BATON ROUGE, La. -- From their earliest introduction to the sport, football players are taught to keep competing until the whistle blows, signifying that the play is over.
There are times, however, where doing so can be costly. LSU’s Lewis Neal and Jerald Hawkins learned that lesson the hard way earlier this season, when they were both assessed personal fouls for continuing to play after their helmets came off in the middle of a down.
“From high school, pee-wee, little league, nothing -- I’d never heard of that rule,” Hawkins said.