Helmet communication in college football is here – NBC Chicago

Louisville coach Jeff Brohm is looking forward to being that voice in his players’ ears – just as he enjoyed hearing one as an NFL quarterback in the late 1990s.

Brohm simply didn’t expect that it would take 30 years for college football to catch up with helmet communication.

“The NFL has been using it since I played, which was a long time ago,” the second-year Cardinals coach recalled. “So it should have been implemented. But I think it’s time, and you just have to figure out how to best use it.”

After years of debate over cost and equity, the NCAA in April approved widespread use of helmet communication for the Bowl Subdivision, giving the sport’s 134 top teams the opportunity to use it starting this season. It will officially debut during this week’s opening games, adding to traditional methods like huddles, hand signals, wristband plays and those clever sideline signs with emojis and animations for calling plays.

Teams have spent the last four months preparing for helmet communication between coach and player, although it’s not yet clear how many will use it. Some programs experimented with it last year during bowl season, but it was optional then and still is.

A single player on offense and a single player on defense may hear from a coach. Communications are shut off when 15 seconds remain on the game clock or when the ball is snapped, whichever comes first. Certain players wear a green dot on their helmets.

“On offense, it’s an earthquake,” Nebraska coach Matt Ruhle said. “You can remind the quarterback not only of the play, but of the situation. Just the thought process, right? ‘Hey, it’s third-and-7, two tries, take the checkdown when it’s there and that gives us fourth-and-3.'”

It is expected that the new technology will improve the speed and execution of attacks and assist defenses in responding.

“It’s definitely an advantage to be able to communicate with (quarterback coach and playmaker Joe) Sloan to make sure we’re in the right game and doing the right thing,” LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier said.

Defensive-minded Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said, “It helps us with subtle movements up front in what we’re doing, where we’re shadowing guys, where we’re moving things relative to the lineup and what we think we’re accomplishing. It helps them remember that and essentially puts some checks in that regard, even if it’s subtle or big changes.”

A long time coming

Years of debate over cost and fair use delayed approval of an electronic system similar to the one used by the NFL, which introduced transmitters between coaches and quarterbacks in 1994 and between defensive backs 14 years later. The Pro Football Hall of Fame says the innovation was introduced in 1956, when Ohio inventors John Campbell and George Sarles developed an audio receiver and proposed it to Paul Brown of the Cleveland Browns for quarterback George Ratterman. The Browns used it in an exhibition game and several games before NFL commissioner Bert Bell banned it.

Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy recalled the NFL’s approval of helmet communication decades later as “a transition” of signals, pointing to different parts of his body to demonstrate the turns made to convey calls. He also remembers working with many quarterbacks who had different preferences.

“In my experience, some people want a lot of information,” said McCarthy, who led the Green Bay Packers to the 2010 Super Bowl title. “Some people want as little as possible. Rich Gannon, for example, you couldn’t get started fast enough. Brett Favre could talk for up to 15 seconds. I mean, some people are just different, and I’ve found that the biggest transition from signals to the helmet speaker is the difference.”

Mixed reactions

As with all changes in sports, reactions to college football’s top division are already oscillating between yes and no. Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire’s disapproval was full of adjectives and a reminder that old habits are here to stay.

“It’s an absolutely terrible rule,” he said. “It’s really, really weird. You’ll still see everybody give a signal. … We actually experimented by having one linebacker who had it on tell the other linebacker and then they communicated at both levels. We were lit up like a Christmas tree. It was a fiasco.

“So please, to all the other coaches we play with, don’t give signals. Have one guy try to tell everyone on the field when you’re playing college football at speed.”

The approval of the notice came in the wake of allegations of sign-stealing and improper scouting by Michigan last fall, which are currently being investigated by the NCAA. The NCAA does not prohibit attempts to decipher an opponent’s sideline signs on game days — advanced, in-person scouting is prohibited — and that practice will likely continue. It just gets a little more difficult when players hear the plays directly from the coaches’ mouths.

Nicole Auerbach, leading college football insider for NBC Sports, shares her thoughts on whether the Michigan Wolverines can maintain their championship form through the 2024 season.

What to expect

It remains to be seen which side of the ball will benefit most from the technology, but at the very least, plays could be made clearer and provided with perspectives that could benefit many positions.

Although Auburn coach Hugh Freeze had hinted earlier in fall training camp that he would move communication “to the floor” as he adjusted, he seemed intrigued by how that might streamline the pre-snap process – if not spark a debate about whether to say more or less.

“I think everybody’s trying to get around that,” he said. “You know, do we hold it to 15 seconds so the defense can’t do it and then put everything on (Rebels quarterback) Payton (Thorne), or do we try to start with 30 seconds, talk to him and know that they could still change after 15 seconds. We all struggle with that.”

AP Sportswriters Cliff Brunt, Dave Campbell, Schuyler Dixon, Dan Greenspan, Stephen Hawkins, Mark Long, Brett Martel, Steve Megargee, Eric Olson, Teresa M. Walker and John Zenor contributed.