Improvement in tackling a priority for WVU this spring
West Virginia had a tackling issue.
Often missed tackles would lead to much bigger plays on the defensive side of the ball a year ago, an issue that was never really corrected through the course of the season.
This spring defensive coordinator Tony Gibson is making sure it does.
The Mountaineers have placed a strong emphasis on improving in that department by honing in on techniques, form, footwork and other departments to become more efficient there and simply make the plays.
Far too often a season ago, West Virginia would have players attempting to tackle with kill shots from their shoulders or lose their feet and spill to the ground allowing routine plays to become significant ones.
“We’re studying film and watching what our biggest problem was and it all comes down to that,” Gibson said of his team’s efforts this spring.
That film work led to uncovering some bad trends which has prompted an overhaul to the practice.
Through the first week and change of spring drills, West Virginia didn’t go into any fully-padded live tackling situations but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of work being done. Daily, the Mountaineers have focused on a tackling circuit with four rotating stations.
“We’ve hit that every single day,” Gibson said.
Although the team isn’t going live every single day, there are some positives to glean from it as it allows the coaching staff to see what players are doing wrong from a technique standpoint.
Then they can begin the process of trying to correct those issues, instead of compounding on bad habits.
Bad habits were one of the key catalysts in the struggles of West Virginia in the department of getting ball carriers to the ground last season as players would often revert to leading with their shoulder and not wrapping up to complete the process of the tackle.
“It’s good in the teaching progression and how we want to get it done with no pads on,” Gibson said.
It's a trend that is becoming more common across college football as teams are scaling back the intensity of hitting and tackling during practice and focusing on other ways to improve in that area. But that doesn't mean they won't tackle in the traditional sense.
Once practice becomes more physical, the goals won’t change for Gibson and his coaching staff as they look to focus on form tackling and preventing lapses.
There they will continue to track performance in the area and which players are making the necessary leaps.
Tackling is priority number one and it’s easy to see why after the issues last year.
“We want to make sure we’re doing it the right way,” Gibson said.
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