Penn State ready to use helmet communication despite hiccup to new rule

Even when the NCAA does something that feels like a step in the right direction, there’s always a catch. That’s the case with the decision this offseason to implement radio communication to helmets for football players this upcoming season. Just like in the NFL, quarterbacks and linebackers will have the ability to hear direct communication with their coordinators and play-callers. It’s a move that brings college football into the 20th century, let alone the 21st century. But as always, there’s a catch. Has Penn State been able to experiment with giving the helmet to different defensive players to iron out sub-package decisions? 

“No,” head coach James Franklin said. “Because what happened is this rule got changed so late, that the company couldn’t really get it out to all the schools in the country. They can only get out three [in-helmet transponders]. So you got to decide how you’re using those three.”

Not three helmets per side of the football, three helmets total. 

“So we were doing two quarterbacks and one guy on defense.” 

That’s right, the billion-dollar business of college football is sharing helmets. 

Franklin explains how they might use helmets in the future 

Admittedly, the crumbs here are sparse, but Franklin explained a team’s traditional plan of dispersing the helmets. 

“Typically a middle linebacker, one day it’s Kobe [King] and the next day it’s [Tyler] Elsdon. So it’s not ideal. We’re able to get some work at it right now. But it’s not like we can treat it game-like where all three of your [middle linebackers] have it, all three of your quarterbacks have, or so on and so forth.”

Without getting too speculative here, this virtually locks King into every Penn State defensive package this upcoming year. While that’s typically the case, last season Curtis Jacobs and Abdul Carter manned he middle linebacker spot in certain third-down situations. The team can still do that, but likey without the new technology. 

Speaking of King, he’s excited to use the new helmets. He also explained that they might not be necessary each week anyway.

“I think it’s good for now and for the future,” King said. You know, with tempo and different types of huddles. So you might not use it all the time, but it’s good. Certainly, it’s loud. I can hear it. And it’s kind of sweet to me just to get the call like I’m in the NFL already.”

Does this change much for Penn State?

While Franklin seems happy with the change, there are years of back-logged frustration about implementing technology into the college game. The Penn State leader also doesn’t see this is a solution to sign stealing. 

“I think the other thing that is an interesting thing is, this thing got pushed because of the whole sign stealing. And, for the offenses that are no huddle, it doesn’t change them at all. Because, you still got to get the information to the wide receivers. How do you do that? You signal. So it doesn’t really solve that issue.”

But overall, he’s willing to take a win where he can get it. 

“Now, do I think we should have had helmet communication the whole time? Yes. Do I think we should have been able to have tablets? We go to high school games, they got TVs on the sideline, and we can’t have a tablet.’

“So I think they’re good changes. But, I don’t know if they necessarily are solutions to some of the challenges that have been out there that actually got the rule passed.”