A recent report is raising concerns about the security of in-game helmet communications among Power 4 college football teams.
Max Olson of ESPN reported that “coach-to-player in-game communications during Power 4 college football games this season have been occurring on unencrypted frequencies,” meaning the communications could have been interrupted by anyone.
Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt raised the issue during a call with the other Big 12 ADs on Tuesday. As a result, the conference instructed its 10 teams playing in Week 10 to send their helmet communication devices back to the manufacturer.
GSC, who provides the comms for all Power 4 teams, is offering a firmware update that will provide encryption.
SEC sent a memo today alerting schools that they could, if they wanted, send their equipment to the helmet comms company’s headquarters in Atlanta to get them affixed with a firmware patch. League has reported no significant security issues with the equipment from coaches. https://t.co/YkVoBg8p9b
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 30, 2024
The SEC also released a statement on the issue. The conference mentioned their awareness of the issue, and that they have not been made aware of any in-game communications being compromised.
SEC statement about this issue pic.twitter.com/kPWmGVBZfc
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 30, 2024
The devices are expected to be patched and sent back to teams in time for Saturday’s games.
While the SEC mentioned no games were affected, Hocutt is not sure that his team’s games weren’t. The AD requested a report from the Big 12 on recent games against TCU and Baylor.
“We’ve got to have a game whose integrity is not questionable in any way on a Saturday afternoon,” Hocutt told ESPN. “We owe it to the 120 young men on our football team to ensure that happens, that it’s a game of fair competition and the same set of rules are enforced.”
2024 is the first season in which in-game helmet communications are permitted at the FBS level.
Bryce Lazenby covers college football for Saturday Down South. A Nashville native, his previous stops include FanSided, Dimers, and The Leaf-Chronicle.
