Since becoming a head coach five years ago, and having to make some tough decisions on the best way to do things as a program, I've come to realize that there are a handful of things (beyond schemes) that divide the coaching community where both sides are really passionate.
One of those things is whether or not to tackle to the ground in practice.
On one side, coaches believe it's impossible to expect guys to perform at their best on game day if you don't tackle to the ground during live periods of practice, and those on the other side of the argument believe that when proper leverage and tagging off on the hip is used, tackling live to the ground isn't necessary and it keeps guys fresher.
Over the last several years, the NCAA and state associations have cracked down on the amount of "live" time in practices, where opportunities for live tackling is limited, but the argument remains.
After his first spring practice at Ohio State, new Buckeyes defensive coordinator Jim Knowles shared his thoughts on the topic to lead off his presser yesterday, and provided some great perspective as only someone who has coordinated some of the top defenses in college football can.
"You don't have to practice bringing guys to the ground. You can't," the 2021 FootballScoop Defensive Coordinator of the Year shares. "We're trying to save bodies, and the amount of blows a guy's body takes is really important to us."
Knowles goes on to share that his philosophy really changed a few years ago after one his best friends passed and had his brain donated for concussion research.
"The bottom line is you don't have to practice by taking guys to the ground. Tackling, it's all about position. Tackling is all about technique and timing. So what I'm looking for out there, is what I call 'owning the hip.' It's something that you can do all year long, and you don't need pads on," Knowles shares before standing up to demonstrate on the microphone.
"If you are in the right position, and you teach them that it's okay to miss tackles if you're in the right position, because when you're looking at it as a fan, if you see a guy fly by and miss but he is on the right angle, you're not going to pay much attention to it because there is going to be another guy right there and you're not going to miss badly and there's going to be another guy in position to make the tackle."
"The ones that stand out are the ones where the guy loses leverage and it looks bad as the the ball cuts back and there is no one else there on the defense. So it's all about timing, technique and angles , and if we are on them all the time about tagging hips and being in position with the near foot up, that's it."
"You've got to mentally tackle, even when you're not . The adjustment has to go in your mind, to your foot, to your hands and you have to say to yourself, 'Ok, I'm going to tackle that guy right there.' When you do that, and you do it over and over and over again and you look at the teams that I have had in the past, we were great tacklers but we never tackled in practice we just worked and harped all the time on position and where you're at on the sideline, and where you are at on the field and it's an 11-man game if you're going to miss."
"Let them miss. It's ok if they miss aggressively and they miss on the proper side of the runner."
Hear more on Knowles philosophy on tackling in the clip.