>In defense of High School football and younger, most of the players aren't physically developed enough to cause and long term damage to themselves or anyone else (in terms of head related injuries).
Do you have any evidence to back up this speculation?
In fairness I'm speculating about the damage. For all I know I am overestimating the severity of the collisions I see; I just have a strong intuition motivated teens play hard and that repeated impacts add up to eventual damage.
Nope none at all except personal experience playing at both high school and college level. That was total speculation on my part. Head injury data is really tough to gather accurately since the farther along in your career you get the more pressure you have to "play through it". So I would estimate (again total speculation on my part) that less than 1/2 of the concussions that actually happen get reported on a collegiate level (no idea about the NFL).
More personal notes: In college I knew a few guys who would have headaches for days but refuse to go to the doctor or trainer for fear of getting benched. That was the exact opposite in High school for me. Players would go to the trainer for every little bump and bruise.
Do you have any evidence to back up this speculation?