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How is Texas' tackling during training camp?

Joe Cookby: Joe Cook08/19/21josephcook89
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Marcus Washington flies during Texas' 2021 spring game following a tackle from Christian Tschauner (Tim Warner/Getty)

With the name of the game being “tackle football,” a massive amount of importance is placed upon the ability to corral a ball-carrier and bring him to the ground. Since the 10-4 2018 season, Texas has rarely approached excellence in tackling, one of the foundational aspects of the sport.

Rod Babers, a former All-American defensive back for the Longhorns and current host on 104.9 The Horn in Austin, has closely followed the Longhorns’ tackling efforts over the past three seasons. There has been some improvement in tackling since 2018, particularly under Chris Ash in the 2020 season. However, the numbers indicate Texas still missed a tackle on double-digit occasions per game.

This was while facing almost 80 plays per game in 2020, up from around 72 plays per game in 2018 and 2019.

Ash replaced Todd Orlando, whose defenses presented many failures both schematically and fundamentally during the 2019 season. The tackling issues were most glaring when Texas played Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl and surrendered a 51-yard touchdown to CeeDee Lamb. The current Dallas Cowboy evaded what seemed like half of the Texas defense on the way to the end zone, including several poor tackle attempts.

Orlando’s tackling method emphasized effort level and creating violent collisions but offered little as far as fundamental instruction of what to do upon meeting the ball-carrier, with continued evidence of this emanating from Southern California.

The method Ash utilized was the Atavus tackling system, where he is one of the featured testimonials on the Atavus website. Atavus is commonly associated with the head-up “rugby tackling” technique. Its use is common in Texas since the University Interscholastic League requires Texas high school football coaches to receive Atavus certification every two years.

When asked about tackling on Tuesday, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian mentioned he was not aware of the Atavus system. His defensive coordinator, Pete Kwiatkowski, indicated Wednesday they taught a tackling method analogous to Atavus.

“It’s rugby style,” Kwiatkowski said on Wednesday. “We’re going to go near-foot, near-shoulder. Head to the side. I’m trying to get the head out of the tackle. We feel it’s a more effective tackle when you get in deep. We show clips of the rugby guys and how physical they are, it does not take anything away from our physicality. And it’s obviously safer and it’s a more efficient tackle.”

Kwiatkowski said he believes taking the head out of the tackle allows defenders to keep leverage against ball-carriers when tackling and limits cutback opportunities. In order to drill the rugby tackling style, they practice all the different stages of a tackle. Sometimes the drill is simply about being in the right position and done without contact in order to keep the hit count at a reasonable number for preseason camp.

“We’ve got take the air out, contact phase, we go near-foot, near-shoulder, the finish phase where you’re wrapping and running your feet and taking him on the ground,” Kwiatkowski said. “It’s a lot of tracking drills. We don’t want to beat these guys up. There’s a lot of it broken down into pieces, and we just keep drilling it, drilling it, drilling it.”

Sarkisian noticed players ‘gravitating’ toward PK’s tackling style

On Tuesday, Sarkisian noted his perception of Texas’ efforts throughout camp under Kwiatkowski’s instruction, saying it had gradually improved “like anything in camp.”

“We are working on our fundamentals and our techniques of tackling,” Sarkisian said. “I think we’re seeing some guys really gravitating to that and understanding it and doing it well. We have other guys not, and like anything that’s like route running or ball security or whatever that is, we’ve got to coach them all and try to put them in the best position to be safe and put them in the best position to be successful to get people on the ground.”

Cover photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images

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