'Cheat Code!' Can In-Helmet Communication Benefit Ole Miss in 2024?

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin sees some potential benefit for his team in new helmet technology this season.

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin / Ole Miss Athletics

In many ways, college football is becoming more and more like the NFL, and the latest of these innovations has come in the form of in-helmet communication between coaches and players.

Coaches are now able to talk with an offensive and defensive player on the field until the 15-second mark on the play clock or the ball is snapped. The Ole Miss Rebels offense has always moved fast under head coach Lane Kiffin, so could this in-helmet technology make that unit even better than before?

According to Kiffin himself, it's possible, but the benefits might cancel one another out on opposing sides of the ball.

"I think it's very different," Kiffin said on Monday. "I think that just listening, there's a major impact, but it's probably neutralized because both sides have it. The player with it--which would be the quarterback or middle linebacker, for most people--whoever that player is, it truly is like a cheat code.

"You're getting talked to, reminded of everything. It is a game-changer, but I don't know that you're going to notice as much because I don't know that it's not kind of neutralized."

That could be a huge advantage for the Rebels who oftentimes snap the ball before the 15-second mark anyway. On defense, this communication could make for an easier transition to a new scheme for many new faces on that side of the ball.

"Up to that point, which for us is the majority of plays offensively, you can talk the whole time," Kiffin said. "Quarterbacks can play younger now because systems are faster and not as much verbiage as the old-school ways. I think this goes to another level because you can tell the guy what to do every time."

Kiffin believes that the offensive (Charlie Weis Jr.) and defensive (Pete Golding) coordinators will handle most of this direct in-game communication so that players aren't overloaded with a lot of information at one time, but he does have the ability to interject, should he choose. For now, however, this is only speculation, but the high-flying Rebels offense and rebuilt defense could seem a bit more efficient in a critical 2024 campaign thanks to these technological advances.