Tackling

[Woodpecker]

I posted this yesterday and I don't know if it was rightfully ignored or simply buried but I wondered why players exhibit such poor tackling skills. I had a lengthy conversation with my brother-in-law about this on Saturday. Do coaches need to teach players at this level how to tackle? Shouldn't they have demonstrated some tackling proficiency before they even get an offer from a Div I school? If they have problems bringing runners down, why would a Div I coach think they should play them on the defensive side of the ball? Do they exhibit good tackling in practice (assuming that the best are then chosen to then start) and not in the game? Do players forget how to tackle?

 

[royboy]

Did you have specific player observations? When I watched the replay of the PSU--Minnesota game yesterday, I was impressed with the way #43, Manny Bowen, tackles.

 

[sluggo72]

I think its a combination of a lot of things, including desire to tackle, the fact that some of our guys out there are not the best athletes and that causes them to be out of a position to tackle, I think some of our guys are playing by 'wrote' , that is I step here, then I step here then I do this etc, thinking instead of playing. This all said somebody taught #15 (?) to tackle, that was text book.

 

[LaJolla Lion]

I posted this yesterday and I don't know if it was rightfully ignored or simply buried but I wondered why players exhibit such poor tackling skills. I had a lengthy conversation with my brother-in-law about this on Saturday. Do coaches need to teach players at this level how to tackle? Shouldn't they have demonstrated some tackling proficiency before they even get an offer from a Div I school? If they have problems bringing runners down, why would a Div I coach think they should play them on the defensive side of the ball? Do they exhibit good tackling in practice (assuming that the best are then chosen to then start) and not in the game? Do players forget how to tackle?

Youth often leads to poor tackling. This team also didn't have as much contact the last 2 years due to the roster being short. You also need to realize tackling overall at every level simply is not that good.

 

[cjrugger]

Teams dont tackle live nearly as much as they used to due to injury/concussion concerns (especially true for our team). Plus these kids grew up in the 'jacked up' era so fundamentals weren't nearly as important as they were in previous generations. Its not a PSU thing, its a football wide thing

 

[nits74]

Teams dont tackle live nearly as much as they used to due to injury/concussion concerns (especially true for our team). Plus these kids grew up in the 'jacked up' era so fundamentals weren't nearly as important as they were in previous generations. Its not a PSU thing, its a football wide thing

Correct, there are far fewer full contact practices now than in the past.

 

[BBG65]

Yeah, poor tackling is often caused by the player being a step slow or not quick or accurate enough on their reads or taking a bad angle. As said, hitting/live action is limited in practice. The hours that you're allowed to hit in practice is strictly limited by rule both in high school and the pros. I assume it is in college also. That's why game experience is so important.

 

[tez101]

it's an issue all over the country. kids aren't as tough as they used to be. did you see the attempted "tackle" on the Charles td by #4? I mean, it's one thing to get completely di(ked like what happened to the safety on the Barkley TD (also #4), but that was egregious. Shame on you, #4.

 

[royboy]

Specific player observations....The entire secondary and half of the LB corps.

Not to single out our kids exclusively but the Minny secondary was hideous as well. I am beginning to get a sense that secondary play nationwide has morphed into a bunch of "Deon Sanders" cover specialists.

No doubt the Minny secondary had a huge miss on Irvin Charles long TD. On the other hand, they were in our backfield frequently and were able to bring down Barkley. #11 Winfield and a LB #13 Celestin looked like good tacklers and good defenders overall.

I'll stipulate to the general point about a decline in tackling skills at PSU and elsewhere in college football.

 

[LaJolla Lion]

Not to be argumentative but I disagree with your first two sentences and agree with the last. If we are afraid of practice injuries, then practice technique using dummies. It doesn't all have to be live scrimmages

Having said that I agree with your last sentence. I see poor tackling all over the place now that the game is inching towards "flag football".

Most younger players are not good tacklers or as good as they are a few years in. Cam Brown weight 215 soaking wet, but I'll bet he tackles better at 240 and knows which angles to take. Technique is great with dummies, but it's not live action. Dummies can't stiff arm or make a move. Feel free to disagree.

 

[Woodpecker]

Did you have specific player observations? When I watched the replay of the PSU--Minnesota game yesterday, I was impressed with the way #43, Manny Bowen, tackles.

Yeah, I don't like to call out specific players but I wondered whether one LB that I noticed had been a good tackler at one time - good enough to get an offer to play linebacker from Penn State - but somehow now was unable to make those same tackles. Some posters have implied that the players aren't being "coached up" to be able to tackle but again I wondered how they got to Penn State without already having that skill.

 

[LaJolla Lion]

Im glad you mentioned that. Watch this week and tell me how many guys put there heads in front, stick with the shoulder and wrap between ball carriers mid section? That's not a complicated concept to grasp. Most guys never have the head in front and are grabbing the shoulder/heat region. BTW, I don't think speed is our biggest cause for this our guys are getting to the ball carrier. Some are not but most are.

