For really no other good reason other than looking for ways to grow and get better, I have always wondered if any program out there did recordings of their in-game communications.
It has just always seemed strange to me that we film practices and games, but then rely on memory to go back through our thought processes and communications in key moments of games, and recording those moments to look back on seems like something that someone much smarter than me would have thought to do at some point.
Well that brings me to one of the most impressive game recaps I've come across in my over decade with FootballScoop.
Notre Dame rolled out this look of their clutch final drive of the game against Duke and it includes actual headset audio (from CoachComm's XSystem) among the coaching staff synced up to the game's biggest moments.
The conversations among the offensive staff of Gerad Parker, Gino Guidugli, and Chansi Stuckey as well as head coach Marcus Freeman and special teams coordinator Marty Biagi, are incredible to hear as the drive progresses, as they look to get in field goal range.
At one point in the drive, just before Sam Hartman's 4th and 16 scramble for a first down to extend the drive, Parker leans on his offensive assistants about their best zone throw, to which Stuckey confirms it's a scheme designed for receiver Rico Flores.
Parker asks Freeman after that big conversion by Hartman if they should "try to go, or hand it" off, and Freeman and Guidugli both recommended handing it off. That decision ends up being the run that broke free for a touchdown to push the score to 19-14.
As the Irish prepare to go for two, Parker prompts Guidugli to remind the running back to cheat to the edge, and that helps Rico Flores score on the play they talked about as a staff earlier that drive.
This is awesome stuff.
Let’s go win the game#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/oY2ID2PqhQ
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 3, 2023