Steve Sarkisian will have more than crowd noise blocking comms vs. Volunteers

The noise levels in Neyland Stadium have been a point of emphasis for the Texas Longhorns as they prepare to take on the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville. However, the home crowd won't be the only thing interfering with communication on Saturday afternoon.

President Donald Trump plans to attend the game, and when asked about his presence in the stadium, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian shared a shocking fact about when a president comes to games:

"Anytime the President changes locations within the stadium, they cut all communication. They cut your headsets in terms of coach to player communication. So you have to plan for that," Sarkisian said.

So, not only will Sarkisian and his staff have the already limited window to relay plays to the Longhorns on the field who wear the coach-to-play green dot (Arch Manning on offense, Justin Cryer on defense), and not only will they have to communicate effectively over crowd noise, but they will have to do so without knowing whether or not their line of communication could shut off at any given moment.

Arch Manning, Justin Cryer must be ready for loss of play comms

That also means that both Manning and Cryer need to be prepared for when their headsets could be cut off due to the President's possible movement throughout the stadium.

Manning has been the green dot wearer for Texas's offense over the last two years, and one could rightfully assume he has grown rather accustomed to the modern way of play calling. Cryer, who joined the Longhorns this offseason through the transfer portal, is in his first year of wearing the green dot for Texas's defense.

While Sarkisian is arguably best prepared for this situation, sharing that he has coached a game with the President in attendance before, he needs to make sure his entire team is prepared as well, even beyond just Manning and Cryer knowing what to do.

Most likely, the Horns are going to need to go back to the old-school style of play calling, with posters on the sidelines or play sheets on their wrists, just in case the headsets get shut down.

That means that the leaders on both sides of the ball will have to be able to effectively communicate the play call to anyone else on the field. In other words, it could be a trip back to how college football worked just a few years ago, before a player had in-helmet comms with his coaches.

Who knows how many times this could happen throughout the game, much less as it gets down to the final moments. One can only hope that 1. Sarkisian has his team ready for this kind of scenario, and 2. it isn't a stressfully close game.

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