Hurricanes hope new in-helmet communications withstand deafening crowd noise in sold-out Swamp

CORAL GABLES — When Francisco Mauigoa lines up against the Gators on Saturday, he will hear a voice speaking to him.

No, it won’t be his conscience speaking. It will be defensive coordinator Lance Guidry calling plays through a helmet communication system, which is now permitted under NCAA rules.

“I think it’s a good addition to the game of football,” Mauigoa said. “Communication is a key factor of football, and being able to have that in our helmets helps us a lot. It helps us communicate a lot better, get the plays right and it helps us get on the same page, too.”

Previously, coaches had to signal play calls from the sidelines to players on the field. Now one player on the field — denoted by a green dot on his helmet — can have an in-helmet communication device so a coach can speak to him. The communication system will be turned off with 15 seconds on the play clock or when the ball is snapped, whichever comes first. The change in rules comes in the wake of the Michigan Wolverines sign-stealing scandal , when Connor Stalions, a staff member, allegedly used electronics to steal opposing teams’ signs before Michigan was scheduled to face them.

Naturally, quarterback Cam Ward will get the green dot on offense. Guidry said linebackers will get it on defense.

“We’re a safety-driven defense, but you have to get the calls to the defensive linemen,” Guidry said. “You can’t give the calls to just the secondary guy and (have him) be able to relay it. So it’ll go through backers, and that’s kind of the way we’ll do it. We’ll still do communications other ways.”

The Hurricanes have been making sure to use the in-helmet communications during practice so players will be used to it by kickoff at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“Every practice we try to do it just like gameday to make sure the walkie-talkie goes off at 15 seconds,” Mauigoa said. “And for me, I’ve just got to get the calls to the D-line and get everybody on the same page.”

With around 90,000 people expected at Gainesville’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday (and only about 4,000 of those tickets allotted to UM ), the stadium will be rocking. So the Hurricanes have been doing their best to replicate the crowd noise. They have been working on multiple ways to call plays in case Ward cannot hear the call in his helmet.

“The noise level itself, nowadays you’ve got to simulate that in practice,” coach Mario Cristobal said. “… This year we have the player-to-coach communication devices. If you watched games this weekend, you see a lot of guys squeezing their helmets, trying to get clear communication because that certainly cant be counted on. So what happens next is everything else has to kick in.”

Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said he is in favor of the new helmet communication systems, and he has talked to NFL coaches to get a better idea of how the system works in games.

“The worry is: Does it cut out? How consistent is it?” Dawson said. “We have, obviously, things in place if it does. But I don’t know until I go through a game. The feedback I’ve gotten is it’s pretty consistent, but it does cut out at times. That’s what I would anticipate, but again, we’re kind of in uncharted territory with that, especially at our level.

“When we go through a game, there’s going to be some adjustments, no different than any Game 1. But this one is a little different because there is some factors involved that are different than other years.”