Last Thursday, Alabama head coach Nick Saban revealed how he and his staff are checking in on their players to ensure they are properly preparing for the upcoming season amidst the COVID-19 quarantine.
Rather than speaking over the phone or text, Alabama has its players wearing Apple Watches which help monitor heart rate during workouts, sleep patterns and more.
Saban also mentioned that new strength and conditioning coaches Dr. Matt Rhea and David Ballou were instrumental in in setting up this program.
Unfortunately for Saban and the Crimson Tide, their use of Apple Watches may be coming to a quicker end than originally intended.
It was reported on Friday by ESPN’s Matt Schlabach that the SEC would be looking into whether Alabama would be able to continue to monitor players with the watches going forward.
The NCAA explained in its Division I COVID-19 Question and Answer guide that coaches and staff members “may not supervise or conduct such workouts ” and players “may not report voluntary athletically related activities to institutional coaches or staff members.”
Schlabach also reported that Alabama’s director of sports medicine Jeff Allen is the one who is collecting and monitoring the data. Although the letter of the line says that Alabama may have interpreted things incorrectly, the program has already had conversations with the SEC regarding the watches.
“The SEC is aware that Alabama provided Apple Watches to some of our student athletes,” said Alabama’s senior associate athletics director for compliance, Matt Self said in a statement. “We are in constant communication with the SEC discussing the appropriate manner in which to utilize these and any other resources to provide for the health and well-being of our student-athletes during this crisis.”
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
