Fordham Football has a unique way of relaying its plays. Ram Archives
By Drew Casey
Fordham Football has had a very successful 2015 season in part due to shooting a hockey puck and giant pictures of political figures.
Yes, that’s correct.
Without revealing their ultimate significance, these motions and images, amongst many others, are some of the methods in which the football team communicates its plays from the sideline to its players on the field.
On any given play in the course of a game, this communication originates from three or four “signal callers.” According to fourth-year head coach Joe Moorhead, their jobs are critical on a down-by-down basis.
“They’re [the signal callers] incredibly important,” Moorhead said. “That’s how the whole thing operates. There’s not wristbands. There’s not a huddle. It’s not like it’s 1953 with people shuttling plays in and out and people coming out of the game. It’s the vital cog of the communication aspect of our offense and if it’s not right, then we can’t do anything right.”
The NCAA does not have the luxury that the NFL has, in which one player on each team can wear a “live” helmet and directly hear a coach’s communication through a transmitter. As a result, college football teams must get creative in their communication.
In Fordham’s case, signal callers take on the job. The group includes backup quarterbacks and players who have suffered career-ending injuries while at Fordham. Junior Alex Washington is one such signal caller, who has embraced the position despite the difficult circumstances by which it came about.
“I just wanted to be able to help as much as I could,” Washington said. “It’s terrible not being on the field, but I love to help the team in any capacity whatsoever.”
Each week the group receives new plays from the coaching staff and gets right to work. In most cases, according to Moorhead, the group creates the signs and motions themselves.
“They have ownership of the signals between [offensive coordinator Andrew] Breiner and the offensive staff and the players,” Moorhead said. “They create the signals.”
Throughout this process during the practice week, the signal callers typically ask for player input. Senior Tim Donahue and the rest of the group are always looking for new ideas and ways to be as clear as possible in their communication.
“It kind of deals with making it easy for the guys down on the field to see what it is,” Donahue said. “It has to be something they recognize. If they can’t tell what something is or it looks too similar, we’ll change it.”
They also have to be very careful not to develop very complex signals, according to senior signal caller Nick Krejci.
“I think it’s important first to make it easy enough for us to remember how to do it and not complicate it,” Krejci said. “We’ll relay that to the guys that are on the field and ask them if it’s a good sign.”
A majority of the group agreed that the more basic the signal, the easier it is to communicate to the field players. However, they also mentioned that they enjoy the challenge of the lengthy multi-step calls that sometimes come into play.
Relaying the correct signals is of the upmost importance and without accuracy, things can undoubtedly go wrong, as Washington mentioned. There is no margin for error, and Fordham’s fast-paced offensive style just adds to the difficulty level for the signal callers.
Fordham’s signal callers do not have an easy job, but they hope that they will have more opportunities to carry out their essential function at another game this season.
“Even though we’re not playing, it still is a critical part of the game to relay the communication the coach wants to the defense or the offense,” Krejci said.
The team awaits its postseason fate during its bye week after defeating Georgetown 38-31 on Saturday, Nov. 14, and finishing 9-2 in the regular season. Fordham looks to head to the NCAA FCS Championship for the third consecutive year.
