I talked to CU quarterbacks Tyler Hansen and Cody Hawkins recently about a variety of topics, including the chane in offensive coordinators and quarterback coaches. Another topic that came up was the helmet cameras CU began using this spring.

The cameras are military grade and are affixed to the side of each quarterback’s helmet. Each quarterback carries a small battery pack in their hand warmer at their waste and the cameras record what each is seeing during each play. Coaches and players alike hoped at the beginning of spring ball that the new view on film would become an excellent teaching tool when combined with the traditional overhead film angle coaches use.

Here is the final review Cody Hawkins gave the cameras and the film they provided after 15 spring practices.

“Totally honestly, it got blown out of proportion because people thought it was like the coolest thing they had ever seen,” Hawkins said. “It would give you a couple looks on some plays, but sometimes stuff was happening so fast downfield that you can’t really even see it because you can’t follow your eyes. It just follows your head. The most helpful part of that was just what you’re doing pre-snap and being able to see what the defense is going pre-snap, but once it’s post-snap, it’s a little too jiggly and a little too far away to get anything serious our of it.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it does sound like the cameras might have some value.

Tyler Hansen seemed to have a more favorable view of the technology when I talked with him about, but he also admitted the its greatest value was before the snap. Once the play begins, the video bounces and is nowhere near steady enough on most plays to really get a clear view of what the quarterback is seeing.

“We use it more during the presnap stuff, but we still look at it during the play because it’s kind of fun, too, and we slow it down a little bit and try to find stuff,” Hansen said.

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