With football practices under hotter‑than‑normal temperatures, the National Athletic Trainers' Association and the National Federation of State High School Associations urge new rules to prevent heatstroke in linemen, who make up 90% of heatstroke deaths in high school and college. They recommend removing linemen from mile runs, serial sprints and other preseason tests early in the season and warn against using exertion drills as punishment, cited in 37% of football heatstroke deaths.

Recent cases show the danger: two 14‑year‑old linemen were hospitalized in Arkansas and Louisiana, and a Mississippi court settled a lawsuit over Trey Laster, a 2022 heatstroke death, while Jarvis Spires recovers from a near‑fatal heatstroke during summer practice.

Anderson notes deaths have risen from 2.1 per year in 2000 to 2.6 today, indicating current safeguards are inadequate. He calls for training linemen to match game demands, providing air‑conditioned venues, and tailoring workouts to their larger size and reduced aerobic capacity.

Rebecca Stearns, COO of the Korey Stringer Institute, says the new guidance will strengthen team performance by avoiding preseason injuries, while Brendt Bedsole of the Alabama High School Athletic Association worries many coaches, especially older ones, may resist these changes.