How to practice tackling- thoughts?

[HominidHusker]

I have a huge problem with this quote from Chinander about tackling:
“It's a hard thing to handle because you can't tackle and you can't recreate those open space tackles a lot in college football and practice, unless you're gonna go tackle the ones. And I think we'd all feel terrible if one of our starting receivers, running backs, quarterback, whatever, got got hurt during that. So we've got to do a great job with drills, which I think we have some great drills.”

Maybe it’s not an exact replication of athleticism, but if he’s saying they have a giant roster of 3’s, 4’s and practice squad guys that can’t run in open space and make some cuts or shake moves to help the Defense practice, then I’m gonna call BS. Seriously, they have plenty of athletes around who are not the 1’s who can contribute to this task.

Further, going live with the 1’s is debatable, but I’m less concerned with injury risk when we’re not winning games at all with the 1’s. The team needs some g-damn development- whatever it takes.

 

[SeaOfRed75]

I saw that and thought, what the **** are the walk-ons for?

Remember talking to a walkon RB in a class. Glorified tackling dummy for the defense.

 

[Yantzeee]

I have a huge problem with this quote from Chinander about tackling:
“It's a hard thing to handle because you can't tackle and you can't recreate those open space tackles a lot in college football and practice, unless you're gonna go tackle the ones. And I think we'd all feel terrible if one of our starting receivers, running backs, quarterback, whatever, got got hurt during that. So we've got to do a great job with drills, which I think we have some great drills.”

Maybe it’s not an exact replication of athleticism, but if he’s saying they have a giant roster of 3’s, 4’s and practice squad guys that can’t run in open space and make some cuts or shake moves to help the Defense practice, then I’m gonna call BS. Seriously, they have plenty of athletes around who are not the 1’s who can contribute to this task.

Further, going live with the 1’s is debatable, but I’m less concerned with injury risk when we’re not winning games at all with the 1’s. The team needs some g-damn development- whatever it takes.

Dan Campbell had 1s vs 1s live tackling on the first day of camp. He said basically you can’t simulate tackling on either side of the ball.

people forget how important it is on offense for your guys to realize they may get hit.

 

[HominidHusker]

Dan Campbell had 1s vs 1s live tackling on the first day of camp. He said basically you can’t simulate tackling on either side of the ball.

people forget how important it is on offense for your guys to realize they may get hit.

Agreed, the offense needs the same live work. Just see the Garcia-Castaneda fumble as a small example.
What I’m hearing Chins say is “we know we’re not good at tackling, but we’re not willing to work on it.”

I get being smart with player safety, but I also think open field tackle plays are not the most injury prone compared to let’s say runs between the tackles or getting blown up after catching a pass over the middle.

Go live, get some real work done and prepare your team so they’re ready for Saturday, cus this lack of readiness is burning down the program.

 

[Yantzeee]

Agreed, the offense needs the same live work. Just see the Garcia-Castaneda fumble as a small example.
What I’m hearing Chins say is “we know we’re not good at tackling, but we’re not willing to work on it.”

I get being smart with player safety, but I also think open field tackle plays are not the most injury prone compared to let’s say runs between the tackles or getting blown up after catching a pass over the middle.

Go live, get some real work done and prepare your team so they’re ready for Saturday, cus this lack of readiness is burning down the program.

One could argue that guys actually get hurt more when they aren’t use to tackling

 

[Sporty]

Had a high school coach tell me if a team never practices actual live tackling the team will suffer on both sides of the ball. He runs 1 vs 1 live at least once a week he says for that reason.

 

[BleedRed78]

I have a huge problem with this quote from Chinander about tackling:
“It's a hard thing to handle because you can't tackle and you can't recreate those open space tackles a lot in college football and practice, unless you're gonna go tackle the ones. And I think we'd all feel terrible if one of our starting receivers, running backs, quarterback, whatever, got got hurt during that. So we've got to do a great job with drills, which I think we have some great drills.”

