Team Tests Out New Technology at Scrimmage

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The second scrimmage of fall camp was slow to get going. It wasn't the pace of play on the turf of Canvas Stadium, nor a lack of energy.

It was learning technology new to college football this season. The first two drives led to timeouts as both the offense and defense went to the sidelines to dissect what had transpired via replay technology relayed to Microsoft Surface Pro tablets.

Each position coach has one, and they sat with their groups to go over looks on the series of plays, down by down. They could rush through them all, or they could go over and over a certain play. On the sideline, Colorado State coach Jay Norvell worked with quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi as they peered into what was called, what the defense showed and how it came together.

And Norvell, who is rumored to be a bit slow when it comes to the learning of technology, was having a blast.

"Man, you can go through a lot of plays in a short amount of time," he said.

You know it's a big day in camp when John Sullivan, the Mountain West's associate commissioner for football shows up practice in the middle of the week. He has been overseeing the process of the conference gaining the technology and helping schools get the equipment and training they need.

DVSports Software is the company overseeing the technology in nine of the 10 conferences, the SEC being the lone outlier. Each team will have 18 tablets available to use on gameday (Sullivan added there are two backup tablets available for each sideline in case there are issues), 11 of them being in use on the field, the other seven in the box.

Marcus Patton, CSU's cornerbacks coach, was using one up in the booth, adding he's excited about what it can bring to in-game adjustments.

"Today was the first day we got a chance to work with the tablets. It's really good technology," Norvell said. "High schools have been using it for the last few years, and we haven't been able to. We'd go to a high school game, and they have tablets and big TV screens on the sidelines, and we can't use it. We got a chance to use that today. You get through a lot of looks and a lot of plays in a short amount of time. We'll get another chance Saturday to use those, and we'll get another chance in our mock game a week from Saturday to go through all the game-day technology."

Brett Cumnock, the assistant director of player personnel, gave a quick tutorial on how they'll be used. There will be a special box on the sideline for them to constantly be charged, and Cumnock said they have to be connected to power in order to receive the clips, all of which are supplied by the conference's replay feed onsite. He will be in charge of getting the tablets to the defensive and special teams coaches, with Grey Bechok, the operations assistant, will take care of the offensive staff.

Cumnock called up one particular play, revealing a host of buttons on the screen, allowing coaches to fast forward or rewind at different speeds through a particular play or series of plays. There are also three different camera angles available.

In addition, plays can be tagged immediately for situations, such as scoring, penalties or even downs, making it easier for a coach to find a particular play. On the home screen, a coach can call up a certain series, then go to a particular play.

The players liked the introduction, too, as going over plays led to a back and forth over what each of them witnessed and viable alternative reactions to increase results.

Norvell is intrigued, which is quite the endorsement. What he particularly likes is the information is instant and precise.

"A lot of times we had to rely on information from the box," he said. "Hey, it was a nine-technique, or it was a seven or a three, or the safety was down, or he wasn't down, or you had to rely on a player to tell you what he saw, and sometimes it's accurate, sometimes it's not. This just really helps us cut to the chase and really see what happens on a play so we can coach it and make adjustments."

For the Rams, it was worth it to be a bit slow on a Wednesday to be able to be quicker on Saturdays during the season.

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