Chris Ash Defense

[LTtxfan 50,036]

Guess it's time to start this thread...

CHRIS ASH RESPONSIBLE FOR MOVE TO RUGBY TACKLING  (Ohio State)

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/comments_load/62319/anon/0/nojs

 

Urban Meyer, Ohio State

Q: Rutgers coach Chris Ash brought rugby-style tackling to Ohio State when he was your defensive coordinator. Are you still doing it?

A: "Chris is the one who brought it to Coach (Luke) Fickell and myself. At first, we were both very apprehensive. I said, 'No, we're going to do what we do.' We were a very average tackling team. Then he showed me a video tape and research. He was persistent. We went from a very average tackling team to the fewest missed tackles in college football under Chris. We are certainly still doing it. It's still pretty good. We lost so many good players that we work on tackling more now."

[Zharkov 295]

Does this mean we'll also get some non-kicker Aussies on the team?  Some pipe hittin', kangaroo punching goons might be nice...

[LTtxfan 50,036]

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/2015/04/52228/video-heres-pete-carroll-explaining-rugby-tackling-which-revolutionized-ohio-states-defenseIf

VIDEO: HERE'S PETE CARROLL EXPLAINING RUGBY TACKLING, WHICH REVOLUTIONIZED OHIO STATE'S DEFENSE.   By D.J. Byrnes on April 7, 2015

Remember in 2013 when Ohio State was bad at tackling? Those were not fun times. But then Urban Meyer brought in Chris Ash, and well, the fruits of the hire played out on national television back in January.

So what kind of tweaks did Ash make? (Here's Ross a year ago asking schematic questions.) Allow Chris Ash himself to tell you the biggest change Ohio State made, via Scout.com:

"The No. 1 thing I'll tell you is we've become a rugby tackling team," Ash said, explaining he was inspired to learn more about such a method after seeing an instructional video from Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll last summer. The video has become very popular over the past couple of years within football circles.

Kerry Coombs concurred today after Ohio State's ninth spring practice:

So what is rugby tackling? Sit back and allow Super Bowl champion Pete Carroll to elaborate on that.

 

Edited December 16, 2019 by LTtxfan

[Hiphopopotamos 21,192]

https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2014/5/12/5675862/ohio-state-defensive-coordinator-2014-chris-ash

 

Chris Ash and modern defense

Ash had been making a steady rise up the coaching ranks for the last half-decade before Urban Meyer called him up to Columbus.

The 4-3 over, quarters-based defense Ash runs is becoming a mainstay in college football for the way in answers some of the challenges of handling spread tactics.

The main selling point of the over front is that it's designed to feature speed, and defenses already need to get speed on the field in order to handle the amount of space that spread offenses are putting them in. The defensive ends are protected from double teams by alignment, and the outside linebackers can be speedy or hybrid players who live on the edge.

Next, the quarters coverage that defines Ash's defense satisfies the first question all defensive coverages have to ask in today's world: "is it sound against four verticals?" Defenses that can't put their players in position to defend verticals-based passing attacks have fallen by the wayside, as they fail to protect the end zone from easy access.

The other selling point of the 4-3 over/quarters is its variations. Ash has a few checks and versions to his quarters coverage that provide his system with flexibility. This is his vehicle for completing the quest all defensive coaches are on: how to be simple and sound against so many different offenses.

Because of the rise of tempo and spread option tactics like packaged plays, it's becoming increasingly difficult to play sound defense against everything your opponent can throw at you. As Ash notes on this primer on cover 2 fire zones, the more you install in your defense, the more your players have to be aware of the potentially disastrous mistakes that can arise.

Ash's main response to that is to build his base defense around the over front and quarters coverages, then rely on playing solid on first and second down. That affords opportunities for blitzing on third down, when the offense slows down to take a breath and reach for the right play.

Ultimately, it's an approach designed around spilling the ball to the perimeter and then beating plays with pursuit and hard-filling safeties:

When the defensive backfield plays with proper leverage and response to plays and the safeties can cover ground and tackle, it's a defense that becomes very difficult to drive the length of the field against.

The challenge is engraining those responses and points on leverage to the team. Even with a pared-down playbook and a base structure designed to adapt and respond to any offense, quick tempo and diverse opponents mean that players are responsible for a considerable amount of on-field adjustments and communication. Other teams that utilize this style of defense will prioritize veteran leadership over other considerations, in order to keep their players in sound position.

