Ole Miss using virtual reality to train QBs

OXFORD -- Ole Miss graduate assistant Robert Ratliff has been charged with a unique task the last few weeks.

The former Ole Miss quarterback, with the help of a few others, has been combing through all of the Rebels' offensive plays and programming them into a virtual reality system, which in turn will be used to train, grade and test the team's quarterbacks this summer.

Yes, virtual reality – just as you'd picture it: the big, bulky goggles and everything.

The Rebels will be one of a handful of Division-I programs currently using the technology.

Ole Miss signed with EON Sports, makers of the SIDEKIQ simulator football software, this May, joining UCLA, Syracuse and Kansas as its only other Division-I users.

"If you're watching film, you can rewind it a few times, think, then say, 'Yeah, I think I throw it to the X there,'" Ole Miss offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Dan Werner said. "Now, our quarterbacks have to make that decision like he's on the field whenever we want."

The simulator allows Ole Miss to not only program in its own plays, but input opposing teams' defenses into the virtual reality software.

It can simulate specific coverages and various stunts and blitzes, which Werner hopes improves decision making and knowledge of his offense.

"For all intents and purposes, it's a Madden game that's customizable. Say you're playing LSU, you can put their exact defense in there," said Brendan Reilly, CEO of EON Sports VR. "It's basically like the (offensive coordinator) is in the game with his player, getting to watch exactly what he's thinking.

"He can see on the screen what's happening with the play and where his quarterback is looking."

Standing, the quarterback watches the play develop, goes throw his progressions, eyes his target, then decides when and where to throw.

In Ole Miss' case, throwing means pressing a button on an Xbox controller.

"I've tried it," Werner said. "It really is like you're getting the ball and running a play."

Werner said he got an email from a friend this spring with a link to EON Sports' website.

He checked it out, watched a few videos and was in.

The Rebels had one of the company's more basic systems recently installed, which Reilly estimates costs anywhere between $2,000 to $10,000.

The more elegant systems can cost as much as $35,000.

Reilly sold his first product in February 2014.

"In the old days, you'd give an actual written test," Werner said. "I hope they know the plays by now. I want to know that they can go through the progressions and make decisions.

"I think it'll help us a lot, give us an edge."

But what has Werner so excited about the new technology is the fact that coaches are allowed to spent a very limited amount of time with players during the summer.

NCAA rules give on-field coaches eight hours per week during the summer to interact with players, with up to two of those hours available for "football-related meetings or film review" — or virtual reality time for Ole Miss.

"Our guys are basically getting practice reps with this," Werner said. "He knows he has to read a free safety on one play, and if he rolls down, you hope his eyes go over here.

"If we do this 30 times throughout the summer, it's like our quarterbacks almost get 30 extra practices. The kids can do it on their own, too."

With Ole Miss' quarterback competition still ongoing between sophomores Ryan Buchanan and DeVante Kincade and juco transfer Chad Kelly, Werner spent spring practice charting each of their throws.

He'll also chart their virtual reality work this summer.

"We're going to test them on it, grade 'em," Werner said. "We'll know who's making the right reads and who's not instantaneously."

Contact Riley Blevins at rblevins@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @Riley_Blevins on Twitter.