Rebels to take virtual reality to football recruits
The location was one of the UNLV football offices, but with the viewer strapped around the head, it was like being instantly transported to a different place.
Staring straight ahead, it’s a beautiful, sunny day. Look up, and there’s the blue Las Vegas sky. Look down, and there are the yard markers and the green synthetic turf on the Rebels’ practice field.
Then take a 45-degree turn to the right, and the first reaction is to jump back.
Right there in front is UNLV’s offensive line crouched and ready to go with quarterback Blake Decker in shotgun formation awaiting the snap. Immediately in front is center Will Kreitler, looking as if he’s ready to maul you.
You are right there. But you’re not.
It’s not reality, but virtual reality, and UNLV is trying to get ahead of the competition of putting viewers — especially recruits — right in the middle of the action.
“With recruiting, you try to be innovative,” Rebels assistant recruiting coordinator Drew Jennison said. “We saw an opportunity to do that.”
He said no one in the Mountain West is using virtual reality as a recruiting tool, and UNLV isn’t quite there yet, either. The Rebels, though, are close.
UNLV is using EON Sports VR’s SIDEKIQ system. The company contacted Rebels coach Tony Sanchez about trying the product because former California quarterback Nate Longshore is attempting to get the technology to different campuses, and he has a long relationship with Sanchez.
Sanchez didn’t hesitate to say yes. EON Sports is using UNLV as a test model in which to sell to other programs, so the Rebels were offered the opportunity without financial risk because it’s free.
Put on the 360-degree viewer, and you can get a tour of campus and the football facilities simply by a turn of the head. Move your head to go to the menu and find your way to an overhead view of the coin flip before the Sept. 12 game against UCLA, and you feel like you’re hovering just above the players.
UNLV is producing a free app that will be available on all devices probably this week. Those who open the app will be able to place the smartphone in a viewer, which is strapped on the head like a pair of goggles.
Viewers can be purchased for as little as $15, and Google even is selling a cardboard version for $5.
So it’s an inexpensive way to bring fans closer to the experience of what it’s like to walk in the locker room, stroll through campus and stand in the huddle.
More important, the system gives recruits that kind of experience.
UNLV has ordered viewers for assistant coaches to take with them on recruiting trips.
“I don’t care what it is, ‘X’s’ and ‘O’s,’ whether it’s recruiting, you want to be on the cutting edge,” Sanchez said. “So we’ve got to think outside the box, and we’ve got to be very aggressive when we recruit. We have an unbelievable city to sell. If you can’t get somebody to the city, take the city to them.”
The Rebels are using still images now, but hope to add video at some point. Even the still images are mesmerizing, the 360-degree experience even a little disorienting.
Take a step to the left, and it’s like you are taking one in the locker room or at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Sanchez knows the importance of getting in early on this technology. Just a handful of schools are experimenting with it, such as Michigan and Stanford.
“I think this is something that will be the norm in college real soon,” Sanchez said. “We’re looking at every opportunity we can to get better in everything.”
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.