 

[Hiphopopotamos 21,192]

https://www.landgrantholyland.com/2014/1/15/5310280/how-new-ohio-state-dc-chris-ash-attacks-the-zone-read

 

Chris Ash is one of the brighter young, defensive minds in college football. He has a very stern teaching method and preaches fundamentals and discipline on defense. For the majority of his career, he has been a secondary coach, but his role has expanded since 2011 when he took on defensive play calling responsibilities. I personally believe he will overtake Luke Fickell as the defensive play caller and Buckeye fans will be seeing a much more aggressive defense next season.

When watching Ash's video that talks about how he pressures versus the zone read, a couple of things stand out: He is an excellent teacher who answers questions immediately, without much over thinking; it comes naturally to him. Ash is very aggressive and loves to bring pressure, making the offense react to his defense, not the other way around. He preaches the details and even showed the other coaches in the room techniques, with the camera panning out on him showing the steps he teaches his defensive backs when blitzing.

Overall, Ash is a very serious defensive coach who seems like a great fit for the Buckeye defense. His football mind is off the charts and I see the defense getting back to where it used to be under Coach Tressel, but with a more aggressive style. Fans will be seeing complex pressure schemes that will force turnovers and a defense that tightens up in the red zone. His defense will reflect his teaching approach, they'll be fast, physical, intense and fundamentally sound.

Last season, the defense had the individual talent, but it seemed that there was too much thinking and not enough confidence in what was being coached. Ash will install a mindset into this defense where they will be so fundamentally sound and drilled in practice, that by game time there will be no thinking and just reaction. The Buckeye defense will be in good hands with Ash calling the shots .

Here are some notes on how Ash attacks the zone read offense:

• Ash wants to bring pressure from the side of the running back, rather than having the play side defensive end react on his own after being unblocked on the zone read.
• Out of a base or pressure defense, you have to make sure you have a dive player (nickel), quarterback player (MLB) and pitch player (SS).
• * Note – I think Ash will bring multiple fronts to the Ohio State defense. He can run this zone blitz out of any front, whether it is a 3-4, 4-3, 3-3-5 etc. Watch five minutes of the video linked above and you'll see he has an answer for anything and everything.

• Chase/dive player blitzes from the outside, if the QB pulls on the read, the QB player wraps around for the tackle.
• The defensive end is reading the guard to crash the A- gap rather than sitting after being unblocked (Between the center and either guard).
• The nickel is flying off the hip of the tackle and running through the running back's hip.
• If the nickel is coming off of the line of scrimmage, Ash wants his inside foot back and outside foot up. Most coaches teach the opposite but he wants the nickel's first step to be at his aiming point (the running back). If his foot is opposite, he will have to take an extra step to be at his aiming point. Ash stresses the importance of this technique during the film.
• The nickel needs to read the tackle, if the tackle is blocking in, the nickel is coming off the edge and if the tackle is blocking out, the nickel is flying through the B-gap.

• With the Mike LB and nickel bringing pressure and the strong safety keying on the slot receiver in case of a pitch, what does the rest of the defense do? First, they will be in a three under, three deep coverage (Cover 3). Once they read run, the Will LB (weakside) and the free safety have to be alley players, meaning that they need to be filling the alley, in good position expecting a cutback. The backside defensive end has contain, as does the outside linebacker (Ash calls him the "Bronco").

What if the QB reads it correctly and keeps the ball?

• With the nickel being the dive player, the Mike linebacker comes around the edge to stop the QB.
• Ash notes the importance of knowing if the opposing QB if he can effectively read the blitz. If he can, (think Johnny Manziel) it's a keep every time with the defensive end crashing and the nickel blitzing the dive. If it's a quarterback who predetermines, it is likely a hand off right into the nickel blitz/crashing end.

• With the SS having the pitch man, he has to read the "2" which is the slot receiver. If the slot WR comes out to block, the safety has to read run and attack the outside shoulder, trying to contain and funnel the QB back inside. If the slot WR is waiting on a pitch, the safety comes down to make the play.
• If the SS attacks the 2's outside shoulder, the Will linebacker and free safety need to fill the alley for the cutback.

Ash's Coverage vs zone read

• 3 under, 3 deep vs run (3 defensive backs, 3 deep zone) (diagrammed above)
• 4 under, 2 deep vs pass (4 defensive backs, 2 deep zone)

vs 20/21 personnel (2 RB 3 WR) or (2 RB 2 WR 1 TE)

• Ash quickly pointed out when facing two backs in the backfield, most teams have a dive RB and a pitch RB. He stated this was much easier to coach against because it was rather obvious what the two RB's were going to do when the ball was snapped. Think of Carlos Hyde as the Buckeye's dive RB and Dontre Wilson as the pitch RB, when both were lined up in the backfield, most of the time the play was sniffed out rather quickly.

