Idk what the big deal is. I assume every program above middle school does this.
There is one thing about this debate that some don’t seem to understand.
who knew? Rogue assistant? Everybody does it? Etc. good debates I suppose.
what is being missed is- the incredible degree to which this elaborate knowledge of signs gave a competitive advantage. Let me explain
And going into this explanation- reminding everyone of what you already know-
-today’s CFB offenses (and NFL) are predicated on understanding what the defensive alignment an movements are, and creating mismatches, or “ outnumbered areas of the field, and most often, run/pass conflict for the defense.
-conversely, defenses are based on disguising their actual alignments and assignments.
That’s it. This is why in most 3rd and 10 situations you see so many sacks— the defense does not have to worry about a run, they can charge the QB without fear. Same with a 3rd and 1, They can stack the box with numbers, knowing statistically the odds of a run are extremely high.
So, let’s use a real example of a play call:
2-6
Mountain
2 Rip
6 turtle
Y American
Z home
taco.
The 2-6 is original formation for a RB and Slot player
Mountain is the Formation for the offensive line and tight end
Rip is the motion for the slot
turtle is the RB from QB’s Left side to his right
Y American is a pass route (Flag lol)
X Home is a pass route ( post )
Taco is the snap count. ( on 3)
All these shifts, in motions -are designed to give the QB a better idea of what the defense is running. Are they in man? The motion will tell them that. Is a LB blitzing? The shift MIGHT tell them that.
Now- let’s use the most common way to signal that in. You can see- the signals are complex and very elaborate. It takes months for the players to actually learn the signals. In some cases, many players don’t actually ever learn them, but rely on another player on the field to communicate them.
What most teams will do to signal the play is to have three different signal. People sending the signals in with arm and hand motions. Only the players know which of the three signal errors is the hot read. It could be based on what down it is so signal. Caller number one is the read on first down and signal collar to on second down. Or it could be something as simple as signal caller two is the hot read during the second quarter. Another way they might do it is which of the signal collars is standing with his feet close together.
When a coach wants to change things up to make it harder for their signs to be stolen, there’s very little they can do in the short term with the actual play calls, so they generally tweak how and who the heart read signal caller is.
This is why I agree that sign stealing during a game is common, and everybody tries to do It. It just isn’t all that helpful. By the time you figure out who the “hot” signal caller is- if you do at all- the game is half over, and even then you still don’t know what the signals mean.
Now- if you video record the signals ahead of time- and subsequent play that follows, and you can watch the video over and over- hitting the rewind option repeatedly- for weeks, you can easily figure out what a team is doing to choose their “ hot” signal caller, but more importantly it would be easy to know exactly what the signals mean.
Now you know run or pass so you no longer have to worry about run/ pass conflict. You know the routes the receivers are going to run, and you even know the shifts and motions. And/ and this is huge- you know the snap count!!
And run that all in reverse as an offensive coordinator- who knows the defensive calls of the other team.
I would guesstimate that for two relatively even matched teams- if one team truly know just a high % of the opponent signals, at this level, the opponent has very little chance of winning.
So that part of this debate ( that this sustained elaborate video taping ahead of time) doesn’t give an advantage. Based on my playing experience, coaching experience and just common sense,
it is a game changer.
