By Matt McCarty, Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator
Northwestern College (IA)
With governing bodies adapting new rules that limit practice time and the number of hours of contact, the importance of teaching proper tackle technique without pads on has increased. We have taken several tackle drills and modified them to be able to perform without pads. Many times we will utilize these drills as part of our warm-up to off-season workouts but we will also use them during the season in our pre-practice drill segments. We have found they are a very effective way to continue to improve and build solid tackling fundamentals.
There are many different terms that are used when teaching tackling fundamentals. Regardless of the approach used, it is extremely important to teach tacklers to keep their heads out of the tackle. The teaching cues we use are:
1) Chest to Chest
2) Bring the Hips
3) Club the Arms
4) Finish
We want tacklers to be thick. Most tackles are not going to be ideal form tackles but we still want our tacklers to be thick on the ball carrier and try to stamp the ball carrier with their front number. Being thick with the chest keeps the head out of the tackle and helps the tackler avoid using the top of his shoulders, thus bringing the head down. Next, we want to bring the hips on contact and go “through not to” the ball carrier. Finally, we club and grab jersey with the arms and finish trying to take the ball carrier back in the direction he came from.
A few of the non-padded drills we use are adaptations of different box tackle drills. In each drill, we are looking for the tackler to close the distance and be in good tackling position with chest and head up, hips down and arms ready to club through. To finish the drill, we want the tackler to tag off on the runner below the waist with hands up. This helps them avoid reaching to try to make the tackle. If they have to reach, they are not in good tackling position. We will initially start with 10 x 10 yard boxes but as we improve with technique, we may make the drills more difficult by making the boxes bigger or having the defender start on his knees or belly facing the wrong direction. These are simple variables to help simulate being in a less that desirable position to make a play.
Drills:
Box Angle Tackle – Look to close distance and be in good position to make the tackle.
Tackler closes chest to chest, eyes and head up and hips down. Tackler and running back can be placed on same side, opposite sides or starting from the middle (Diagram 1)
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Box Sideline Tackle – Tackler starts facing the x and must spin toward inside of box and attack hip of ball carrier. If he gets too far over the top of the RB, he then opens a cutback seam. This drill teaches good tackling angles (Diagram 2).
Diagram 2
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2 on 1 Box Tackle – Tacklers work together to keep RB inside and in front of them. The tacklers want to close the distance and attack the hips of the ball carrier while staying square so they do not open a seam (Diagram 3).
Diagram 3
