How is Texas' tackling during 2022 training camp?
The name of the game is tackle football, which means tackling is one of the basic principles of the sport. Do it well and it likely leads to success, at least on defense. If tackling is a team weakness, contests will prove difficult to win.
[Get FOUR MONTHS of Inside Texas Plus for $1!]
Each preseason, Inside Texas asks the Texas Longhorns head coach a simple question: how is tackling going? UT head coach Steve Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski provided these answers one year ago. In the season that followed, PFF College’s metrics say the Longhorns missed 15 percent of their tackle opportunities during the 5-7 2021 campaign.
After a handful of full-contact practices and with a scrimmage coming on Saturday, how does Sarkisian think his team is tackling during the 2022 preseason?
“I think we’ve tackled well, better than we did a year ago,” Sarkisian said Thursday. “I would say that, one, we’re tackling better, two, our pursuit and our effort to the ball is better defensively so that when a missed tackle may occur — which it is football, they do happen especially when you’ve got good players on offense — that the next guys are there to get that player on the ground.”
Sarkisian noted that during the first scrimmage held on the 13th, one of his critiques was that he didn’t see his team pursue to the ball as well as he would have liked. Since then?
“I think that our effort has drastically improved defensively coupled with I think that our tackling has improved,” Sarkisian said. “When the missed tackles have occurred, it sure feels like there’s a lot more white hats around the ball.”
Practicing tackling requires coaches to walk a fine line. There are drills using padded donuts, dummies, and various pieces of equipment to help players improve their ability to bring a ball-carrier to the ground. The best way to practice tackling, though, is to tackle.
However, it’s not feasible to live tackle every day, or else injuries stack up. Texas works around this in a unique way. When it’s a fully-padded day, there are some drills where Texas players do every part of full-contact tackling except bringing the player to the ground. There are other periods when they do tackle to the ground, and scrimmages are full-contact to the ground for everyone but quarterbacks.
While that may keep players healthier over the course of camp, it does have some slight drawbacks like tackling being a little more hit-or-miss in the early portions of the season. That’s why pursuit to the football has been a major emphasis during this training camp for the Longhorns.
“You’ve got to make sure you’ve got more and more hats around that ball to not just get the man on the ground, but hopefully get a punch-out,” Sarkisian said.
Sarkisian said players are taking more pride in improved pursuit and that his staff is sure to celebrate it both on the field and in meetings. In addition to helping bring ball-carriers down, pursuit may also help turn the ball over. Texas was tied for 93rd in turnover margin last year, forcing only 14 turnovers in 12 games.
After one scrimmage where Sarkisian said the defense recorded three interceptions and forced four fumbles across 100-plus plays, one thing he’s noted from the improved pursuit is his defense creating more changes in possession.
“That ball comes loose, we’re getting fumbles,” Sarkisian said. “That’s one thing I think I’ve seen defensively. When there is tips and overthrows, when the ball is getting knocked out, it sure feels like we’re recovering a lot of those on defense right now as opposed to a year ago.”
Tackling is one of the main areas where Texas can make the most improvement entering the 2022 season. The progress there won’t be truly known until September 3 versus Louisiana Monroe and September 10 versus Alabama, but so far through camp Sarkisian has seen what he believes is better tackling.
