BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- College football players in the SEC, Pac-12 and Big 12 will wear electronic tracking devices next season, in part to determine if measuring speed and movement can help player safety.

The NCAA Football Rules Committee recently approved the experiment, SEC football officiating coordinator Steve Shaw said today. The longterm benefits remain unclear, but Shaw said electronic tracking could have a health and safety component, provide benefits to media partners, and perhaps one day be used in coaching.

"I think it really is more for tracking how fast a player is moving and the direction of his movements so you have an electronic signature of all of that," Shaw said. "Then what you do with that, we have to figure that out. You could track speed before a collision and that sort of thing. To be honest, I'm not sure what all of the applications are. But it has potential benefit in player safety, so I think it's worth taking an initial step to see what the technology does."

Last season, the NFL had some players wear small chips inside their shoulder pads on Thursday night NFL Network games, CBSSports.com reported last November. The article said the NFL believes the initiative could eventually change how consumers receive information, updates and statistics on their phones, computers and video gaming devices.

The article said the NFL has not used the technology to measure collisions, G-forces or concussion-related data since it's currently an NFL Media project, but there is the potential as a safety tool as well.

If college football follows the NFL approach, collecting data could be used to attempt to sell a better TV viewing experience and on mobile devices. For example, the chips could show how much ground a player covered over a period of time, the angle a player used while running, and a player's vertical leap while catching a pass.

"The goal is to find the right platform in which to transfer this data," CBSSports.com wrote last November, "with the league purposefully taking its time in the developmental stages before bringing it to market."

One question being asked in college football officiating circles: Could this technology be applied by coaches one day and should it? Might there be a day when coaches -- or someone they hire -- track the speed and movement patterns of their players and opponents during the game to seek an advantage?

Shaw said it's unclear how many players will wear the chips next season and where they will be located on their body.

"There's not a final plan out there," he said. "The technology is emerging. It's not fully developed. There's promise in it and we really need to look at and see if it has benefits to the game. That's as far as we are right now."

Meanwhile, Shaw said SEC officials will continue to use a wireless communication system next season with the goal of eventually outfitting every crew with one.

Two SEC crews experimented last season with the system, which allows officials to communicate via headset with each other to be more efficient. The NCAA recently said it would allow other conferences to use the tool, although it's not required.

"I think more conferences will go to it," Shaw said. "One area that it really helped -- and it's going to be an area we feel more and more pressure in -- is uptempo offenses and substitutions. This helps you manage the game because the umpire and ref can communicate."

The SEC learned officials need a custom-fitted earpiece to drown out the noise in its stadiums. One positive unintended consequence: Crews could reset the ball quicker after instant replays because they heard the referee's conversation with the replay official. The crews who used the system reduced their game times by about three to four minutes, although that wasn't the main goal, Shaw said.

Initially, one tech-savvy SEC officiating crew was excited about using the system but the other crew felt it didn't need it. After a couple games, both crews loved the system, Shaw said.

Also, the SEC will experiment with an eighth official during a couple spring games. The NCAA Football Rules Committee recently proposed letting the Big 12 use an eighth official -- positioned in the offensive backfield -- next season.

"I think it's a good thing to try," Shaw said. "We're going to see more efficiency with up-tempo offenses. Now the question will be which is better: an eighth official, a crew communication system, neither or both? And if it's neither, can our crews continue to adapt to the pace of the game?"

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