The Eagle (Bryan, Texas)
July 7, 2025
A new year always brings some type of change, no matter how big or small.
When it comes to high school sports, last year brought big change as the talk of the offseason and really the talk during the season as well was about the nonfootball sports having a Division I and Division II split in the postseason.
While nowhere near as earthshaking as that, football will have a few new changes this fall, some of which have already been announced and others that will be finalized later this month.
Two-Minute Timeout
The NFL already has it, college football added it last year and now it’s coming to Texas high school football.
Maybe the most noticeable of the big three changes coming in 2025 is the two-minute timeout, as known as, the two-minute warning.
Despite the difference in name between the NFL (two-minute warning) and college/high school football (two-minute timeout), the purpose of it is the same.
When the clock hits two minutes in the second and fourth quarter, play will stop momentarily like a regular timeout.
“It’s a free timeout to me, like that’s the fourth timeout,” College Station head coach Stoney Pryor said. “What we would hope to do is be able to adjust our play calling at two-and-a-half minutes to use it as a free timeout to try and get a play at two-and-a-half minutes and another play at two minutes and five seconds, so we get the free timeout off it to hopefully help us convert another drive into points or get the ball back [for] another opportunity if we can.”
Pryor isn’t the only one that sees it as a free timeout or considers it your fourth timeout in a half.
“I think from a coaching standpoint you’ve got to be a little more strategic, you know that two-minute warning is coming so you can save a timeout,” A&M Consolidated head coach Brandon Schmidt said.
One drawback of it coming to the high school game for Schmidt though is that he feels it will slow the game down. Pryor also feels that it won’t shorten the length of the game down but did add that it could be used to make the games more exciting.
Guardian Caps
The next two changes on this list are optional but could be seen around the Brazos Valley this fall.
The first one is the Guardian Cap, a protective cover that goes over a player’s helmet and is designed to reduce head injuries.
Guardian Caps are also optional in the NFL and in college as they have primarily been worn by NFL and college offensive and defensive linemen.
The NFL has required them during contact practices since 2022. The only players in the NFL not required to wear them during contact practices are quarterbacks, kickers and punters.
The use of Guardian Caps was approved in May by the UIL with the big points being that the Guardian Cap must match the primary shell color of the helmet being worn by the team.
For example, If Bryan is wearing its gray helmets, the Guardian Cap would have to be gray as well.
The UIL will also require an equipment waiver signed by the parent/guardian of any player wanting to wear one in practice or a game.
“We really have not had any bad concussions with kids, we haven’t had that much of an issue of it but if you had a kid who’s got three or four concussions that would definitely be a great investment to go to the Guardian Cap,” Rudder head coach Eric Ezar said. “We just have not really had that issue in practice. We do some contact of course in spring ball but we have limited numbers of kids, that we don’t do a whole bunch of just full contacts [cause] we get a bunch of people hurt, we’re in trouble.”
Wearable Tech
Along with the Guardian Cap, another thing you might see on a player is one-way wearable technology such as watches, wristbands and belt packs to communicate in-game calls.
Instead of the wristband a quarterback would wear with the plays printed, he could wear an electronic wristband and could have the plays sent in electronically through a coach in the press box.
It’s not limited to a number of players either as all 11 players on offense and defense could wear this item.
There are some limits on these items as calls can only be made by a coach in the press box area.
There also won’t be any voice communication sent in through these, so a coach can’t speak to a player through a wristband or watch.
Just like the Guardian Caps, these items are also optional.
“I think that’s a big, big, big-time topic of discussion amongst coaches,” Schmidt said. “I’ve talked to coach [Stoney] Pryor about it numerous times, I’ve talked to my staff about it a bunch of times. I think the big thing for us is just figuring out how to implement it, just what does it look like. It’s a good thing but it’s also an extra layer of communication that has to take place between plays, so we’re just trying to work through and figure out what that looks like.”