college prospects. Just do it again. Im going to watch over your shoulder. Its much like marketing a product, is all it really is. cheers you know, weve talked about making sure that he just does things that give it. All the people all the right reasons to like him. Where do you think youre the strongest as a player . I mean, what. What kind of things make you a Great Quarterback . Just really the team around me. I mean, we have great players. I just have to get them the ball. People will say, you know, let him be a kid, let him have fun. The same kids that are being kids right now will be making 35,000 at an entrylevel job when theyre 24 years old. Kiehl will make more than that in one day if he signs in the nfl. whistle blows narrator for other seniors on shilohs team, dreams of playing in the nfl are less realistic. Shiloh running back Garrett Harper has his own ambitions this year getting a scholarship to play football in college. It would be a great experience, just to play college football. I think if i can play like i. You know, like i can, then i would think, for sure, someone would take a chance on me. But, you know, its up to the coaches, so. Lets go, shiloh. Lets go, garrett. Narrator garretts father, craig, the coo of a fortune 500 company, could afford to send garrett to College Without a scholarship. Take the game right here id love to see him get one just as a sort of public acknowledgement of his hard work and the talent he has and the effort that hes put into it. Narrator over the summer, craig hired a private track coach to help garrett improve his speed. With a scholarship on the line, this season is garretts last chance to prove himself. At fivefoot, ten, he is one of shilohs smaller players, but with a fierce style of play. Garrett harper gets the ball around the left side. And there goes Garrett Harper. Hes to the 35, to the 40. Hes got a blocker and. He is a kid with reckless abandon. Hes like a dog chasing a car. He just. He runs, he goes, he doesnt know when the car is going to start or stop, he doesnt know if hes going to get hit by a car, but hes going to keep chasing it. Narrator but garretts intensity has its price. Over the years, hes had multiple injuries, including two concussions. crowd exclaims in his junior year, he had to be helped off the field after being smashed between two players from the opposing team. He was hit again in the first game of his senior season. Frazier keeps this one. Hes going to go to his left. Harper out in front trying to block. He lays a nice block there right across the ten. You hear the big hit. I looked up to see garrett laying there. And when he got up, you could tell there was something not quite right there. Garretts hurting. Garretts hurting. Get garrett out of there. Bowen, bowen. Bowen, go to four, go to four. Come on, get out. We got you, we got you. Come on. The trainer said, when i came off to the side, i was like, i know everything, i know everything, because, you know, i didnt want him to think i had a concussion or anything. You all right . Years past, we used to say, he got his bell rung. But weve kind of shied away from that, and we actually call it what it is, and it was a little bit of a head trauma. Number 20, josh. Narrator there are at least 60,000 concussions like this one every year in High School Football. Concussions have always been part of the game, but lately, theyve been met with far more scrutiny. Number 32 on third down and six. In trouble. Gets rid of the ball. Oh, big hit on desean jackson, and there is a penalty marker. Narrator the nfls high profile drama over big hits played out all fall in the media. I dont know how you take this out of the game of football, but weve got to find a way. Weve got to find a way. Recent studies show repeated concussions can have a longterm effect, like an increased risk of dementia. The nfl is finally aware that concussions cause real problems. Theres mounting evidence its putting players at risk of brain damage. Narrator much of the evidence cited in the media emerged from a small lab at this va hospital outside boston. It was shocking, actually, from the first case forward. Narrator dr. Ann mckee is a neuropathologist who has found evidence of degenerative disease in the brains of over a dozen exnfl players. The disease, called cte, can lead to depression, dementia, even suicide. Its a progressive deterioration of your brain. Were seeing it over and over again in Football Players. Narrator by the summer of 2010, mckee had a new concern. She had autopsied the brain of owen thomas, a 21yearold captain of the university of pennsylvania Football Team whod committed suicide the previous april. He had never played professional football. I was expecting nothing. I mean, you have to remember that hes a young player, hes 21 years old. But what we found was damage to the point where i could actually see the damage on the slide without even looking at it under the microscope. Narrator thomass brain showed early signs of cte. To see it in such a young player, i have to say that i went home and. And. I almost couldnt speak. Its. It totally changed what i thought about this game. Narrator there was something else. Owen thomas had never been diagnosed with a concussion. We were hopeful that this 21yearold whod been playing 12 years, that they would show that, you know, you need more than 12 years to get this disease; you need some more. You need real concussions to get this disease. But owens case kind of opened up a huge, dark world. It was like this could happen to anybody. Anybody whos playing this game, this could happen, this could be the result. The question is, when does this start . Is this a process that starts much earlier in life than we are used to be thinking about . marching band playing narrator despite the public discussion about its health risks, more kids play football than any other sport over a million across the country. A quarter of the boys at shiloh are o