SOUTH BEND — The masking tape nameplates on the helmets are a memory.
So too perhaps are the extreme decibel levels spilling out of Brian Kelly’s mouth during practice.
Maybe.
However, the most striking development Wednesday of what could turn out to be a new era in Notre Dame spring football practices, undeniably, was the debut of HelmetCam.
“It’s just another teaching tool for us during this period,” offered Kelly, ND’s second-year head football coach and HelmetCam’s No. 1 fan at the moment.
Senior-to-be quarterback Dayne Crist, in his first formal practice since last October, was HelmetCam’s guinea pig Wednesday, as the Irish kicked off the first of the NCAA allotted 15 spring practice sessions.
It certainly caused more of a stir among the observers in attendance than did Crist’s large brace on his left knee, the souvenir from November surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon.
HelmetCam mounts on the side of the player’s helmet and theoretically allows the Irish coaches to track the eyes of the quarterback.
“If he’s staring down a particular receiver, you’re going to see that,” Kelly said. “If he’s moving his eyes through his progression, you’re going to see that.”
And if the quarterback mutters something to himself about how hard the coach is riding him, HelmetCam won’t pick that up.
“They were worried that it had audio on it,” Kelly acknowledged, with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t allow that to happen.”
In time, all four of ND’s quarterback candidates will take the new toy for a spin.
“Dayne didn’t even know it was there,” Kelly said. “He really didn’t feel it.”
The University of Colorado reportedly was the first school to use a form of HelmetCam. Kelly learned about it more extensively at the American Football Coaches Association convention in January.
“There were a couple of vendors that were talking about putting something together,” Kelly said. “And I said, ‘Listen, the only way (it’s going to work is) it’s got to be lightweight, it’s got to be portable. In other words, I don’t want to drill anything into the helmets.
“It’s got to be something we can move off their helmets and it’s easy to download. A company came up with it, and we’re giving it a run right now to see how it works.”
As far as how the quarterback wearing HelmetCam worked, Crist looked mobile, sharp and focused during the 30-minute media window on practice.
“He took a lot of reps today,” Kelly said, “and obviously he’s so much further along, just in the development end of where to put the football. He did a good job today. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be exciting, the process of finding who the starting quarterback is.”
Early achievers
It’s just one day, and a day without full contact no less, but junior tight end Tyler Eifert was among a handful of players who made a strong first impression Wednesday.
“He moves so well down the field,” Kelly said.
Also drawing praise were sophomore outside linebackers Danny Spond and Prince Shembo and senior cornerback Robert Blanton.
“He’s bigger, he’s physical,” Kelly said. “When he comes up on you, the ball’s going to come out. He can get it out.
“You get a sense to the wide field that there’s a more physical presence out there. Now (Darrin) Walls was a very good corner for us last year, but Blanton brings a little bit more to that in that you feel like if the ball gets thrown out into the flat, there’s going to be a big hit out there.”
On the mend
Sophomore Austin Collinsworth’s first day as a college safety got postponed Wednesday due to complications from a recent tonsillectomy.
“He was scheduled to be practicing today, but they had a complication,” Kelly said of the converted wide receiver. “It bled out again. Now he’s about seven to 10 days away from practicing.”
Moving on up?
Two of the most intriguing players in practice Wednesday were sophomore quarterback Andrew Hendrix and junior running back Cierre Wood.
In one of those QB drills, Notre Dame’s signal-callers throw to not receivers, but managers. And Hendrix was firing the ball so hard and so fast, the balls were careening off the managers’ hands.
“Andrew’s got such a strong arm,” Kelly said. “I think it stands out in everything he does. Again, we want him to throw it to our team, not the other team.”
As far as Wood, every movement was crisp, fluid. He set the tone and the bar in all the running back drills.
“Probably, singularly, confidence,” Kelly said of Wood’s rise both in winter workouts and on the field Wednesday. “He did it on the playing field (at the end of 2010). I think he’s carried that over.
“The biggest carryover is what he’s doing in class. He was not a strong student in his first year here, and he’s really changed. I guess that’s probably maturity and confidence coming together at the same time. but clearly we all knew he’s got a lot of talent. I think he’s going to be a very, very important part in what we do.”
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