Appearing during his regularly scheduled appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" each Thursday, Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban provided an answer for how to stop all things sign stealing—install communication software into the helmets.
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"I don't know enough about the Michigan investigation to really comment on the situation..
We would solve a lot of problems in College Football if we had a microphone in the helmet and there's no reason why we can't do that"
Coach Saban #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/yeV6ntDYj1
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 26, 2023
When asked about his impression of the situation going on with Michigan, Saban, a seven-time College Football National Champion, said, "I don't know enough about the Michigan investigation to really comment on the situation.. We would solve a lot of problems in College Football if we had a microphone in the helmet and there's no reason why we can't do that."
For context, and to make a long story short, the Wolverines are accused of having a staffer, Connor Stalions, attending opponent teams games and doing in-person scouting in an attempt to decipher their signals from the sideline.
This isn't a novel concept. Of course, in the NFL, there are microphones inside the helmets, which allows the quarterback and a defensive player to receive calls. This has been the case for decades now. Saban elaborated more on his thoughts.
"Then they come with the microphone in the helmet, whatever they call it and there was no sign stealing, there was no signs, because there was communication," Saban said. "Which I think we would solve a lot of those problems if we would do the same thing in college football. There's no reason not to do that. There's no reason that you just can't tell the quarterback what the play is rather than having signs and signals and three people signaling and all this stuff to try to get the play. Which is more difficult for the players, incidentally, because they all gotta get the sign because everyone's going no-huddle."
"And for the defensive players who are going against a fastball team, all 11 guys gotta know the signals, all 11 guys gotta know the signs because they're going fast and you can't communicate it rather than just being able to tell somebody this is the call."
Saban is the latest high-profile coach to be asked about the situation. Other college football coaches like Kirby Smart and Deion Sanders have also been asked, and now Saban joins that group.
The Crimson Tide take on No. 15 LSU at home in Week 10 of the college football season on Saturday, November 4, at 7:45 p.m.