So you think they are not shown proper technique? Bowen seems to be getting better with what.....PT. You have a ton of LB's with no experience which does not help. I don't think they are told to throw a shoulder and not wrap. They weren't told to do that at any level.

 

[Lion78]

Young linebackers are out of position which leads to poor technique as they are not able to "bring their feet with them" when they don't know where their feet are supposed to be. When in position most show solid tackling technique.

 

[tez101]

Being a former wrestler really helps with tackling form. #47 was a good wrestler in HS. Not sure if any of the other LB's wrestled.

 

[tez101]

Being a former wrestler really helps with tackling form. #47 was a good wrestler in HS. Not sure if any of the other LB's wrestled.

Jan Johnson is another one...

 

[ForesterGump]

Its always great when your offense can make the defense miss a tackle. But, when your defense misses tackles, it's because of poor tackling. With all the high scoring games that you're seeing, seems like a lot of teams have tackling problems. Or maybe the technique of causing someone to miss a tackle has evolved.

 

[gogolion]

Most younger players are not good tacklers or as good as they are a few years in. Cam Brown weight 215 soaking wet, but I'll bet he tackles better at 240 and knows which angles to take. Technique is great with dummies, but it's not live action. Dummies can't stiff arm or make a move. Feel free to disagree.

I hate to single out a particular player, but I agree about Cam Brown. His weight and inexperience seem to play a big role in his tackling woes. He is overmatched at times, in terms of size and he is out of position at times presumably due to inexperience. That being said, he was thrown into action unexpectedly and he shows flashes of great ability. Add 20 lbs. in the off season and he will be a good one next year after this season of baptism by fire.

 

[gogolion]

Jan Johnson is another one...

Not only did he wrestle in high school, he wrestled for Penn State last year!

 

[PSU_Nut]

I posted this yesterday and I don't know if it was rightfully ignored or simply buried but I wondered why players exhibit such poor tackling skills. I had a lengthy conversation with my brother-in-law about this on Saturday. Do coaches need to teach players at this level how to tackle? Shouldn't they have demonstrated some tackling proficiency before they even get an offer from a Div I school? If they have problems bringing runners down, why would a Div I coach think they should play them on the defensive side of the ball? Do they exhibit good tackling in practice (assuming that the best are then chosen to then start) and not in the game? Do players forget how to tackle?

Yes they still practice tackling. You rep it until it get second nature. The problem is not they don't know how to tackle. Every player on the team know how to. The problem is being in proper position to make the tackle. There no way to teach proper tackling for those out of position.

 

[LuvDaLions]

Youth often leads to poor tackling. This team also didn't have as much contact the last 2 years due to the roster being short. You also need to realize tackling overall at every level simply is not that good.

I thought that Minnesota's tackling was superb all afternoon, they missed on very few.

 

[LaJolla Lion]

I thought that Minnesota's tackling was superb all afternoon, they missed on very few.

They missed on Charles big TD and Barkley's OT TD. Two pretty big plays IMO in addition to more. I thought they did do a good job of tackling Barkley, but that was him going east/west and not North and South due to the jail break by the young OG's and senior C.

 

[royboy]

They missed on Charles big TD and Barkley's OT TD. Two pretty big plays IMO in addition to more. I thought they did do a good job of tackling Barkley, but that was him going east/west and not North and South due to the jail break by the young OG's and senior C.

No doubt about missing on Charles' big TD. Barkley's TD -- not sure you would call that a missed tackle....it was more a big-time move that left the defender's jock on the field. Yeah, he missed the tackle, but it wasn't much about his tackling technique; you've got to get your hands on the ball carrier to have a chance.

I'd also put a slight disclaimer on the jail breaks up the middle to capture Barkley for losses. Those were nearly all run blitzes by LBs and Safeties. Which doesn't mean our OL couldn't have done better, but the overload was tough.

 

[rohrmd9]

Here's the other thing to think about. This is D1 FBS football. How do you get to this level without a solid base in fundamentals?

Because recruiters/coaches only give a crap about measurables. How fast is the kid, how much can he bench, how high can he jump, how big is he. They drool over his highlight reel. They don't bother to look at or worry about fundamentals. They just want athletes.

 

[Langmuir]

Because recruiters/coaches only give a crap about measurables. How fast is the kid, how much can he bench, how high can he jump, how big is he. They drool over his highlight reel. They don't bother to look at or worry about fundamentals. They just want athletes.

Just to add to this, many of these kids were the best athlete on the field when they were in high school. They could easily bring most runners down without great technique.

 

[getmyjive11]

Tackling has improved from game one of this year (where it was absolutely atrocious). It could definitely be better, but tackling in general is poor across all of college football.