Virtual Reality

[zshotts]

Interesting nugget tucked into this espn article.  Have we been using virtual reality?

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/story/_/id/13029637/dallas-cowboys-use-virtual-reality-technology

[Buff]

Welcome to last month.  Yeah, we've been using it but I still don't completely understand how it works.  Feels great to be ahead of the curve though.

[zshotts]

Welcome to last month.  Yeah, we've been using it but I still don't completely understand how it works.  Feels great to be ahead of the curve though.

Sorry, I don't usually keep up with the latest ways the football team is practicing 

[hoggusamoungus]

Sorry, I don't usually keep up with the latest ways the football team is practicing 

From 4/24 Wholehogsports.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' quarterbacks are starting to get a feel for what the team's new virtual reality cameras can do to help their play.
The Razorbacks began using the cameras in practice this week, so now the players can see the video wearing goggles.
"Those are something special," starting quarterback Brandon Allen said. "It's so weird how, when you put them on, you're kind of submersed in that reality. It's almost like real practice out there."
Allen said viewing how plays develop through the goggles doesn't make him ill.
"You move however fast you want," he said. "It's just like looking around. It's not nauseating at all."
Offensive coordinator Dan Enos said he'd never heard of the virtual reality equipment, which was developed by a former Stanford player, until being asked about it by Mark Taurisani, Arkansas' assistant athletic director for football operations.
"Mark brought it up to me about a month or so ago, would you be interested if the guys came in?" Enos said. "I said, yeah, absolutely. I don't even know what you're talking about, but it sounds like a good deal.
"They said Stanford was using it, and they're all smart at Stanford. So I figured that'd be something up my alley. I didn't go to Stanford, though."
Enos played quarterback at Michigan State.
Allen said he's looking forward to using the virtual reality equipment to study this summer to go over pass routes.
"Instead of just watching them on film, you can put those goggles on and just go through your read progression as you see things," Allen said. "That's going to be really helpful for us."

[supersaint]

This is going to open a portal to another dimension. Bad news.

[NEA_HogFan]

Dallas is the first Nfl team to use drones and virtual reality to help their players in film study. Apparently Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, and Vanderbilt used this technology last year. Does anyone know anything about this?



http://espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/story/_/id/13029637/dallas-cowboys-use-virtual-reality-technology

[kodiakisland]

Was discussed heavily several months ago, in the paper, and on several online sports sites.  I'm sure looking back around spring practice timeframe on this forum will produce several threads on the subject.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Welcome to last month.  Yeah, we've been using it but I still don't completely understand how it works.  Feels great to be ahead of the curve though.

Here is somewhat of an explanation and the results.

Belch could've told his audience some stats like how Kevin Hogan went from completing 64 percent of his passes up to 76 percent after the Stanford quarterback started using this headset regularly for about 20 minutes before games. Or that the Cardinal went from averaging 24 points a game to 38 in those final three games. Or that the team finished the year scoring on every one of its last 27 trips to the Red Zone when their first two units were on the field, which would seem even more jaw-dropping when you consider the team was scoring just around 50 percent inside the 20-yard-line before that.

Instead, Belch used subtlety to drive home just what their technological breakthrough has done for Stanford football. He revealed a detail that never shows up on a quarterback's stat line and is lost on most in the stadium but is exactly the type of thing coaches love from their QBs.

The initial play call,€" "95 Bama," was designed as a strong-side run with one of the key blocks being the wide receiver picking up the strong safety. Problem was, Maryland's SAM linebacker was on the line and the Terps' safety was creeping up as their free safety shifted over. Hogan knew if the Cardinal ran the play as called, the receiver would have no shot to make the block, and Maryland's safety would snuff it out for a 4-yard loss. So Hogan "killed" the call and audibled to another run play where Stanford's guard was designated to kick out that safety and Wright dashed through a clear path of turf.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/stanford-cardinal-nfl-virtual-reality-qb-training-031115

[nationwish]

I asked my brother about this. He's currently working pretty heavily in VR in Silicon Valley. We didn't go into specifics, but he said that the money isn't really in how it is being used by sports teams. I believe where they are really trying to go within the next few years is in taking VR to the consumers, both in gaming and in sports viewing. I assume that sports teams are probably just the best way to really push the technology at the early stages because they have the capital to afford it, and they can see a tangible benefit. Once they get to the point where it can have a mass consumer appeal, I would expect the technology to grow even faster. So while sports teams may not be the end target, they seem to be pretty important for product development.

I think you'll start seeing VR products a lot sooner than most people would expect. In fact, I read not long after the new wave of game systems were released (PS4, Xbox One) that those may be the last generations of those, as changing technologies and interests may make them obsolete. We'll see what actually ends up happening, but I don't think it will take long to find out what direction these new technologies will take us.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Here's an update on this topic that includes a focus on Arkansas and the other SEC teams who now have this technology. it also provides more information about the capabilities of this system.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2015/06/09/strivr-eon-football-virtual-reality-training-college-quarterbacks/28725797/

Bielema says virtual reality might be most useful, at least for now, in teaching Arkansas' schemes to incoming freshmen from the inside out and for preparing backup players who don't get as much work in practice as starters.

[HognVA]

Hopefully this hasn't already been posted. Great publicity......http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2015/06/09/strivr-eon-football-virtual-reality-training-college-quarterbacks/28725797/

[hawginbigd1]

Below is what Bielema was talking about yesterday on Mark Packer CBS radio around 5:45PM. Pretty cool stuff. Might give us a short term recruiting edge.

The creativity wasn't just limited to on-field usage. Bielema and Malzahn have seen value in recruiting, as well. In the not so distant future, assistant coaches could take laptops and headsets with them on the road. Without setting foot on the Arkansas campus, a recruit could be standing, at least virtually, in the locker room with potential teammates, listening to a pregame pep talk. Then he's in the tunnel as the players storm onto the field, or on the sidelines. Then he's in a team meeting — "second row, third chair to the right," Bielema says — listening to Bielema speak.

Bielema had Belch shoot video inside each of the Hogs' meeting rooms during position meetings.

"If we've got an offensive lineman (recruit) visiting in the middle of June, he can go into a meeting room (virtually) and feel like he's sitting in that room," Bielema says. "Just some crazy recruiting tools."

If the possibilities with virtual reality seem endless, they just might be.

[OldCoot]

It's the devils work.