SEC coaches express optimism, concerns with in-helmet communications coming to college football this fall

Some 30 years after the technology debuted in the NFL, in-helmet communications for all FBS games will begin this fall in college football. 

It took nearly a decade of lobbying for the coach-to-player comms to get approved, but back in April, the NCAA officially green-lit the green dot for CFB. 

Similarly to the NFL, only one player on each side of the ball (a quarterback and middle linebacker or safety) will have the radio in their helmet, designated by a green dot. The coach-to-player communication will be shut off with 15 seconds remaining on the play clock or when the ball is snapped, whichever comes first. 

The new rule could have radical implications for the future of the sport, or maybe not. 

In talking to several SEC coaches at the league’s spring meetings last month, there were varied opinions on the impact of coach-to-player coms. 

Some, like Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and Florida head coach Billy Napier, believe it’s a “cheat code” for offensive play-callers like themselves, while others like Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer and Auburn’s Hugh Freeze expressed more skepticism for any drastic changes to the sport thanks to the new rule. 

There was at least a consensus among all the coaches polled that the implementation of the helmet communication technology would be a major focal point of fall camp for every program this August. 

“(Fall camp) will be all about making sure that we’re ready (from a preparation) standpoint from coach-to-player communication,” Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman told On3. 

“Having the right number of players with a green dot. Making sure that you’re on top of it as well as anybody else.”

After speaking with a slew of SEC coaches on the subject, here are several takeaways on in-helmet comms in 2024. 

Practicing with the new technology

SEC programs spent the spring experimenting with the technology in preparation for the likely rule change, but according to most coaches, it was more like toying with a prototype than truly practicing with the real radio equipment.

Due to a supply-chain issue, schools were effectively limited to two or three devices each, and in some cases like at Auburn, they didn’t even have the actual headsets for the coaches. 

“We only had the walkie-talkies, so I really don’t know yet how it’s (going to work out),” Freeze told On3. 

“In training camp, we’re going to finally have the real devices, so between (Derrick) Nix, myself and (defensive coordinator DJ) Durkin, we’re going to have to really play with it, and the quarterbacks, too.”

For a longtime play-caller like Freeze, it was a bit of a foreign feeling using a technology that’s been around for three decades — but is brand new to college football. 

The Tigers’ head coach left the spring with as many questions as answers, saying, “We were just talking to a walkie-talkie in the spring, and now we’ll have the real (devices) with the cut-off time and the button. So how does it work for the rest of the staff to hear it? We’re just going to have to go through it. It can’t be that complicated, but it’s something we’re going to have to practice.”

Fall camp figures to be a bigger feeling-out process for defensive coaches, who must determine who on their unit is best served having the green dot and then what happens if that player (be it a linebacker or safety) isn’t on the field on every snap. 

A quarterback isn’t ever leaving the field, but defenses rotate personnel — even star players — constantly.

“The big conflict is substitutions,” Napier told On3. 

“It’s third-down packages versus your base (defense). It’s injuries on sub-packages. That’s where the conflict (and unknowns) are. We just have to sort through it.”

Because college football is so different than the NFL, coaches like Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire have advocated for the NCAA to perhaps go a step further with the in-helmet comms — allowing multiple players to utilize the technology at the same time. 

However, there are cost and liability issues, which only further complicate the optimal usage of the devices in college football.

The Big Bird and Beyonce signs aren’t going anywhere

While college football will have full access to the radio technology, don’t expect the sport to suddenly look like the NFL. 

The crazy pop star and Disney signs plus hordes of GAs sending in various signals will remain staples on teams’ sidelines — regardless of how much or little they value the in-helmet comms. 

College offenses huddle at a much, much less frequent rate than NFL offenses, and even for the up-tempo, no-huddle teams that will efficiently use the coach-to-player comms, “You’ve still got to signal unless you’re going to get into the huddle because your receivers still have to get the calls,” Freeze explained. 

Although LSU’s Brian Kelly and South Carolina’s Shane Beamer were on record last season discussing the technology’s ability to potentially curb sign-stealing, that’s more wish-casting than actual reality. 

With only one radio helmet for each unit, signals will remain paramount to a team’s communication — especially for defenses. 

“It’s not a ton of change,” Oklahoma head coach and former Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said to On3. 

“I think the game could go a little faster if anything.”

Added Napier, “The defensive playcaller’s ability to communicate to the defense, to set the front, set the pressure, the coverage communication. There’s a lot of variables there.”

Left unsaid: Even with the implementation of the technology, there’s still a place or key role for the other (less brazen) Connor Stalions’ of college football. 

Another key difference between the NFL and college football: Crowd noise. 

Most SEC stadiums hold north of 90,000 fans, so the ability to hear the in-helmet communication could be problematic at times. 

Everyone has seen Tom Brady or Matt Ryan duck in the huddle and hold his helmet closer to their head to hear the calls. If that becomes an issue in say Tiger Stadium at night in LSU versus Alabama, then teams will simply rely on using their previous signal systems. 

“It seemed to be clean, but there’s a big difference between practicing and taking it into a real game,” DeBoer told On3. 

“We understand that we need to have all our processes of communication through signals in place because it’s technology and it could go down anytime. I’ve heard stories in the NFL where that has happened.”

One potential major positive of the rule change: The use of in-helmet technology could accelerate the development of young quarterbacks

The SEC will feature two of the most intriguing underclassmen starting quarterbacks this fall in Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava and Oklahoma’s Jackson Arnold. 

Both former 5-star recruits have just a single start under their belts but the expectation is both could headline two of the top offenses in the country this fall — partly because of their raw, individual talent, partly because of the schemes they play in. 

But having Josh Heupel’s eyes and knowledge in Iamaleava’s ears could tremendously help the young quarterback’s growth in real-time. Think Sean McVay famously pulling the strings for Jared Goff in the Rams’ run to the Super Bowl in 2019.

Heupel didn’t comment on such possibilities, but Billy Napier did, and UF’s head coach strongly believes even the use of helmet comms in spring practice was a major benefit for the Gators’ 5-star freshman quarterback DJ Lagway. 

“It allows you to paint the picture,” Napier said. 

“From the first day of offseason practice, the football was cleaner. … It improved our ability to develop DJ Lagway. Those 6-8-10 seconds that you get before it shuts off are just priceless relative to your ability to give him some very specific instructions prior to the play.”

Coaches, including DeBoer and Napier, expressed caution with overloading their quarterbacks with “too much information” but the ability to key your quarterback with specific reminders (it’s 3rd down and if we get X-yardage we’re going for it on 4th down) or nuggets (in this coverage they blitz X-percent of the time) is a real advantage for offenses — with young quarterbacks or veteran starters. 

“We lived it (both sides) every day,” Napier said.  

“We’ve got a guy who is fluent, he’s a native, he knows the language, he’s comfortable, he can process, I mean Graham Mertz is one of the brightest players I’ve ever been around, so he can process about anything. I think he’s started about 43 games, so talking to him is a little bit different. 

“I think that DJ Lagway probably executed at a higher rate and was able to perform and be more productive because we were able to talk to him all the way up until (there were) 15 seconds left. I have no doubt his development benefitted in a major way, so I do think that it’s exciting because you are scripted for the first offense, you’re scripted for the second offense, and then you have the ability to be kind of a mediator from a communication standpoint for each player. We’ve done a ton of homework with NFL playcallers and coordinators, and people that have been in the league in the past in terms of what that looks like.”