What's the Impact? Coach-to-Player Headset Communication Begins This Season | B1G Today

better late than never for better communication in college football 2024 finally marks the debut of headset comms as coaches can send plays directly through the helmets of their quarterbacks and select defensive players Jerry says don't worry you'll still see those crazy sign boards with gifts and celebrity picks because coaches do still have to worry about signs being stolen that they are signaling in to other players when I got here my biggest concern for my first two weeks on the job first two weeks February was how am I going to run this without being able to communicate with the quarterback like we did in Green Bay and um and then they passed it I think that was I'd rather be lucky than anything and and when they passed it really took everything out of of all the how we going to Signal this and how we going to get all these motions and put signals to him and uh now I can just talk to him so it it really it was kind of ironic that had happened two weeks into me getting this job uh it made our it made we have enough to do as far as getting our players doing the things we need to do so it was it was good that some of the logistical headaches were uh were a race when they they allowed us to do this coach to player communication we've been experimenting with multiple people and so uh whether it's linebacker safety just trying to see you know the the one thing that we can't we we can't uh simulate is a crowd noise you know it's louder on defense so it's going to be harder for one guy to be yelling out all of the different signals and different communicate there that way so uh we've done a lot of different things signals hands pre- snap during the during the snap um so we're we're continuously trying to trying to make that process better let's go all right time now for us to debut coach speak you see Jerry and Dave in there would I say younger years with that picture is that fair it's probably Fair yeah I mean you guys were talking about lightly but it's probably Fair well Jerry just made such a big Point that he's younger than Dave and wanted to make sure that everybody knew I thought we could revisit thought we could revisit that statement uh defensively it's interesting to hear Tony white talk about that because everybody knows it's the quarterback on offense and the direct communication different teams are going to have to decide which player usually the Mike linebacker but not always gets the headset coms with the DC yeah they they they could go either way I let me just go back with this okay because I was I was coaching the NFL when it started there okay and the thinking behind it was who's the most important player on the field the quarterback so how can we make him more efficient okay let's let's rather than run guys in or hand signals or signs or whatever let's communicate the play right to them so he can get it to everybody quicker more efficient because if we're if if we're more efficient okay we're it's going to be a better product on TV I hate coming back to that it's going to be a better product on TV and if we're more efficient we're going to win more games okay have a better chance to so that's kind of how the thing started and and thinking behind it back in the day now I got two different scenarios on how it was used Troy Aman he didn't want it he wouldn't use it he said send the play in from the sideline run a receiver in like they did before Jerry and I were even coaching run it in from the sideline and and tell him the play and Troy would Echo the play to to the Huddle because he didn't want no that in his ear the other side of the coin let's go up to Green Bay with Brett Favre and Mike hram Mike said he would talk to Brent Brent wanted as much as you can give me so he calls the play Brent's walking to the hudle okay Brent if the safe if he gets the play Boom it's called he's walking up if the safety's off the hash it's going to be cover two get the ball to the tight end quick that's the other side now when I was a head coach and we were using it from a defensive standpoint you know I was never on it but I would be standing there the calls made and at Miami with Zach Thomas is an example I would say to the guy calling the play tell Zach watch the unbalanced here this is where they like unbalance line he would say check the unbalance you know so just there was um we we used it as a way just to give the players a little bit more information to try to make the game a little bit more efficient we're still going to see signals this this doesn't stop signals because the only one that is hearing on offense is the quarterback and Tim Lester's point was this they're a huddle team in Iowa they're a West Coast offense team we were a West Coast offensive team in Indiana the verbiage it's all bill walf is long Okay so Tim was thinking as he was taking the job at Iowa how am I going to have all these signals because it's it's it's longer for me to signal in a play than a traditional spread team so the first thing is if you're a non- huddle team the Right Guard doesn't know what the play is because the quarterback hears it doesn't mean he knows it in fact I think it's going to help the defense more than the offense because the defense can just check cover twoo because the defense responds to the offense so if I if I check cover two the offense can't check their play and we can't keep going back and forth I have the last say of it but if you're really if you're talking about technology