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If you believe the battle for second place in Ontario university football will involve serious head games, you’re right.
The Western Mustangs face their old friends – the Circelli family and the Windsor Lancers – in their regular-season finale Saturday, 1 p.m. at Western Alumni Stadium.
Western coach Greg Marshall expects to have his team lean a little more on the wireless communication system approved for use in the conference starting this fall.
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“We may need the headsets a little more this week,” he said. “Windsor is also familiar with some of our defensive signals and we might have to change some of them. Our offence has evolved with (offensive co-ordinator) Gaetan Richard here, so we’ve added things and changed some over the years.
“Now, we’re not relying on signalling the plays in (from the sideline) as much. We can call them in.”
Marshall was wary of sign-stealing long before the University of Michigan Wolverines became the subject of that debate en route to their national football championship last year. An NCAA rules panel approved wireless communication with players on the field through their helmets this season, too.
Windsor coach Jean-Paul Circelli, who guided the Mustangs offensive line before joining the Lancers with his father Mike and brother Joe five years ago, lived it first-hand with his longtime boss.
“I know when I coached with Greg, that was something we were mindful of with the number of coaches who would leave Western and go to other programs,” he said.
“There’s definitely been a learning curve with the headsets. It helps that you probably don’t have to change as many signals, but then you ask how much information do you want to give your quarterback or linebacker or free safety and not cripple them right before the play?
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“It’s a learning experience not just for the coaches, but the players, too.”
Under the new rule, each team is responsible for providing its own communication system for each game, home or away. Each helmet used for that purpose must carry a neon green sticker provided by U Sports.
Only one player on the field from each team is permitted to have communication from the bench or booth. Western has outfitted the helmets of quarterback Evan Hillock, short-yardage signal-caller Jerome Rancourt and free safety Jackson Findlay.
Marshall has got used to the technology in a hurry.
“We’ve seen some teams on the sideline with eyes on our signaller and writing down the signals,” he said. “It’s not everybody. The pros have had headsets for a while and if you’re huddling, it’s OK. If you’re a no-huddle team, it doesn’t help much at all. You still have to signal it in from the sidelines.
“We’ll work in practice to make sure we have a couple of live signallers going so (the opposition) doesn’t know which one is live at the time.”
There’s a lot on the line for the Mustangs (6-1) and the Lancers (5-2), so every advantage helps. The new tech does add one more worry to a coach’s game day preparation, though.
What do you do if the headset stops working? You need to scramble for a backup.
“We’ve had no technical issues so far,” J-P Circelli said. “Some people have. It depends on the brand and some are more expensive than others. You worry about frequency, especially with the different Wi-Fi channels, IT and passwords at other schools.
“Everyone is in their own situation with the type of communication they have.”
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