Ash knows that he can't just run wild zone blitzes every play, they have to be calculated or you're going to get burnt. Here is a quote from Ash on the zone blitz, "zone blitzes are like snakes in the grass, you never know when one is going to come up and bite you". He is saying that a zone blitz, like the one above, needs to be called at the right time which would be third and short or a rushing down.

"You have to be careful about the number of zone blitzes that you run, so you can be sound, work on them and have option responsibilities covered". What he is saying is that he likes to call an aggressive defense but he needs to trust his defense first. They need to be drilled in practice and he needs to be able to trust every player on the field to run various zone blitz schemes. If one player is on a different page than the rest of the defense, the blitz will backfire. If the Will LB doesn't fill the alley, the QB can cut back easily for a huge gain.

As I previously said, even if you aren't a huge X's and O's person, check out the video for a few minutes to see how great of a teacher Ash is and how his football mind works at full speed.

On the next installment, we are going to take a deep dive into Ash's coverage philosophies, which after the secondary play of Ohio State in 2013, should be of particular interest to just about all OSU football aficionados.

[Leanderman 2,375]

What is this middle Linebacker you speak of? That is a name I have not heard in a long,  long time.

[Hiphopopotamos 21,192]

 

[Hiphopopotamos 21,192]

There has been a lot of talk about the Iowa St. Cover 2 or Tampa 2.  This is a video of Chris Ash teaching an install to fellow coaches:

 

Edited December 16, 2019 by Hiphopopotamos

[Coelenterate Fuccboi 13,438]

What is this, Russian propaganda? /Surly 

[LTtxfan 50,036]

@Hiphopopotamos is on FIRE!!!

[hookem17 485]

Thanks for digging all this up and sharing it. 

[Hiphopopotamos 21,192]

This is a 4.5 hour compilation of various coaches clinics - about halfway through it there is a 1hr section of Chris Ash at the whiteboard explaining his defense.  I have no idea what year this video is from , but its a while ago. (video should start at the Chris Ash section)

 

 

 

*The video starts off with a coach teaching tackling drills - he uses tape from Texas practices to illustrate (and critique) the techniques he is explaining.  Anyone know what time period this practice is from?

[GTX Horn 1,725]

Great stuff. Thanks for finding and sharing!

[Hiphopopotamos 21,192]

Chris Ash DB drills from his time at Wisconsin.  Includes his 'DB Ten Commandments'

 

 

Ash's DB 10 Commandments:

1. I will play what I see.  My eyes tell me the truth.  I will not guess
2. I will never jump routes.  My film study and preperation will allow my technique to take me to the ball/
3. I will do my job and trust that my teammates will do theirs.
4. I will make every play that comes to me.
5. If I don't know I will play the deepest route.
6. I will be a complete player and tackle at a high level.
7. I will give 100%, 100% of the time.
8. I will punish and outwork my opponent.
9. I will walk with a swagger and play with confidence.
10. I will be the standard for how we play.

[BabaYaga 15,632]

[Bozo_Casanova 26,910]

So everything’s fine now?

[Hiphopopotamos 21,192]

Just now, Bozo_Casanova said:

So everything’s fine now?

Did you watch the videos?  Chris Ash runs the no TD defense.  We're all good now.

[FORTY NINE TO ZERO 2,651]

I fell in love the moment tackling and disciplined play were mentioned as the priority. 
 

dick and Greg 3.0?

[Elmer_Fudd 23,033]

6 minutes ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

Did you watch the videos?  Chris Ash runs the no TD defense.  We're all good now.

Show me a loss.  I triple dog dare you!

[BabaYaga 15,632]

9 minutes ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

Chris Ash runs the no TD defense.

So similar to what our OC runs?  Cool...

[satyanash 15,659]

56 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/2015/04/52228/video-heres-pete-carroll-explaining-rugby-tackling-which-revolutionized-ohio-states-defenseIf

VIDEO: HERE'S PETE CARROLL EXPLAINING RUGBY TACKLING, WHICH REVOLUTIONIZED OHIO STATE'S DEFENSE.   By D.J. Byrnes on April 7, 2015

Remember in 2013 when Ohio State was bad at tackling? Those were not fun times. But then Urban Meyer brought in Chris Ash, and well, the fruits of the hire played out on national television back in January.

