Jancek: Bad tackling 'obvious'

I like Jancek's candor. We're simply not strong on some of the fundamentals. Not unique to UT, as other teams exhibit poor tackling too, but a bigger problem for a defense that lacks speed.

Fifteen years ago, I attended the annual Big Orange Picnic in Nashville. While standing in line, I struck up a conversation with a gentleman who said he was 85 years old - and that he had played for neyland.

During his first practice, Neyland asked him what position he played. He answered, "running back." Neyland said, "We don't have running backs. We only have blockers and tacklers. Which one are you?"

Apparently, this staff subscribes to this principle.

You can make football as complicated and intricate as you want, but it always gets back to blocking and tackling.

In the Neyland biography, there is a story of a reporter asking Neyland which one of his plays was designed to get a touchdown when he really needed one. neyland answered, "They are ALL designed to get a touchdown if everyone makes his block."

Again, it is the same principle.

I am glad we are focusing on blocking and tackling.

while i agree it probably would have taken more time to implement the new D last year ,especially from the standpoint of recruiting the right athletes to run it , but when a player cannot tackle correctly , and that is a basic fundamental of football it clearly shows poor coaching no matter how you break it down . To me the most intelligent /encouraging part of this article was when Jancek remarked" no use to continue to try to teach the the new system until they learn how to tackle" . i guess i see why recruits dig these fellows !

I dont know about the impact of the new scheme implementation last year....i mean, it's not like we were running some exotic schemes. And we probably ran as much 4-3 as 3-4. Frankly, neither seemed very effective. I would suspect, as has been said before, it was much more about the jimmy's and Joe's than the x's and o's. Now, could the jimmy's and joe's have been coached up to play better...? guess we will find out this year..

(1) Running multiple front schemes adds complexity, so switching between 3-4 and 4-3 isn't really an easy thing to do

(2) Any 3-4 scheme is a 2-gap read for both the linemen and the linebackers, meaning they all have to make decisions instead of focusing their energy on blowing up one gap/player

(3) Schematically, a lot was asked of our safeties that they couldn't necessarily execute at game speed. The current coaching staff actually said as much in reference to Byron Moore.

We didn't have world-class athletes, but they were better than their statistical performance. I don't think 2012's defense had worse athletes than 2010's defense, for instance.

It's tempting to look back and say things like this, but the world's just not that simple, unfortunately. Actually, that's not all bad. If it were that simple, we'd all be gravely concerned that Thigpen and Martinez came from Auburn, who last year finished 13th to our 14th in SEC defense. Sure don't think the slow DB's at Pro Day are any real reflection on the previous staff - they coached them one year and didn't even recruit them. The old saying goes, you can't coach speed, and it's very true.

I do agree with the sentiment that the defense could make dramatic improvements from last year, mainly based on how a similar roster performed in 2011. Sure hope you're right that things do indeed look way different this year.

Hope you're right.

But tackling was an identified concern last year, without question. Spent a good portion of our off week on tackling technique. Here's a big ol' article about tackling, including Conklin bellowing away at them, loud enough to be heard two blocks away.

All staffs talk about tackling - like you, I sure hope this one is able to make a big difference there.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/oct/03/vols-defenders-get-extra-tackling-practice/