NCAA approves Gallaudet’s use of 5G-enabled football helmet

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has given full approval for the Gallaudet University football team to use a helmet designed for players who are deaf or hard of hearing for the remainder of the 2024 season.

The helmet, which uses the AT&T 5G cellular network, was developed by Gallaudet University and AT&T over the last two years. It debuted last fall in one home game under a special waiver from the NCAA.

The technology allows a coach to call a play on a tablet from the sideline that then shows up visually on a "head-up" display screen inside the quarterback's helmet.

"We're trying to improve the game, and with us, we're trying to figure out ways to level the playing field for our guys," Gallaudet head football coach Chuck Goldstein told Associated Press writer Steve Whyno in a telephone interview. "We're still in the trial phase. One game [last fall] was a small sample size, and it was all built up for that one shot. Now, as we go forward, we're learning a lot about different hiccups and things that are coming down that we weren't aware of last year."

One hiccup, according to Whyno's story, is Gallaudet did not use the helmet in its first two games. The team's #1 and #2 quarterbacks were injured. The helmet must be custom-fit to each user's head, and there was no time to get another helmet fitted. Goldstein hopes that the team will be able to use it on September 28, when they host the George Mason University club team at 6 p.m. at Hotchkiss Field.

"It's great that the NCAA has approved it for the season so we can work through these kinks," Goldstein told Whyno. "We have time, and we're excited about it - more excited than ever. And I'm just glad that we have these things and we see what we need to improve."

Separately, the NCAA approved audio helmet communication for Division I football teams. Rules changes at the Division I level often trickle down to Divisions II and III, but since Gallaudet's players cannot benefit from audio, the approval of the 5G-enabled helmets is most welcome. Goldstein told Whyno that he and the team look forward to continuing to collaborate with AT&T and the NCAA.

AT&T chief marketing and growth officer Kellyn Kenny said that getting the helmet on the field last year was a huge moment of pride, and this amounts to a major step forward. Kenny and several of her AT&T colleagues attended the game last October where the helmet made its debut, and participated in a pregame ceremony heralding the helmet and the Gallaudet-AT&T partnership. In that game, Gallaudet defeated Hilbert College, 34-20, breaking a season-opening four-game losing streak and starting a three-game winning streak en route to a three-way tie for the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) regular season championship.

Read the official AT&T news release.

"Now, as the next season of college football kicks off, we not only get to celebrate another history-making milestone, but we have the opportunity to further collaborate and innovate on ways to drive meaningful change toward making sports more inclusive for everyone," Kenny said.