close
close

Memphis football program experiments with helmet technology

play

Memphis football coach Ryan Silverfield has a metaphor for building self-confidence.

“Confidence is built in three different ways,” he said after practice on Tuesday. “The first way is preparation. It's kind of like the foundation of a house. The next way is to get results. And that is the framework of your house, so to speak. The results are what you do day in day out.” The third thing is the feedback, and for us the only feedback that really matters is the feedback within our building.

“I appreciate the people who speak positively about us, but the feedback is more like the window guards and the painting on the house. It doesn't matter, it just makes the whole thing better. Whatever is said from outside, good or bad, we can't concentrate on that. All we can do is work on gaining our confidence through preparation.”

The Tigers conclude spring training with the spring game on Saturday. They will do so as they prepare for a season with expectations likely higher than ever before in Memphis football history, with the expanded College Football Playoff guaranteeing a spot for a Group of Five team .

With quarterback Seth Henigan returning for his senior year, the Tigers have already been picked in numerous early-season previews to win the American Athletic Conference and make the playoffs. This noise will only increase in the fall.

Silverfield often says he puts on “blinders” during the season and stays away from social media once the season starts. But that doesn't extend to the spring, so some of the outside noise has crept in.

“You see things and you hear them, and that’s great,” Silverfield said. “But we haven’t proven or earned anything. We have to go out and work harder than ever to build the momentum we need.”

Tigers experiment with new technology

Silverfield said last month that he and his staff were still waiting for conference approval to begin using helmet technology, which will be new to college football this season and will allow coaches to work directly with a player on each side of the ball to speak.

That approval has come, and the Tigers have begun experimenting with it during spring training.

“I think you always have to be careful about how much dialogue you put in the ear of a 17- to 23-year-old,” he said. “But it was good. We will continue to look for ways to utilize it.”

The spring game is scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium.

Reach sportswriter Jonah Dylan at [email protected] or on Twitter @thejonahdylan.

Tags:

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *