Tackling - Still the Key to Successful Defensive Play
by Orv OttenDefensive Coordinator, Upper Iowa University

At every level of football and in every historical era of the game, tackling has always been, and will always be, the most important skill for defensive players to execute. Like all defensive coaches, we have several tackling drills in our arsenal.
Before these three drills are described, it will help to describe the basic components of the tackling technique that we teach.
Basic components of tackling technique:
Leverage – the tackler takes away one direction for th