Stanford going hi-tech with iPad playbooks

Stanford has a reputation for being one of the smartest schools in the country, so you probably won't be to surprised to hear that the Cardinal are officially the first NCAA football team to use iPad playbooks.

No, the players didn't have to build the iPads from scratch -- which wouldn't be a shock, because this is Stanford, after all -- but they did receive the advanced playbooks when they checked in for camp Saturday.

The school is partnering with PlayerLync, a Denver-based company that outfits the iPads with the digital playbooks. While Stanford is the first college team that PlayerLync has worked with, the company has deals with five NFL teams, including the Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos and Cincinnati Bengals.

“It's exciting and an honor to be the first university in the nation to partner with PlayerLync,” coach David Shaw said in a statement.

There are numerous advantages to having iPads as playbooks. Among them: Coaches can update the playbook instantly and wirelessly. Also, if a player loses his playbook, all the information on the iPad can be completely erased. Previously, if a paper playbook had been lost, coaches had to cross their fingers that the playbook didn't end up in the hands of an opponent.

Other advantages include: players can now play Angry Birds in the locker room and they'll be able to check in to player meetings on foursquare.

The best news that comes with an iPad playbook at Stanford though is that no trees will have to die to produce the playbook, something the Cardinal mascot can definitely get behind.

Stanford will hold their first practice of fall camp Sunday.

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