Maybe it’s not an exact replication of athleticism, but if he’s saying they have a giant roster of 3’s, 4’s and practice squad guys that can’t run in open space and make some cuts or shake moves to help the Defense practice, then I’m gonna call BS. Seriously, they have plenty of athletes around who are not the 1’s who can contribute to this task.

Further, going live with the 1’s is debatable, but I’m less concerned with injury risk when we’re not winning games at all with the 1’s. The team needs some g-damn development- whatever it takes.

This explains why our offense has been petulant since Frosts been here (and likely Riley before him). Absolutely need one day a week of one's on one's.

Not a full blown scrimmage mind you. But some drills and situational stuff, absolutely.

 

[Moderator guy]

I thought they were so much physical this camp? So the coaches were lying…..no way. I am beginning to think we didn’t even vomit at practice.

 

[HominidHusker]

The past couple spring games have put the “culture” on display.

There’s always some risk, but these are skilled athletes and you tell them to play hard but with enough caution to try to not hurt each other.

 

[MikeRileyGBR]

Agreed, the offense needs the same live work. Just see the Garcia-Castaneda fumble as a small example.
What I’m hearing Chins say is “we know we’re not good at tackling, but we’re not willing to work on it.”

I get being smart with player safety, but I also think open field tackle plays are not the most injury prone compared to let’s say runs between the tackles or getting blown up after catching a pass over the middle.

Go live, get some real work done and prepare your team so they’re ready for Saturday, cus this lack of readiness is burning down the program.

This is so supremely pathetic that it’s almost unbelievable, yet here we are and here we’ve been for some time

 

[BroskiRed]

Anyone still wonder why Adrian had ball control issues? I don’t after seeing these comments
Granted I haven’t seen tackling this poor in a while but you have your Captain Tannor and other defensive players saying in the presser this week about the need for more live tackling work I don’t think they’re talking about Chin’s drills
SMH

 

[itseasyas1-2-3]

This is so supremely pathetic that it’s almost unbelievable, yet here we are and here we’ve been for some time

And every missed tackle next Saturday highlights the need to practice with moving targets.

 

[Hford]

Scott has clearly chosen to not go live as much other programs to keep players healthy. It has backfired bc we are not as physical as we should be. I mean they don't even tackle in the spring game, that should be a hint.

 

[SickOfPractice]

There was a time when coaches from other programs would visit NU to learn how we practiced, trained, managed the walk-on program, etc.

It would probably benefit our coaches to visit successful teams and observe how THEY do it. Assuming they could find a successful program willing to allow that.

 

[NWFLCOCK]

I have a huge problem with this quote from Chinander about tackling:
“It's a hard thing to handle because you can't tackle and you can't recreate those open space tackles a lot in college football and practice, unless you're gonna go tackle the ones. And I think we'd all feel terrible if one of our starting receivers, running backs, quarterback, whatever, got got hurt during that. So we've got to do a great job with drills, which I think we have some great drills.”

Maybe it’s not an exact replication of athleticism, but if he’s saying they have a giant roster of 3’s, 4’s and practice squad guys that can’t run in open space and make some cuts or shake moves to help the Defense practice, then I’m gonna call BS. Seriously, they have plenty of athletes around who are not the 1’s who can contribute to this task.

Further, going live with the 1’s is debatable, but I’m less concerned with injury risk when we’re not winning games at all with the 1’s. The team needs some g-damn development- whatever it takes.

I am no coach but to go full out in practice is foolish. You must develop players both mentally and physically. Physically by running for duration and running for flexibility and quick bursts etc. Mentally by teaching proper ways to tackle. Body placement , head , hands and feet etc. proper angles. Point of contact . Wrong point of contact makes tackling much harder. The collision associated with tackling can be experience under control conditions. Once you become battle harden you are ready to go. Either you love taking somebody’s head off or you do not. I as coach would never think live one on one hitting is the answer to making individual players better. You do limited live full hitting to find out who is tough and who will shrink back. It is to separate the players from the pretenders. It is not done to teach tackling.
Open field tackling involves judgement in addition to all of the above. It also involves watching much film of your opponent. How quick and what moves do they favor. If you find yourself out of position you are left to make the best of arm tackling. To find what players are doing wrong you got to go full out. Very dangerous in practice. After your first game you will know more about your team.

