According to a recent Tennessean article, Vanderbilt recently introduced technology from a company called Catapult Sports to track the movement and performance of its football players on the field. Thirteen Vanderbilt players had GPS devices inserted into their shoulder pads.
After a week of use during spring practice, Derek Mason described the results as “unbelievable.”
Florida State is credited with being one of the first major college football programs to use the technology. Vanderbilt joins SEC teams Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri and Texas A&M in partnering with Catapult Sports.
As Vanderbilt tests the devices during spring practice, the ultimate goal is to use the devices during games and during in-season practices in an effort to improve peak performance on Saturdays.
Over the coming years, it will be interesting to see if this type of technology becomes standard for all major football programs.
We saw last season other technological advances aimed at curbing concussions in football when LSU revealed mouth guards equipped with technology to monitor head impact during a football game or practice.
Charles Barkley might not like it, but at least some of the stats being gathered by new technology and devices are quite useful.
A graduate of the University of Florida and founder of Saturday Down South, Kevin is a college football enthusiast.
