A new team rule appears to indicate Nick Saban is concerned about the possibility of sign stealing as the Michigan Wolverines prepare to face the Alabama Crimson Tide.
During a media availability, Alabama players revealed that the team is not allowed to watch film on their iPads individually leading up to the Rose Bowl.
“Interesting nugget from Rose Bowl media session this morning: Alabama hasn’t let players watch film on their own iPads as they usually do as a protective measure due to the Michigan sign stealing scandal,” USA Today’s Dan Wolken wrote in a sequence of messages on X on December 28, 2023. “I only watch in groups.”
“To elaborate a little further, the concern for Alabama appears to be related to the cloud.”
During the Rose Bowl media sessions on December 28, word of this new, per-item iPad restriction went viral. It seems that Isaiah Bond, a receiver with the Crimson Tide, was the first athlete to inform the team about the mandatory group film viewing.
According to Bond, there is a belief that Michigan utilised the Catapult app in its attempt to steal signs. Alabama continues to watch films, but only in social situations.
On December 28, Bond said to reporters, “It’s basically like the app where we record film on for practice and stuff like that.” “And it seems like Michigan was observing how other players called plays and made hand signals over the first eight games or something similar.
As a team, we were able to view a movie, but individually, we are unable to do so. I’m not really that focused on Michigan stealing signs, for whatever reason, I guess.
Bond was then questioned about who informed the players of this new regulation. A week or so prior to the team’s departure for Southern California, the Bama playmaker disclosed that it originated from the coaches.
Yes, just before we came here to prepare for Michigan, our coaches informed us of this maybe a week ago.Yes, it is not permitted for us to [see each video separately for the Rose Bowl].
Check here what Bond has to say about the movie-watching mandate.
