Among the new changes proposed by the NCAA Football Rules Committee is one that will allow coach-to-player communications through the helmet to one player on the field

The recommendation still has to be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel set to meet on April 18. However, schools like Georgia are already getting a jump on becoming accustomed to using them this fall.

Kirby Smart said his Bulldogs have used similar technology before.

“It’s a lot of talk about nothing for me. We've used helmet communication before, whether it's talking to our players at practice, having earphones and walkthroughs and things,” Smart said. “But we are going to get to experiment with that. We have not yet. But we haven't practiced yet.”

According to a March 1 press release from the NCAA, the player with the device would be identified by having a green dot on the back midline of the player’s helmet.

The actual communication from the coach to the player would be turned off with 15 seconds remaining on the play clock or when the ball is snapped, whichever comes first.

Georgia quarterback Carson Beck said the new technology has his interest piqued.

“I’m really interested to see how that’s going to change. We’re really a no-huddle offense because we don’t huddle much. How does that change in the communications to the wide receivers and the offensive line? Are we still going to have to signal all that type of stuff?” Beck said. “Hopefully, it’s just me and (Mike) Bobo because I don’t need to hear everyone else yelling and chirping in my ear while I’m trying to listen to the play. But yeah, I am really interested to see how that’s going to change offenses.”

To get a better idea of how to use the device, Smart said Georgia will meet with several NFL teams on how they use the technology, as well as what information is passed to the player.

“You just don’t want to overload them with information,” said Smart, who said the SEC will distribute the new technology to its 16 teams.

“As I understand it, each SEC team would have three helmet devices they could use in practice. It's a supply chain issue. Nothing like this school has 10, this school has two,” Smart said. “There’s a lot of liability involved in touching the helmets and putting pieces in, so they're going to distribute those equally among the conference.”

Per Smart, each school will receive three such helmets.

“We would use them in practice. You have until 15 seconds left on the play clock to talk to them. We have plenty of time to implement that,” Smart said. “We'll use some of that in walk-through, but not the actual helmet because you can't have a helmet in a walk-through. We're going to find ways to simulate it, try to get used it, and get the players accustomed to it.”