New regimes in college football bring new policies, especially during practice. But this policy seems pretty original, not just for the Michigan Wolverines, but for college gridiron media in general. Looks like the Brady Hoke era will be much more button-down than the Rich Rodriguez regime.
From a University of Michigan media release:
Cell Phones/Twitter and Facebook: The use of cellular phones is prohibited at practice by all attendees. You may not tweet, facebook or text information that you see taking place on the practice field. Anyone violating this rule will be prohibited from attending future practice opportunities.
Ok, I’m totally with you on the idea of not letting your game plans and practice plays, formations etc. get compromised and available to your opponents. Football is war, and your opponent in war prepares for the army he thinks you have; not the army you actually do possess. So I’m with you on the idea of not texting, tweeting etc. info you see going down at practice.
But no cell phones? No social media? I’m sure you can see a whole host of problems stemming from this idea. And who knows, maybe this policy isn’t all that strictly enforced. I haven’t covered a UM practice while this protocol has been in place, so I don’t know if they actually confiscate your phone when you enter and then return it to you upon exiting. (That would be rather Draconian if they did!). And I also am not singling out the Wolverines here- it’s just that this is the first time I’ve ever seen an anti-smart phone policy such as this explicitly expressed.
We’re all still trying to figure out how to harness this social media thing. But don’t be surprised if more similarly restrictive policies pop up.