Notre Dame employs video game system to help quarterbacks

Chances are if you’re a fan of college football and you’re around my age you’ve spent more than a few hours playing EA Sports’ NCAA Football on your PlayStation or XBox. I’m certainly guilty of that “crime,” if you will.

Turns out, not only are nerds like me using the video game to have fun and live out the dreams of chasing a Heisman trophy and National Title, but so are the actual athletes themselves.

*If you’ve read this story before, well, it’s because I’ve written it before. If you go to http://web.coachbutchjones.com/Dev/ and click on the “Inside Football” tab and the EA Sports menu, you’ll be able to see how UC’s quarterbacks have been using the system since Brian Kelly was the head man at UC.

Mark Schlabach of ESPN sat down and watched Kelly and his quarterbacks during a spring practice. Not only does Notre Dame employ the EA Sports Play Action Simulator, developed by EA and XOS Digital, the company that supplies film editing equipment to teams like Notre Dame and Cincinnati, but they also use new “helmet cams” mounted on the quarterback’s helmet so Kelly can break down exactly what each of his signal callers sees on each play.

Yeah, it’s like Madden 64, only, probably a whole heck of a lot better.

I am very familiar with the EA Sports Play Action Simulator, something that we used during the 2009 season where UC ran the table and went 12-0, clinching a second consecutive Big East title and a berth in the Sugar Bowl.

“It’s a good tool to have the night before a game,” Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees told Schlabach. “It’s a good thing to use as a refresher.”

Opponents’ defensive schemes can be programmed into the simulator and, in this case, the Notre Dame offense is installed in the game as well. Before each play, quarterbacks are quizzed on what their pre-snap reads are.

For example, Schlabach noted this instance, which took place in the Notre Dame hotel the night before their Sun Bowl victory over Miami (FL).

“Before taking a snap on a play called “North Squeeze 63 Dolphin,” Rees was asked to identify Miami's pass coverage. His options were: Cover 4, Tampa 2 or 2 Man. After correctly identifying the coverage, Rees had to throw to the correct receiver,” Schlabach noted.

One of the most fun parts about the simulator was the fact that it was in our hands to set up. The UC video staff became very proficient at setting up the games and making sure they worked before guys like Tony Pike, Zach Collaros and Chazz Anderson came into the quarterback meeting room to try it out.

It was fun. Just ask the guys I work with.

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Spring football is winding down in Cincinnati, and the Fifth annual Bearcat Bowl will take place on Saturday. It should be a fun night, so come on out to Nippert Stadium and watch the 2011 Bearcats in action.

Notre Dame bans hydraulic lifts from practices

Notre Dame announced Tuesday that hydraulic lifts, such as the one 20-year-old Declan Sullivan was filming practice from on October 27 when he tragically fell to his death, have been banned by the school.

Instead, the school announced that it will install remote control cameras mounted on 50-foot poles and controlled from a room inside the Notre Dame Athletic Complex. The camera system was designed by XOS Digital—the company that supplies Notre Dame with editing and technical equipment.

Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown told the AP that the call was made to XOS in November. “We went to XOS last November and said, ‘Is there any way to eliminate the use of hydraulic lifts?’” he said.

The boxes holding the cameras will be equipped to protect the cameras from rain and wind, and will also have a wiper to clear the lens. The boxes will also be outfitted with the green shamrock logo with Sullivan’s initials inside it—the same logo the Notre Dame team wore on their helmets last season to honor the video worker.

When Notre Dame starts spring practice on March 23rd, the new camera systems will be in place. Works began drilling holes for the camera poles on Tuesday.

The Indiana Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA) is still investigating what caused the lift to fall on the blustery day in late October where wind gusts were over 50 mph.

This new development is an interesting new twist into the current job I hold, and I have mixed feelings about it.

Coaches are control freaks, and if they don’t get their film on time they are not happy campers. The only people to get that done are people like myself and my co-workers who sit at computers and punch keys to cut the film. It’s quick and efficient.

While I know nothing of the new XOS system, I have worked closely with XOS products over the years (including the three-year reign of Brian Kelly at UC) and they are top-of-the-line products. I’m interested to find out more about how these fiber optic cable camera system works.

On one hand, I’m excited to see Notre Dame step up and make a stand on worker safety, but on the other hand, I worry. How many schools will see these systems as a waste of money?

‘Throw a kid up there, it can’t happen to us,’ they may think. They are wrong.

While many schools will still rely on hydraulic lifts to film practice, at least Notre Dame has made a stance trying to prevent tragedies like Declan Sullivan’s death from occurring to them. It’s a step in the right direction, and I applaud the move by the Irish.
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For more on the Sullivan story from ESPN and the AP, click this link: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6192497

For one of the best stories I’ve ever seen written in my life, check out Ryan McGee’s “Up in the Wind” story from last year: http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/blog?name=mcgee_ncf_ryan&month=october-2010&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncf%2fblog%3fname%3dmcgee_ncf_ryan%26month%3doctober-2010

If you don’t understand our job, you will after you read McGee’s article.