That is my opinion.

 

[oldjar07]

I am no coach but to go full out in practice is foolish. You must develop players both mentally and physically. Physically by running for duration and running for flexibility and quick bursts etc. Mentally by teaching proper ways to tackle. Body placement , head , hands and feet etc. proper angles. Point of contact . Wrong point of contact makes tackling much harder. The collision associated with tackling can be experience under control conditions. Once you become battle harden you are ready to go. Either you love taking somebody’s head off or you do not. I as coach would never think live one on one hitting is the answer to making individual players better. You do limited live full hitting to find out who is tough and who will shrink back. It is to separate the players from the pretenders. It is not done to teach tackling.
Open field tackling involves judgement in addition to all of the above. It also involves watching much film of your opponent. How quick and what moves do they favor. If you find yourself out of position you are left to make the best of arm tackling. To find what players are doing wrong you got to go full out. Very dangerous in practice. After your first game you will know more about your team.

That is my opinion.

Yeah, this is why you're not a coach.

 

[redwine65]

football in general seems nervous about the litigious nature the US has developed.
where a spring game used to be about football, it seems more about locating safe spaces, tunnel walks
and dance moves.

 

[NWFLCOCK]

Yeah, this is why you're not a coach.

LOL, well I am not being paid millions of dollars to go 15-34. But I bet I could match thst record!

 

[HominidHusker]

LOL, well I am not being paid millions of dollars to go 15-34. But I bet I could match thst record!

I very much agree with this.

 

[nostromo78]

our team knows how to tackle just fine. they did it all last year (for the most part) with several players being excellent tacklers. A lot that were on the field Saturday.

 

[TruHusker]

I am no coach but to go full out in practice is foolish. You must develop players both mentally and physically. Physically by running for duration and running for flexibility and quick bursts etc. Mentally by teaching proper ways to tackle. Body placement , head , hands and feet etc. proper angles. Point of contact . Wrong point of contact makes tackling much harder. The collision associated with tackling can be experience under control conditions. Once you become battle harden you are ready to go. Either you love taking somebody’s head off or you do not. I as coach would never think live one on one hitting is the answer to making individual players better. You do limited live full hitting to find out who is tough and who will shrink back. It is to separate the players from the pretenders. It is not done to teach tackling.
Open field tackling involves judgement in addition to all of the above. It also involves watching much film of your opponent. How quick and what moves do they favor. If you find yourself out of position you are left to make the best of arm tackling. To find what players are doing wrong you got to go full out. Very dangerous in practice. After your first game you will know more about your team.

That is my opinion.

I taught freshmen to tackle and it is a huge challenge. You can talk about it, show them in slow motion, demonstrate, and prepare all you want. Eventually they have to experience the speed and the trauma of hitting someone and experiencing some discomfort. You want kids to experience that in practice because a game is not the time.

I remember I had a group of freshmen and we were just going half speed or less teaching them to run laterally, get in a good position to explode and then drive through the runner. I had one kid who was small and willing to stick his body in there so I threw the ball to a runner and I said go and I tackled the kid showing what I expected. After the kids got done picking up their tongues I realized I should not have done that for my own good.

In my opinion, the only way you will ever learn to track, gauge angles, learn to load up, explode, wrap up and keep your head up is to do roght and do it often and work up to full speed. If you don't, when you get in a game, the speed alone will throw you off and make you look silly.

 

[OzzyLvr_rivals293656]

our team knows how to tackle just fine. they did it all last year (for the most part) with several players being excellent tacklers. A lot that were on the field Saturday.

