'Arms race' of technology taking place in area prep football scene

High school football programs turn to iPads, drones to gain edge

A drone, guided by Devin Parker, foreground, flies toward players during a football practice at South Pittsburg High School last month. Pirates coaches give Parker several drills on which to focus on recording of during practices.
A drone, guided by Devin Parker, foreground, flies toward players during a football practice at South Pittsburg High School last month. Pirates coaches give Parker several drills on which to focus on recording of during practices.

At the rate things are moving, area high school football fans can expect stadiums to soon have luxury suites, a JumboTron, artificial turf and a DJ positioned near the home team's student section to keep fans on their feet.

Several tri-state area programs already have all those extras and then some.

Like so many other aspects of the game, the technology on the field and added amenities off it have trickled down from the professional and college ranks, adding to the excitement level for fans and aiding the preparation process for coaches. Long gone are the days of coaches using chalkboards to diagram plays and students receiving extra credit for videoing games using a tape-based camcorder.

Most coaches now double as IT experts, diagnosing what opponents are doing by watching immediate replays on their iPads from multiple camera angles, as well as downloading video of opponents through online Hudl accounts rather than swapping game tapes. Those Hudl accounts can even produce tendency reports so detailed that coaches know what play their opponents are likely to run based solely on how they line up.

"You film practices and games from different angles so you can get a better view of where your opponent is trying to attack you," Marion County coach Joey Mathis said. "With the iPads, now you can stand on the sideline and run a play back several times to see what the other team's blocking scheme is or if they're picking on one side of your defense or whatever you need to know.

"It's all stuff that years ago you had to wait until after the game to watch film on, so instead of saying 'I wish I had known they were doing this or that,' now you don't have to wait to diagnose what the other team is doing. You can see it instantly."

And that's just a few of the on-field upgrades. The modernization of area prep football actually began out of necessity in 2008.

Calhoun's field at Phil Reeve Stadium would regularly flood, and one game on the wet grass was enough to affect the surface for weeks. The school board approved funds for the installation of artificial turf, which not only solved the drainage problem, it took away several hours a week the coaching staff had been spending mowing and lining the field, not to mention the cost of the weekly maintenance.

Yellow Jackets coach Hal Lamb said the move opened a lot of eyes in the area and proved invaluable for his team.

"We found ways to use the hours we were saving from having to work on the field constantly to help our football team," said Lamb, whose program had a new field installed this summer, part of the planned maintenance. "And the kids love playing on it. They know every day what to expect."

Artificial turf fields began to spring up all over the area, with more than a dozen Georgia and Tennessee schools having installed such a surface, which can cost in the range of $700,000.

Calhoun was also the first program to get a big-screen video display, which debuted in 2013 and shows live action, replays, advertisements and all pertinent game stats. Bradley Central, Dalton and Walker Valley unveiled such screens at their home stadiums this season.

"It's huge for us," Dalton coach Matt Land said. "When we moved up into 5A and now into 6A, you realize the experience is that much bigger because the exposure is greater. This goes a long way into updating our program, and it will give our kids even more exposure."

That, of course, can mean attracting more and better athletes to join the program and assure the top-level teams maintain their lofty expectations. Land's Catamounts also have perhaps the area's most advanced practice field. Located on campus (their Harmon Field at Bill Chappell Stadium is not), it was renovated three years ago with the installation of top-of-the-line artificial turf.

Calhoun was also the first area program to debut a video drone, which is flown around before and during games. This season, South Pittsburg added a drone that is operated by a student and allows coaches to record practices and games. The video is downloaded after practice and games, allowing coaches to view plays from high above the formations and have a better understanding of what areas need work on both sides of the ball.

South Pittsburg coach Vic Grider said opposing fans at two rival schools have complained it's an unfair advantage when the Pirates flew the drone at their stadiums. But according to TSSAA assistant director Matthew Gillespie, drones are allowed so long as the home team's head coach OKs their use.

Practice facilities are another area where teams try to get an edge, with Dalton and Sequatchie County boasting indoor setups that have artificial turf and allow their teams to continue to work even during inclement weather. Several northwest Georgia schools have built new football field houses in recent years, led by a multimillion-dollar building at North Murray constructed using only donated funds.

"Coaching staffs go to visit college programs in the spring and get ideas for things that we think will give us any advantage. We all want to run our teams like a college program," said Bradley Central coach Damon Floyd, whose program recently added a new 5,000-square-foot weight room, complete with five big-screen televisions for coaches and players to watch game video or monitor daily workouts.

The Bears also use a 40-inch TV on the sideline during games to diagram strengths and weaknesses for players between series, and there are five iPads for coaches to use to monitor the game from the sideline.

Like several other area programs, Bradley also has a state-of-the-art audio system to blare music during practices and at games during timeouts and other breaks.

"A couple of years ago we were playing in 6A, and when we had to travel to Maryville and Dobyns-Bennett and places like that, it was an eye opener to see what other programs had," Floyd said. "Our boosters realized we needed to catch up if we were going to compete at the highest level. No offense, but when you go to Hamilton County, you don't see any of that."

One Hamilton County coach confirmed Floyd's assessment that programs bordering Chattanooga city schools have a clear advantage when it comes to facilities and updated technology.

"We're decades behind other places, not just in our own state but when we play neighboring teams from other counties," said East Hamilton coach Ted Gatewood, who described his school's 30-by-20-foot weight facility as a broom closet.

"You drive just 30 minutes in any direction and see how far behind we are, and it's all economics. It's an arms race, and if you're not keeping up, you're losing kids to other schools."

And the innovations keep coming. Already introduced is a robot that can line athletic fields. While expensive, the machine could do the work of several coaches and save hours.

The bot was recently on exhibition at Coahulla Creek, where it seamlessly lined the Colts' practice field. Assistant coach Danny Wilson said the machine has great potential on the high school and community levels.

"It's remarkable, the most unique thing I've seen," Wilson said. "It's a big investment, but, like the University of Memphis (which has purchased one), they are going to save a ton of money with the amount of paint you save and the labor hours.

"There are a lot of aspects around the game that none of us would've thought we needed 10 or even five years ago. But if you're going to be serious about competing, you'd better keep up with what's out there."

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com. Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.

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