'It's a cheat code': Lane Kiffin has a new viewpoint on in-helmet communications after Ole Miss utilizes them
Earlier this month the NCAA Football Rules Committee announced it proposed optional technology rules for the 2024 season, including coach-to-player communications through the helmet of one player on the field. Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin has a new viewpoint on it and acknowledged it provides an advantage possibly not considered.
The proposal must be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which will discuss the matter during a meeting next month. All Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams would be eligible to take up the option of using the new form of communication.
A green dot will be on the helmet of the player that has the one headset on the field. Similar to how quarterbacks communication in the huddle and between plays with coaches on the sideline. Communication between the coach and player would then be shutoff when either the ball is snapped or 15 seconds remaining on the play clock, whichever occurs first.
Plenty of moving parts for a team that chooses to take on the headset option, which Kiffin attributed to defensive coaches wanting the change to happen.
“I’ve been part of those conversations for a long time in SEC meetings,” Kiffin said on Tuesday. “They’re usually defensive head coach driven about, ‘Hey, we need to have our middle linebacker like the NFL have this, so then people can stop stealing our signals.'”
Whoever asked for the communications rule to evolve is irrelevant now. Ole Miss is currently using them in practice.
This is not the first time college programs could use the helmet communication. The NCAA allowed teams the option to use it during this past bowl season. Ole Miss did not do so then as Kiffin felt it would disrupt the system they’ve been using to get plays called to the field the entire regular season.
But, Kiffin is now embracing it in spring drills but he does not see how it benefits only the defensive side of the ball.
“It’s here and we utilize it practice and our first time getting used to it, Kiffin said. “I think differently, especially after using it. I think it’s really like having a cheat coach in Madden, offensively. I don’t know if they’ve really thought, defensively, of what exactly that means. I think the assumption is, ‘Oh, they just talk to the quarterback.’ There’s really more to it than that, especially the way we run our offense. Without giving too much into that, what it allows us to do with signals, with the whole process. I think it’s a cheat code, offensively.”
Kiffin does not hold back how he feels about changes to the rules, or the entire college football landscape. If there is an advantage he is going to acknowledge it and follow up by saying Ole Miss will gladly use that advantage until it changes.
Look for the Rebels to have mastered how to use the coach-to-player communication by the time the season kicks of in late August.