So are the coaches coaching different this year? IF we tackled fine last year, then something must have changed. I saw good form when a tackle was made it just seemed that our guys were a step or half-step out of position. Some of that is 1st game stuff. It's hard to simulate the speed & moves of the opponent even in a full-speed scrimmage. Our guys know our guys & what they will do. I was disappointed that it seemed to get worse as the game wore on and think much of that was from fatigue. 85 plays, or whatever NW had, is way too many for a defense. Making the correct reads quickly & taking the correct 1st step is the key. Our tackling techniques seemed fine. Just didn't get to see more of it.

 

[TruHusker]

So are the coaches coaching different this year? IF we tackled fine last year, then something must have changed. I saw good form when a tackle was made it just seemed that our guys were a step or half-step out of position. Some of that is 1st game stuff. It's hard to simulate the speed & moves of the opponent even in a full-speed scrimmage. Our guys know our guys & what they will do. I was disappointed that it seemed to get worse as the game wore on and think much of that was from fatigue. 85 plays, or whatever NW had, is way too many for a defense. Making the correct reads quickly & taking the correct 1st step is the key. Our tackling techniques seemed fine. Just didn't get to see more of it.

Not sure what you saw last year but I have never thought our Chins coached teams have been good tacklers. A lot of arm, reaching and throw your body type tackles but average at best. What made the team look better last year was simple the ability to get to the ball quicker/sooner by understanding the D. There are a lot of key in Chins D and a split second is all it takes to get you in a poor tackling position.

If you are not going against similar speed and power that you will see in a game, the temp alone will make it difficult to adjust to. Its like learning to drive in a 40mph zone and then expect to jump on I-80 and just go with the flow. A lot going on and much faster.

 

[OzzyLvr_rivals293656]

Not sure what you saw last year but I have never thought our Chins coached teams have been good tacklers. A lot of arm, reaching and throw your body type tackles but average at best. What made the team look better last year was simple the ability to get to the ball quicker/sooner by understanding the D. There are a lot of key in Chins D and a split second is all it takes to get you in a poor tackling position.

Which is exactly what I said - a step or half-step slow. Even the announcers complimented the correct form for tackling do maybe they don't know what they're talking about. When you get there slow, you don't have good form but when we did, the form was good. I'm not sure that #42 or #28 understood the D better last year but they were still slow & out of position this year & had to throw themselves at the ball carrier or attempt to arm tackle when they were even close enough to do that.

I was quoting @nostromo78 when referencing tackling all of last year.

 

[Hugo_Stiglitz7]

I taught freshmen to tackle and it is a huge challenge. You can talk about it, show them in slow motion, demonstrate, and prepare all you want. Eventually they have to experience the speed and the trauma of hitting someone and experiencing some miscomfort. You want kids to experience that because a game is not the time.

I remember I had a group of freshmen and we were just going half speed or less teaching them to run laterally, get in a good position to explode and then drive through the runner. I had one kid who was small and willing to stick his body in there so I threw the ball to a runner and I said go and I tackled the kid showing what I expected. After the kids got done picking up their tongues I realized I should not have done that for my own good.

In my opinion, the only way you will ever learn to track, gauge angles, learn to load up, explode, wrap up and keep your head up is to do and do it often and work up to full speed. If you don't, when you get in a game, the speed alone will throw you off and make you look silly.

Probably a stupid question, but:

Does it help for any defense staff to visit other teams and (especially good tackling units)? Learning their techniques and seeing how much real tackling they do?

 

[inthedeed]

out of control -you cant get a blowup asskickin tackle on every play, stay in control, head up, wrap up and ride em down on 90% of your tackles.
you have to practice this and end up looking like a dumbass at times.
wrap up and ride em and wait for the cavelry to knock em on their ***
we have some local stars that cant tackle, cant cover, and cant fill gaps -they play scared and tentative. entitled?

 

[TruHusker]

Probably a stupid question, but:

Does it help for any defense staff to visit other teams and (especially good tackling units)? Learning their techniques and seeing how much real tackling they do?

