West Virginia, along with the other Big 12 Conference teams, will have access to Microsoft Tablets on the sidelines this coming season.
The tablets will be available for usage on the sideline and in the coaching booth, allowing players and coaches access to video review in-game. It was a change made in the off-season to open the door to use the tablets on the sidelines for the first time.
Teams can have up to 18 active tablets for use in the coaching booth, sideline, and locker room. Tablets cannot be connected to other devices to project larger additional images and cannot include analytics, data or data access capability or other communication access. All team personnel will be allowed to view the tablets during the game.
It’s something that will take some adjusting given how new it is but fortunately, many of the current players have experience with it.
That’s because many players at the high school level were already using that technology with video.
“We’ve got a bunch. Over the last five years a ton of high school programs are using it,” head coach Neal Brown said. “There are several high schools in West Virginia using it.”
Josiah Trotter, a redshirt freshman linebacker, was already used to it after his playing days at St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia. That has prepared him for doing it at the college level.
“Once I got to college, it was kind of weird, because in high school we’re used to having tablets on the sideline,” Trotter said. “Now that we have them, I’m kind of used to it already. So, I kind of already know what to look for and then how to coach myself up if I see something on the tablets.”
Unlike the NFL, teams aren’t limited to just using still images and the Mountaineers were able to use the technology in their bowl game although they weren’t available to see them until they were on site. So when Brown or coaches on the staff talk to people about how to use the technology the main focus has been either with high school coaches or those from the United Football League.
“Really the conversations where I’ve asked how do you do this, what are you doing? It’s been with the people in the UFL because they’ve had the video. Anybody that’s coached in the UFL and then anybody at the high school level,” Brown said.
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