Kedon Slovis played quarterback for Southern Cal in the Pac-12, Pittsburgh in the ACC and BYU in the Big 12, but it wasn’t until he took part in the East-West Shrine Bowl for NFL Draft hopefuls that he experienced in-helmet communication to get plays from the sideline.
“It took a little bit to get used to, but it’s pretty nice to have it,” Slovis said. “I think the biggest thing is we’ve talked all the stuff about the signal stealing and all that. I’ve dealt it with firsthand. Everyone talks about just one school doing it. Every school is doing it to some extent. I think that will help clean up the game a little bit.”
Coach-to-player helmet communications, in place in the NFL since 1994, is coming to college football in 2024 if the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approves new technology rules on April 18 that were proposed by the NCAA Football Rules Committee.
It would come a season after a Michigan staffer was embroiled in controversy for alleged in-person scouting of future opponents which is against NCAA rules, but the electronic helmet communications already had proponents who wanted it brought to the college game.
Coaches would be allowed to communicate to one player through their helmet in games involving FBS schools. The player would have a green dot on the back of their helmet.
“I’m actually very interested to see how that’s going to change because for us we’re really a no-huddle offense,” Georgia quarterback Carson Beck said at the start of spring practices. “We don’t huddle very much, so how does that change the communication to the wide receivers, the offensive line? Are we still going to have to signal and all that type of stuff?”
Georgia has used the in-helmet communication during scrimmages and plans to do so during Saturday’s G-Day game, a team spokesman said.
“We are going to get to experiment with that,” coach Kirby Smart said. “As I understand it, each SEC team would have three helmet devices they could use in practice. It’s a supply chain issue. Nothing like this school has 10, this school has two. A lot of liability involved in touching the helmets and putting pieces in. They’re going to distribute those equally among the conference. We’ll have three.”
Beck said he wants offensive coordinator and play-caller Mike Bobo who is in the coaches’ box upstairs on gameday to be in the communication loop.
“Hopefully it’s just me and Bobo in the communication,” Beck said. “I don’t need to hear everybody else yelling and chirping in my ear while I’m trying to listen to the play. I’m actually interested to see how that will work and how that will change offenses in college.”
Teams in six bowl games this past season used the coach-to-play helmet communication, according to the Sporting News.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin likened the helmet communication to “having a cheat code in Madden offensively,” he told reporters. “I don’t know if they’ve thought defensively what that means. The assumption is just, you talk to the quarterback, but there’s really more to it than that, especially the way we run our offense without giving too much in what that allows us to do with signals, with the whole process. I think it’s a cheat code offensively if you do certain things offensively. Defensive coaches always wanted it so it’s here.”
Kiffin said defensive-minded coaches in SEC meetings wanted the helmet communication for their middle linebackers.
Smart, who has not addressed the media since April 2, said after the first scrimmage on March 30 that some aspects with of the operation weren’t smooth, but he attributed that to new additions to the program.
“We were really sloppy in terms of substitutions, getting guys on and off the field, communication, signals, just a lot of new people in the organization,” he said. “Whether it’s players new, mid-years new, portal guys new, coaches new.”
Former Tulane quarterback Mike Pratt experienced the helmet communication when he participated in the Senior Bowl.
“It was actually really cool,” he said. “I loved it. Being able to hear the play from the coach. It was a little different. We had a couple of different ways we got the play in being in college.”
Said Slovis: “I just had to get used to the body language looking out to the sideline and sitting in the huddle. It’s kind of nice to be able to get some last thing reminders from the coaches and also you get more time at the line of scrimmage.”
Under the NCAA proposal, the communication will be cut off with 15 seconds left on the play clock or when the ball is snapped if it comes before that time on the clock.
“We’re going to find ways to simulate it, try to get used it, get the players accustomed to it,” Smart said. “We’re going to visit with some NFL teams on how they use it, what all information you get to the player. You don’t want to overload them with information.”
Beck said he didn’t expect that to be an issue.
“I feel like for me,” he said, “I can handle a lot mentally as far as football goes.”
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