From WVUA23 Sports Reporter Tommy Camp:
Three weeks before the home opener against Western Kentucky, Alabama held its first scrimmage of the fall. Although the scrimmage was closed to the media, we had the opportunity to hear Coach DeBoer share his thoughts after practice Saturday morning.
DeBoer, who hasn’t been to the stadium since A-Day, was happy to be “around his environment.” DeBoer says the team ran about 102 plays, with the first and second teams getting about 40 plays each and the third team getting the rest.
In July, football’s rules committee approved a proposal that would allow Division I teams to use helmet-to-sideline communication, a rule that has been in place in the NFL for some time. One player on either side of the ball will be allowed to communicate with the sideline while his team is on the field. That player will be identified with a green dot on his helmet.
The rules committee has been discussing this implementation for several years, but held off because not all teams could adequately pay for the technology. During last year’s bowl season, teams were allowed to use this form of communication, but only if both sides agreed to it. This only applied to non-CFP bowl games, not Alabama’s College Football Playoff semifinal against Michigan in the Rose Bowl.
During practice this week, the team has been implementing the new helmet communication system and, with the help of the referees, has been focusing on perfecting the timing element as it is turned off 15 seconds before the end of the game.
Alabama also took the opportunity today to use other technology elements from the NFL, such as iPads for film review on the sidelines and in the coaches’ booth. The Crimson Tide took two six-minute breaks to review film on the tablets and simulate how they will use this element in the regular season.
“We took two breaks of about six minutes just to get to the sideline and understand what that looks like. Right now, we can’t really practice that in our complex during normal practice. So by taking advantage of that and understanding what it brings, we can take advantage of the learning opportunities between drives. But we also have to learn not to get so caught up in the mistakes we see there that they affect our mindset,” DeBoer said.
