Teams see rugby-style tackling as heady move
LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska safety Nate Gerry was ejected from back-to-back games last season because officials ruled he targeted receivers above the shoulders when tackling them.
This year, Gerry and his teammates are transitioning to a tackling method whose objectives are to eliminate dangerous helmet-to-helmet contact while making defenders dominant tacklers.
Nebraska is the latest program to adopt rugby-style tackling. As in rugby, where players wear no helmets, the tackle is made by driving a shoulder into or near the ball-carrier’s hip, wrapping him up and taking him to the ground. Though the hip is the ideal target, it could be anywhere between the knees and armpit. All the while the defender’s head remains to the side of the ball-carrier’s body, away from the tackle contact zone.
In a sport beleaguered by concussion concerns, rugby-style has been touted as a safer way to tackle, and teams can practice it with or without helmets and pads.
Traditionally, defenders in football have been instructed to put their heads across the body of the ball-carrier to stop forward momentum.
“It takes a while for us to get the basics down to where it comes to muscle memory,” Gerry said. “The science behind it, the explosion of power and using your hips more ... I like it. It’s supposed to be just as violent but safer than what we’ve been learning.”
Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was among the first to promote rugby tackling in football. He and assistant Rocky Seto worked with rugby great Waisale Serevi to develop what became known as the “Hawk Tackle,” the technique that’s subject of a popular 2014 video that circulated through coaching circles and was updated last year .
Serevi’s Seattle-based company, Atavus, was founded in 2010 to promote and develop the growth of rugby in the U.S. It added a football division in 2015 to partner with college, high school and youth programs to teach rugby tackling.
Nebraska joined Ohio State, Washington and Rutgers as Atavus college clients. Nebraska is paying $100,000 in 2016 and $80,000 in 2017. Atavus is providing 400 hours a year of services, including the training of coaches, designing drills, detailed analyses of tackling execution in practice and games, and access to an online portal where staff can obtain reports and other materials.
In 2014, among the players who were helmetless for tackle drills, there was a 28 percent decrease in head impacts in full-squad contact practices.