the big news is the tablets that now that's a game Cher that means that if you're a great linebacker coach and you can be on the sideline like Seth wace at Iowa and go through the formation and make an adjustment now that's a GameChanger if you're an average coach and you can't teach as fast and all that but the but the the the comms I don't think I don't think it's a big deal but these tablets that's gold I mean you're watching the play Gold Jerry gold you're watching the play that you just missed the block on yeah or made a block well the player hope it's the ladder as opposed to the former because you get worn out if it's a ladder the excitement should be about the tablets not on the not on the headsets yeah and and again they're trying to I think it all comes back to trying to be more efficient about the thing you know and um uh it's going to take the coaches almost eliminate the stuff why you have a few guys in the Press Box but why are we having these guys up in the Press Box when I can be talking to the players and see it right here on the field you know so it it'll it'll make some adjustments going on I always wanted to be in the box so I could see well we didn't have the tablets back then you know obviously it uh we waited for the pictures and if the it wasn't working good we didn't get the pictures you waited for the guy in the lab to have to dip the picture into the water hang it up let it dry carry your pigeon brought it to you Jake but and I did something with the High School coaches at Indiana at the championship game and it was about tablets and it was about video The High School coaches in Indiana have had tablets for years and they also have video you actually could sit your offensive line down on the sidelines in in the state of Indiana five years ago and watch the video of the player you just ran and yet we high schools had headset colge way before college right we're just getting to it now you just brought a story to my mind I'm a senior at pit coach Johnny major is my coach and we play our first game Tony dorset's the back and we play the first and we go in at halftime and I hear our offensive coordinator and Coach major saying offense I want everybody in the weight room and we walk in the weit room it's dark all of a sudden someone flicks that thing and there's the first half our first I'm looking at myself there I'm you know this was back in the 70s I mean I'm saying oh my God you don't mean that coach M just stretch the rules dude I'm telling you we would watch the first half in the weight room at the technology in stadiums is a little bit more advanced these days stadiums like the one in Vegas where USC opens its season against LSU on Sunday want to talk about a guy who's known as a great play caller in Lincoln Riley he'll be using those coms with a new quarterback in Miller Moss this is a show me game right off the bat for USC show me what you can be without Caleb Williams in 2020 yeah you know both of these absolutely but both of these teams are very similar uh you mentioned Lincoln Riley a great play caller Brian Kelly at LSU the last two years both of these guys' offenses have averaged about 40 points a game both of them had number one draft picks at quarterback that are gone right Caleb Williams and Hayden Daniels at LSU same both of their quarterbacks are going to be starting in this game we saw uh new Meyer he played against Wisconsin in the bowl game through was the MVP Miller Moss was awesome for USC's bowl game Miller Moss throws six touchdowns six in his bowl game so I mean there's a lot of similarities to this and both of them have new defensive coordinators I mean USC's defense last year guys and and I coached there coach defense there uh they gave up the most points per game in any defense in a history of USC so they made a change there I mean that should never happen and and and LSU was second in the SEC giving up points last year so they made a change so from a coordinator standpoint a quarterback standpoint uh both these teams are ranked right I mean you know USC 23rd or whatever they are LS 13 so you know there's expectations with both of them I mean this this should be a heck of a football game and um yeah we we we we'll see how it night Sunday night yeah I don't know much about LSU Personnel of that but out out Southern California you get a feel that this is a really offensive driven program and it makes sense because Lincoln riy he's coaching the quarterbacks and he's coaching the offense so you leave there saying you know now coach Lyn on defense who by the way he was playing at Penn State when the network first started now he's again speaking about us being old thank you Jer you keep getting back to this over and over coached against him right he's a defensive coordinator he was a student athlete I know State before had this new studio but but to complement the offense the coach Lynn on on on defense and the Special Teams it's got to be a complete package you know Brian Kelly doesn't coach offense or defense and so I you know you walk away from USC thinking you know is this going to be Ryan Day a few years down the road where you you have a monster program that can win the national championships year be in the national championship year in year can you do that and still call play and for Big 10 fans who haven't had the chance to see Zachariah Branch yet kick returner extraordinaire as a youngster going to get used a lot more this year in the past game maybe on jet sweeps one of the most dynamic players in all of college football