“For sure,” he said on the first day of spring practice this week.
That means continuing to work to keep the head out of tackling by teaching players to initiate contact at the nearest leg, hip or shoulder instead of trying to cut the ball-carrier off across his entire body. “What we all taught going back to Woody Hayes was head across the bow, head across the bow,” Knowles said, referencing the Hall of Fame Ohio State coach born in Clifton.
“When you’re making a tackle we don’t use the head anymore, so you don’t teach that. So now you teach near leg, near shoulder profile because you’re keeping your head out of that.
“So everything we do is really based off of those principles keeping your head out of it, and it all turns into rugby tackle. It really does. We are not harping on those major contact collisions. In practice even when we get pads on, we’re not. Football is a physical game, and it’s going to happen, but we’re really teaching angles. Keep your head out of it. Use that rugby approach.”
When Ash overhauled Ohio State’s tackling eight years ago, he quickly learned the new approach was not only more effective because it came more naturally to players but could be repped even without pads.
That provides a double benefit because it can be practiced more while hitting less.
“I think the whole sport has now changed, but the bottom line is you don’t you don’t have to practice bringing guys to the ground,” Knowles said. “It’s all about position tackling. It’s technique and timing. So what I’m looking for out there I call it ‘owning your hip.’ And you can do this all year long. You don’t need pads on. You just have to own your hip.”
Pro Football Focus graded the Buckeyes 78th in tackling nationally last season while Oklahoma State — where Knowles was the defensive coordinator for the past five seasons — was 47th.
Buckeyes who played at least half the team’s defensive snaps and recorded an average-or-better tackling grade were safety Bryson Shaw (84.7, which is just below all-star level on the PFF grading scale), end J.T. Tuimoloau (82.5), cornerback Denzel Burke (76.1, “starter level”), tackle Taron Vincent (72.9) and end Zach Harrison (72.1).
Knowles noted stressing position in tackling also lends itself to gang tackling and helps players corral the ball-carrier, leaving no escape even if the first defender misses.
“He’s just got to be in good position, and he’s got to tag the hip, and then I got to have another guy here with his near leg up and he’s got to tag the hip,” Knowles said. “And you can do that all over the field, and you don’t ever really have to tackle anybody if you’re in the right position.”
Knowles added the approach also makes missed tackles less conspicuous.
“The ones that stand out are when a guy loses leverage and the ball cuts back and it looks bad and there’s nobody else there on the defense,” Knowles said. “So it’s all about timing, technique, and angles.
“We’re on them all the time about tagging hips and being in position with your near foot up. That’s it. You have to mentally tackle even when you’re not (physically tackling). The adjustment has to go in your mind to your foot, to your hands. And you have to say, ‘OK, I’m going to tackle that guy right there.’ And when you do that, and if you do it over and over and over again — I think if you look at the teams that I’ve 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 timing, technique and angles.
“Base it on your hip. It’s an 11-man game. If you’re going to miss, let him miss. It’s OK if they miss aggressively on the proper side of the runner.”
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