Bruce Feldman’s piece about how Stanford is using virtual reality technology to train its quarterbacks is fascinating. Read the sucker.
Do I think it has a widespread future in college football? Well, let’s put it this way… Stanford’s head coach David Shaw went from being a skeptic about how this kind of technology might help (“I made it about two plays before I felt seasick…”) to seeing a real big benefit.
“‘I was like, ‘Wow, if we could actually put quarterbacks in a virtual world so we’re not using extra practice reps, we’re not extending practice at all — we’re not messing with the 20-hour work week, we’re just creating a library of things for a QB to learn something, that’d help your backup QB who’s never gonna get as many reps as a starter and helps your starter get three reps on a play that he screwed up on and he can just watch the same thing over and over again and see everybody and feel like he’s there.’ When Derek started explaining it to me, I got really excited.” [Emphasis added.]
Leverage, peeps. Don’t leave practice without it.
Yeah, with that kind of angle, I’d say this has legs.