There are tons of instructional videos out there. You learn the basics in JH/HS but let's face it, kids get bigger and faster thr higher up you get in the food chain.

I can't even imagine teaching college kids to tackle in the world of spread O's.

 

[OzzyLvr_rivals293656]

https://www.coachrandyjackson.com/p...-yesterday-and-have-a-few-take-homes-to-share

All those 4 & 5 stars littering Alabama's roster & when they went good vs good, they still didn't take them to the ground. Are the concerned about getting someone hurt in practice?

 

[OzzyLvr_rivals293656]

I saw that and thought, what the **** are the walk-ons for?

Remember talking to a walkon RB in a class. Glorified tackling dummy for the defense.

Good point. However, when does the roster expand? IF you were talking with a walk-on in class, that meant they were already practicing. They can't start practicing until the 1st game OR the 1st day of school. When did classes begin at UNL? The rosters are limited to 105 until then. That does put a little limit on when they can be used as tackling dummies. That doesn't mean we don't have someone in the 105 that can be a tackling dummy but the 105 are the kids you expect to compete for a roster spot and get some plays this year.

 

[jteten]

Effort and aggressiveness. Defense needs some anger, arrogance.

 

[BugsAreQualityProtein]

Just confirms what we’ve suspected for a long time. Hopefully the coaching staff next year, whoever they are will you know….. coach.

 

[RedBaloneyPony]

I am no coach but to go full out in practice is foolish. You must develop players both mentally and physically. Physically by running for duration and running for flexibility and quick bursts etc. Mentally by teaching proper ways to tackle. Body placement , head , hands and feet etc. proper angles. Point of contact . Wrong point of contact makes tackling much harder. The collision associated with tackling can be experience under control conditions. Once you become battle harden you are ready to go. Either you love taking somebody’s head off or you do not. I as coach would never think live one on one hitting is the answer to making individual players better. You do limited live full hitting to find out who is tough and who will shrink back. It is to separate the players from the pretenders. It is not done to teach tackling.
Open field tackling involves judgement in addition to all of the above. It also involves watching much film of your opponent. How quick and what moves do they favor. If you find yourself out of position you are left to make the best of arm tackling. To find what players are doing wrong you got to go full out. Very dangerous in practice. After your first game you will know more about your team.

That is my opinion.

experience is the only way to learn

 

[catch54]

I have a huge problem with this quote from Chinander about tackling:
“It's a hard thing to handle because you can't tackle and you can't recreate those open space tackles a lot in college football and practice, unless you're gonna go tackle the ones. And I think we'd all feel terrible if one of our starting receivers, running backs, quarterback, whatever, got got hurt during that. So we've got to do a great job with drills, which I think we have some great drills.”

Maybe it’s not an exact replication of athleticism, but if he’s saying they have a giant roster of 3’s, 4’s and practice squad guys that can’t run in open space and make some cuts or shake moves to help the Defense practice, then I’m gonna call BS. Seriously, they have plenty of athletes around who are not the 1’s who can contribute to this task.

Further, going live with the 1’s is debatable, but I’m less concerned with injury risk when we’re not winning games at all with the 1’s. The team needs some g-damn development- whatever it takes.

More important is to get off the blocks against the ones.

 

[SuperBigFan]

Do colleges have rules on going live?

We do here at the HS tons of rules.

 

[SeaOfRed75]

Good point. However, when does the roster expand? IF you were talking with a walk-on in class, that meant they were already practicing. They can't start practicing until the 1st game OR the 1st day of school. When did classes begin at UNL? The rosters are limited to 105 until then. That does put a little limit on when they can be used as tackling dummies. That doesn't mean we don't have someone in the 105 that can be a tackling dummy but the 105 are the kids you expect to compete for a roster spot and get some plays this year.

This was in 95 or 96.

 

[OzzyLvr_rivals293656]

This was in 95 or 96.

Different rules back then.