Some USC Football Players Sporting Altered Helmet
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Spring practice is here for the USC football team, and some Trojans have been spotted with a prominent adjustment to their uniforms: a white stripe down the center of their helmets.
Doug Samuels of Football Scoop reports that defensive backs are sporting the tweaked helmets.
So is one of the most iconic uniforms in college football going to look different in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum this season?
Trojans’ New Helmet Design is a Coaching Tool
New defensive coordinator Gary Patterson explained that the stripes on the helmets aren’t part of the uniform.
Rather, they’re a way for he and other coaches to quickly tell where a defensive back is looking.
“It’s an eyes thing,” he told Samuels. “…It’s all about where you snap your head. When something happens in the secondary, and let’s say the number two receiver runs an out, now I’ve seen you snap your eyes to the outside, make a call telling the corner that he’s going to come off and I’m going to look up the outside receiver.”
Patterson’s 4-2-5 scheme requires excellent communication in the defensive backfield, and the stripe helps coaches keep players accountable.
“That’s where the white stripe comes in, not only on the field, but perhaps more importantly during film study,” he said. “We get a chance on film to see that helmet turn, and also you can see where they’ve been told and you can see them pointing because they’re also going to point when they talk, so that way on film…because we don’t have audio, so they can’t say ‘Well I said it,’ because we’ve got to see the hand signal.”
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