As expected, Nick Saban once again is the voice of reason when it comes to the sport of major college football. The longtime head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide knows exactly what the sport needs to do to avoid scandals like the one plaguing the Michigan Wolverines right now. Sign stealing is legal, in-game. Michigan seems to have crossed the line with advanced scouting, and other things...
While making his now weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show Thursday, Saban gave us the skinny on how prevalent sign stealing was at the professional level, what the NFL did to rectify this pervasive problem and what college football needs to do to fix this. It is pretty simple, aight. Saban says that the league opted to go with in-helmet speakers inside one player's helmet for every down.
Yes, the green dot approach has made sign stealing pretty much a non-issue professionally. While the pros can do advanced scouting, it is a competitive disadvantage to some programs that cannot afford to send guys to games featuring opponents that are coming up on the schedule. However, the green dot will prevent teams like Michigan from reading the other team's boards and being one step ahead.
Here is exactly what Saban had to say about sign stealing and what college football can do about it.
Of course, he is well aware that not all levels of college football can afford to do this, which is an issue.
Nick Saban has the ideal solution to stop sign stealing in college football
For those who do not follow along with the pro game, the green dot on a player's helmet signifies that he has a speaker inside of it. The quarterback always has one to hear the play call from either the offensive coordinator or head coach. On defense, that player is usually a middle linebacker, a safety or someone who sees the entire field in front of him. Again, this player is well-known by all involved.
To me, I think every Power Five program, as well as Notre Dame, can afford to have an in-speaker system inside the helmets of said players. I would also expect that most, if not all, Group of Five programs can afford to have this set up. The lower levels of the sport may not have the financial resources available to do something like this, but there is enough money in the FBS to pull this off.
No matter what happens to Michigan in this evolving scandal, Saban may have a point in all this. College football may need to seriously consider going with the green dot approach and have one player on the field wearing a helmet with a speaker in it. Will it be expensive? I guess, but it would bring a swift end to teams like Michigan spending a fortune to do in-game scouting and lose to TCU.
Once Saban decides he is done coaching, look for him to join McAfee on the College GameDay crew.
