Florida State and the use of in game GPS... Legal? Video showing it

[AU-Allen 85]

This video shows a device pulled from an FSU Players shoulder pads after the game...

https://www.facebook...3121170&fref=nf

Is this legal? If so are we using this at Auburn? This article states they use it for practice, which I can understand

http://www.orlandose...0623-story.html

Here is a link to it, see the video... How could that be legal in the game?

www.catapultsports.com/united-states/system/indoor/

[gAUlf 1]

Why would it be illegal if no competitive advantage is gained?

[ShocksMyBrain 9,362]

If it's being used to prevent injuries, as the article implies(I just skimmed over it), then it should be used by every school in the country.

[aucanucktiger 1,789]

It's a durable health monitoring device. This shows how oddly stoneage football can be. As recently as 2002 I remember watching our (like everybody else's) 300 lb linemen do hurdlers stretches before each game for like 10 minutes. Physiological knee suicide for a large person. As the story says, this is a basic training tool in big dollar soccer. Astronauts had similar concealable health monitors 50 years ago, they're just GPS and thus more affordable now. The Orlando paper makes it sound like Fisher discovered or invented them. Welcome to technology c. 1990 football trainers & coaches.

[AuburnHardware 1]

I don't understand what data you could get from a GPS. They aren't accurate enough. It's probably an accelerometer.

[meh130 1,043]

Think of these as an odometer, tachometer, and fuel gauge for athletes. They report to the sideline the following: How many yards the athlete has run, how fast he has run, and how much total energy the athlete has expended. From this, they can estimate fatigue. More fatigue, more chance of injury (that is the injury prevention angle).

It is real-time kinesiology.

More importantly, it can tell a coach when to rotate an athlete out.

Here is a good article on its use in the NFL, and how it can reduce fatigue related injuries. It also mentions Fisher and FSU:

Technology could be game-changer

The above article notes the NFL bans the use of such devices in games, but there are arguments to change that.

FSU claims to have only used these in practice. The video shows they clearly are using them in games.

Which brings up this:

Jimbo Fisher's secret weapon for champ FSU? It comes from Australia (May 23, 2014)

The technology is so new -- Fisher says misunderstood -- the NCAA does not allow it to be utilized in games.

More. This AP article was also posted to the NCAA's web site but has since been taken down:

Too tired to practice? Ask a GPS device (Nov. 5, 2014)

Under NCAA rules, Catapult data cannot be looked at in real time during games because it could provide a competitive advantage if one team is using the system and the other is not.

So I'm sure the video posted to Facebook of someone pulling a Catapult transmitter from FSU Tight End Nick O'Leary was only being used to collect historic data, and was not being monitored during the game. This is the upstanding Florida State University, who's sports programs and athletes would never would do anything illegal.

It looks like Little Nicky uses it too, at least as a practice aid:

[WarTiger 3,896]

Why would it be illegal if no competitive advantage is gained?

There are several rules that have nothing to do with gaining a competitive advantage but are still illegal.

Did you know that if a player wants to wear a towel on his uniform that it MUST be white. No other color is allowed. There's also a minimum size and a maximum size they can be. (note the color portion of this year is college only. The high school rule is a bit different)

That rule has nothing to do with gaining an advantage.

Eye shade has to be solid black with no letters, logos, numbers or symbols.

That's not a competitive advantage.

[cptau 169]

I find it interesting that the NCAA is concerned about a player's eye shade being used to say something, but they don't care about the tattoos of symbols, words, and names that players have that are visible.