So what kind of tweaks did Ash make? (Here's Ross a year ago asking schematic questions.) Allow Chris Ash himself to tell you the biggest change Ohio State made, via Scout.com:

"The No. 1 thing I'll tell you is we've become a rugby tackling team," Ash said, explaining he was inspired to learn more about such a method after seeing an instructional video from Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll last summer. The video has become very popular over the past couple of years within football circles.

Kerry Coombs concurred today after Ohio State's ninth spring practice:

So what is rugby tackling? Sit back and allow Super Bowl champion Pete Carroll to elaborate on that.

 

Now I'm confused as to why people gave Mack so much shit for the 'alligator roll'-style tackling he was teaching during practice, because this looks very similar.

[MirrOlure 15,317]

So....when Analyst Chris Ash opened this discussion with Orlando, I assume Orlando was all “...Nah, fuck that shit. We’ll stick with the Human Missile Aimed at the Ankles approach.”

[Coelenterate Fuccboi 13,438]

2 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Now I'm confused as to why people gave Mack so much shit for the 'alligator roll'-style tackling he was teaching during practice, because this looks very similar.

Shut up Sally. The men are talking here.

[BabaYaga 15,632]

1 minute ago, MirrOlure said:

So....when Analyst Chris Ash opened this discussion with Orlando, I assume Orlando was all “...Nah, fuck that shit. We’ll stick with the Human Missile Aimed at the Ankles approach.”

I have a friend in LE that used to laugh and swear the Texas players were trained to tackle similar to the dogs his department use

[Hiphopopotamos 21,192]

Just now, MirrOlure said:

So....when Analyst Chris Ash opened this discussion with Orlando, I assume Orlando was all “...Nah, fuck that shit. We’ll stick with the Human Missile Aimed at the Ankles approach.”

If you aren't forcing the offensive player's soul to leave his body - you aint tackling.  And if you miss completely - so be it.

[Victorious1 193]

9 minutes ago, MirrOlure said:

So....when Analyst Chris Ash opened this discussion with Orlando, I assume Orlando was all “...Nah, fuck that shit. We’ll stick with the Human Missile Aimed at the Ankles approach.”

About to say the same thing except "head down and lock on the grass" approach.

[Cajun 11,780]

31 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Now I'm confused as to why people gave Mack so much shit for the 'alligator roll'-style tackling he was teaching during practice, because this looks very similar.

Good Lord, it’s like I’m playin’ cards with my sister’s kids or something.

[Cajun 11,780]

30 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

I have a friend in LE that used to laugh and swear the Texas players were trained to tackle similar to the dogs his department use

They just wanted to make it back home to their wives and kids safely because it’s a war out there...

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,811]

There will be quotes out of spring ball to the effect of "... I really didn't know how to tackle until now, it's not something we really worked on ... "

[Dbeasy 15,613]

Koolaid! National title game against OSU next year

[LTtxfan 50,036]

7 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

There will be quotes out of spring ball to the effect of "... I really didn't know how to tackle until now, it's not something we really worked on ... "

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

14 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

There will be quotes out of spring ball to the effect of "... I really didn't know how to tackle until now, it's not something we really worked on ... "

“The mindset is just totally different” for the 11th offseason in a row.

[Cajun 11,780]

I’d like to disagree, but cannot

[Hiphopopotamos 21,192]

For the very little that its worth - Anwar (in their latest podcast) says that Ash wasn't here in Oct to gameplan or do any work on Oklahoma - he was here to audit this Texas team and share the things he was seeing on defense with Herman.  

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

4 minutes ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

For the very little that its worth - Anwar (in their latest podcast) says that Ash wasn't here in Oct to gameplan or do any work on Oklahoma - he was here to audit this Texas team and share the things he was seeing on defense with Herman.  

So Orlando coached most of the season with one of Herman’s buddies standing over his shoulder “auditing” his performance? Who had the more fucked up coaches’ room, Charlie or Mensa?

[DanTheHorn 5,092]

Wow, it does not take people here long. Here you go folks from a rugby player.

[Hiphopopotamos 21,192]

3 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

So Orlando coached most of the season with one of Herman’s buddies standing over his shoulder “auditing” his performance? Who had the more fucked up coaches’ room, Charlie or Mensa?

What do you think all those analysts at Alabama do?  Or at any other school?  Self-scouting better be a part of your program - and I damn sure want Texas to have people on staff who are evaluating the team.

[Coelenterate Fuccboi 13,438]

8 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

So Orlando coached most of the season with one of Herman’s buddies standing over his shoulder “auditing” his performance? Who had the more fucked up coaches’ room, Charlie or Mensa?

