Jonathan Smith believes helmet communication is ‘beneficial’ for offense

Teams are adjusting to a new change for the 2024 season, the ability to use helmet communication. It’s a change that new Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith believes is beneficial for the offense.

Amid his first spring practice at Michigan State, Smith met with reporters where he explained the process of implementing helmet communications and that it seems to be a good thing for the offense so far.

“I think they’ve liked it,” Jonathan Smith said. “I know [Brian] Lindgren‘s liked it a lot to be able to communicate there and a lot of calls and things. We haven’t done a ton of it on the defensive side. We’re going to try to get that going the next couple of weeks, but it’s beneficial.”

Previously, college football didn’t allow helmet communications between coaches and a player on the field, the same way that NFL teams can communicate with a player. For a long time, it was a change that was delayed thanks to the financial discrepancy between the big brands in college football and smaller brands. However, following the Michigan sign-stealing scandal in 2023, there was a renewed push to bring helmet communication to college football.

The rule allows for player to coach communication with one player on the field at a given time. In the case of offenses, that will be the quarterback. The defense will also get its own player to communicate with. Communication is going to be turned off at the snap of with 15 seconds left on the play clock, depending on what comes first.

Because only one player can communicate with coaches, there still needs to be a way to communicate the play to the entire offense, which will make it interesting to see how teams choose to do that, either using signs or going into a huddle.

For Jonathan Smith, it’s a fairly large change in how an offense is run that he needs to adjust to while also adjusting to a new environment at Michigan State. However, given his background as an offensive coach and a former quarterback, it’s easy to see why he considers this to be a beneficial change.

Michigan State is coming off a frustrating 4-8 season that saw head coach Mel Tucker fired amid a scandal. That team struggled on offense, finishing 131st in scoring offense after scoring just 15.9 points per game. The hope is that Smith, and potentially these rule changes, can help to kick start the offense in 2024.