CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — When he got to campus back in March, Lovie Smith counted 50 or 60 players who owned scooters.
You can still see a handful of the compact, two-wheeled vehicles parked by Illinois’ indoor training facility.
But by the time practice starts in August, they will be gone. Smith’s orders.
The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Chicago Bears coach is banning his players from riding scooters, bringing what he said is both a touch of NFL-style discipline and concern for his those players to the Big Ten campus.
”Think about this – we have game week going on and a guy is riding a scooter with no helmet,” Smith said, adding that few if any of the players he saw riding were wearing helmets. ”I would also have a hard time calling a parent (if a player was injured), and I’m responsible for the guy.”
