NCAA Rules Committee Proposes Changes for the 2024 Season
On Friday, the NCAA released the NCAA Football Rules Committee proposed rule changes that could come into effect for the 2024 season.
The Committee suggests Football Subdivision teams will have the option to use coach-to-player communications through the helmet to one player on the field. That player would be identified by having a green dot on the back midline of the player's helmet.
The communication from the coach to the player would be turned off with 15 seconds remaining on the play clock or when the ball is snapped, whichever comes first.
For all three divisions, teams would have the option of using tablets to view in-game video only. The video could include the broadcast feed and camera angles from the coach's sideline and coach's end zone.
Teams could have up to 18 active tablets for use in the coaching booth, sideline, and locker room. Tablets could not be connected to other devices to project larger additional images and could not include analytics, data or data access capability or other communication access. All team personnel would be allowed to view the tablets during the game.
Committee members also had a thorough discussion regarding wearable technologies.
"The use of technology has been on the committee's agenda for several years, and the time is right to introduce it in NCAA football," said A.J. Edds, co-chair of the committee and vice president of football administration at the Big Ten Conference. "FBS conferences have partnered together to ensure the consistent application and work through the details of the technical requirements for implementation."
The committee proposed adding an automatic timeout when two minutes remain in the second and fourth quarters.
This recommendation synchronizes all timing rules, such as 10-second runoffs and stopping the clock when a first down is gained in bounds, which coincides with the two-minute timeout.
"The two-minute timeout will allow all end-of-half and end-of-game timing rules to be simplified and synch up with this timeout," said Steve Shaw, secretary-rules editor. "This will also help broadcast partners to avoid back-to-back media timeouts."
The committee is also proposing penalizing horse-collar tackles that occur within the tackle box as a 15-yard personal foul. Currently, a horse-collar tackle within the tackle box is not a foul.
In recent years, the committee has expressed concerns about the look of players' uniforms, specifically pants. The committee is proposing a stronger enforcement structure for clear violations of the rule. On the first violation, a flag would be thrown to indicate a warning for illegal equipment, and the offending player would have to leave the game for at least one play and could return when the issue is corrected. Any subsequent uniform violation by any member of that team would result in a timeout being charged to the team. If a team is out of timeouts, it would receive a 5-yard delay-of-game penalty.
Other rules proposals
Allowing conferences the option of using a collaborative replay review system. This would be formally added to the rules book; it has been an experimental rule.
Permanently allowing head coaches to conduct interviews with broadcast partners after the first and third quarters. This was allowed on an experimental basis last season.
All rule recommendations must be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which is scheduled to discuss football proposals April 18.
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