Helmet communication will help Kentucky and the rest of college football play faster

Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage at Kroger Field was the first time in a real game setting during fall camp that Kentucky used the new sideline technology coming to college football. Brock Vandagriff is a big fan of some of the new changes.

The Georgia transfer says that the tablet usage was “pretty cool” in between series but the helmet communication is going to help Kentucky play faster this fall.

“I think the helmet communication will help tempo throughout college football because when you think about it, even the quarterback doesn’t have to look to the sideline now,” Vandagriff said.

The quarterback will get the play call from offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan and will immediately tell the offensive line the play. From there, Vandagriff can assess the defense in his pre-snap routine and has time to get a full picture of the field in Kentucky’s no-huddle operation. But where a big bonus could come from is in the coach’s box when checks are made at the line of scrimmage.

“They can see leverage a little better. If this guy’s up or this guy’s back. Being able to just check really fast if it’s an unfavorable look for a certain play,” Vandagriff said about the coaches in the box. “Check, getting in and out of stuff really fast, is something we’ve been working on. We executed really well today.”

Now Vandagriff must work with Hamdan to find a happy medium in regards to what is enough pre-snap information and what is overload. But the helmet communication will help every offense operate with more efficiency and it could help some tempo offenses play even faster. For Kentucky, it means a faster operation that will give the offense time to reassess the play call in the pre-snap process.

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