Have you heard? Texas Longhorns spend weeks practicing with new in-game helmet radios

Check, check, 1-2-3. Can you hear me now? Sideline to Quinn? Come in, Quinn?

Saturday’s season opener against Colorado State marks the first time the Texas Longhorns will use in-helmet radio communications, as now allowed by NCAA rules and just like NFL teams do every Sunday.

Obviously, quarterback Quinn Ewers — all quarterbacks, really — will be using the earpieces in their helmets so coaches can relay offensive play-calls. But what about the defense?

Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski said they were training multiple players to use the earpiece, because it’s unclear who might be on the field at any given time. Sarkisian has said it will likely be based on matchups and could change week to week.

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“It’s been pretty useful, because you don’t have to look to the sideline, and you can kind of see what’s going on in front of you with the formations and everything,” linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. said Monday.

Sarkisian has advocated for helmet radio communication for years. The issue took on new importance last fall after the Michigan sign stealing controversy engulfed college football. The NCAA gave formal approval for helmet radios in April, and the Longhorns started testing the equipment during spring practice.

“I think it’s going to be a key part in ID-ing offensive formations,” defensive back Michael Taaffe said. “What the earpiece really helps is one of the coaches can say, hey, No. 1’s got a tight split to the boundary, alert the over now we can push the safeties. … I think a coach can see it better from an eagle eye view sometimes from the point of view that we have.”

Sarkisian has stressed that it’s not the total equalizer like it may sound. Offenses can run up-tempo, and there may be little time for coaches to talk with the on-field defender about where to line up and what to call.

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“I also think there’s a real challenge defensively because just to think that one player on defense has a headset in, you still have to get that call to all 11 players on the field,” Sarkisian said at SEC media days. “And if a team’s going with tempo, that’s going to be difficult to do.”

Just because a coach can talk directly into a quarterback’s ear doesn’t mean it will generate success. Quarterbacks must still think with 100,000 people going wild, direct teammate traffic, know the down and distance, call the play and execute.

It’s not easy to talk in the huddle and listen to someone else at the same time, either. It takes practice. The quarterbacks that can do it at a high level already have an advantage when moving to the NFL.

That should make NFL general managers’ ears perk up, shall we say.

“Yes, I can talk to the quarterback, but how do I get the receivers in alignment and everybody still knowing those plays?,” Sarkisian said. “For a team like us, who is very multiple, multiple personnel groupings, formations, motion shifts, sometimes we go fast, sometimes we huddle, sometimes we’re somewhere in between.”