Underarmor soft pads Legal?

[BradH]

What is the thought on whether the 'new' underarmor imbedded underpads meet the level of equipment protection to be worn alone? They are very small and soft. In addition the newer arm pads are nothing more than minimal elbow covers!? Are they legal wear.

[old geezer]

I have read the NCAA rules book but cannot answer your question in regard to the shoulder protection. I agree with you that they don't appear to provide much protection but possibly someone else can answer this.

In regard to the arm(elbow) guards, they can be very minimal as the main reason that they are now required is that there were a lot of injuries by way of bone chips, et al, to the elbow itself That is the most vulnerable part of the skeleton on the arms that is not already covered by protective wear. So as long as the pads cover the elbow itself, specifically the point of the elbow or as it was called when I was growing up, the funny bone, then while minimal they should still be legal.

[old geezer]

Does no one want to venture their opinion of this? My opinion is that they are not shoulder pads, but I am not a manufacturer so I am not venturing a guess. However, I would like to hear someone else's take on this as I have several defensemen who would love to wear these for shoulder pads.

[LaxRef]

Here's what I have gleaned from experience and the rules:

The rules say you have to have shoulder pads. If you have to do a full-service equipment check (any check in NFHS, coach-requested in NCAA), you tap the shoulders to see if they have a shoulder pad and you let it go at that. Any attempt to try to discern more than that (has the shoulder pad been altered? does it provide sufficient protection?) is likely to just get you into trouble. Besides, they don't pay me enough to dig into some sweaty guy's jersey to see if he altered his pads.

Therefore, barring a directive from the NCAA and/or NFHS saying they're illegal, I'll just be checking to see if they have a pad on the shoulder. If the shoulder pads are insufficient, I am sure that the coaches will discover this and force the player to take corrective action, since they do need to ceritfy that all of their players are legally equipped by rule.