Over the past few weeks, in the wake of the Ivy League banning tackling during the season, there has been a heated debate over whether you can create a physical team without tackling at practice. Coaches around the country seem split.
David Shaw believes that it is impossible to create tough teams without physical, tough practices, and last week Tulane head coach Willie Fritz explained that it is possible...but it's an art.
Well out at South Carolina, Will Muschamp not only believes it's possible to build a tough team without tackling, he also laid out his plan to do it during his presser today.
"You can be very, very physical and never tackle to the ground. We call it a 'thud tempo'." Muschamp, who isn't the first - or only - coach to follow this thinking, explained.
"I heard that there was a league that outlawed tackling during the season, well we never tackle during the season. You can be very, very physical in what you do and stay up high. You look at the NFL, when I was in the National Football League, we never went to the ground, we never scrimmage tackled. We just didn't do that, it's not what we did."
"But we taught our guys that part of being a good team is being able to practice the right way, and a lot of our teaching goes in to teaching how to practice the right way. We have certain tempos to practice and in our 'thud' tempo, no one is one the ground. We don't cut block, we stay up high."
Muschamp goes on to explain how a "thud tempo" of practice actually helps develop better, safer tacklers.
"The worst thing that you can do is best at the waist, which causes you to duck your head, and that's normally when injuries come in to play. In order to be a really good tackler, you've got to be able to bring your feet on tackles, take the extra step, get to handshake distance, keep your head up, and make what I call a chest-to-chest tackle. That's how you tackle really good, but you've got to be able to bring your feet, and in order to be a really good thud tackler, that helps you be a really good tackler on game day."
Hear more from Muschamp below.