You can be unbelievably stupid sometimes. Ok, maybe all the time but I don’t know you that well.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

8 minutes ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

What do you think all those analysts at Alabama do?  Or at any other school?  Self-scouting better be a part of your program - and I damn sure want Texas to have people on staff who are evaluating the team.

 

3 minutes ago, Casual Encounter said:

You can be unbelievably stupid sometimes. Ok, maybe all the time but I don’t know you that well.

Are y’all the same person?

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

24 minutes ago, Casual Encounter said:

You can be unbelievably stupid sometimes. Ok, maybe all the time but I don’t know you that well.

will readily admit this: I think my view of Tom Herman is biasing pretty much everything I read/hear about him as a leader. I think he's a fucking fraud and so my simplest reaction is to assume what he's doing is dead wrong. maybe that is stupid, though.

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

3 hours ago, Leanderman said:

What is this middle Linebacker you speak of? That is a name I have not heard in a long,  long time.

 

[Coelenterate Fuccboi 13,438]

38 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

 

Are y’all the same person?

I’m obviously much better looking.

[BabaYaga 15,632]

2 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

There will be quotes out of spring ball to the effect of "... I really didn't know how to tackle until now, it's not something we really worked on ... "

I do remember fondly when Roy Williams remarked publicly that he was finally starting to work with the staff on hamstring stretches before games and after workouts......this is what it means to be a Texas fan....

 

[BabaYaga 15,632]

57 minutes ago, DanTheHorn said:

Wow, it does not take people here long. Here you go folks from a rugby player.

[LTtxfan 50,036]

Thx for this @satyanash 

Ian Boyd: Texas' 2020 personnel in a Chris Ash, 4-2-5 Under

Quote

Recently a kindly relative sent me a copy of my own book to sign for my wife's uncle as part of his Christmas present (poor fellow). He's a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan and I wanted to try and write some sort of relevant note along with my signature to tie the theme of the book in with the sort of football that he actually watches regularly. I wanted to make some note on Minkah Fitzpatrick so I pulled up the game of Pittsburgh vs Arizona and Kyler Murray to make sure that I actually knew what they were up to these days on D in Steel town.

I found the zone blitz oriented Steelers still up to some of those tricks, but this was the package they were running when the Cardinals had three or more WRs on the field:

That's either a 2-3-6 or a 2-4-5 depending on how you want to classify Mark Barron, which is kinda my point here. Against spread passing sets, the Steelers don't put anyone on the field that can't credibly drop into a zone except the two defensive tackles. Perhaps Todd Orlando just didn't go far enough last year, maybe the Cowboy package should have been the base defense against LSU and then Shark McCulloch and the other ILBs wouldn't have been giving up easy yardage over the middle of the field.

Some interesting tweaks to the Steeler set up is that they play little Mike Hilton up in the box at the point of attack and then bigger Terrell Edmunds deeper off the ball. Hilton has to fit the run at times but he's playing down so that he can press up on a slot, Edmunds is almost always playing either deep or in a hook zone underneath after dropping down, so he stays on the hash marks kinda like Kam Chancellor did for the Seahawks. Barron and Hilton play OLB so that they can match up against a TE and slot receiver respectively, leaving Bush on a RB and Edmunds to play as a rover between the hash marks or else over the top.

This kind of "buzz" coverage with a safety playing down sorta like a linebacker while the "linebacker" plays man coverage on a receiver out wide is pretty common at the next level and is a useful distinction for figuring out what to do with Texas' 2020 personnel. I'm not totally sure if Chris Ash will stick with the quarters coverages he's played in the past (probably yes) but even if he does, the sort of personnel packaging you see above could still work for the 2020 Longhorns if they did something like this:

Before everyone comes in telling me I need to move this player here and that player there, let me explain the set-up and thinking here:

D'Shawn Jamison as nickel
The nickel in this D is usually covered up more, although it should be noted that Ash has experimented with the tite front and 4i-techniques at strongside end. He probably shouldn't do that save for against trips sets so that he can use a true corner at nickel and be able to press up and deny easy throws to that position.

Jamison is fantastic playing in run support and matching quick breaks underneath with help over the top, both of which are easily leveraged in a 4-down at nickel. Sterns is finally moved to his natural position as a field safety here, although at either spot I'm sure his role will primarily consist of playing deep in support or else taking on coverage assignments you don't want to go to box safeties like Foster or Overshown. Speaking of those guys...

BJ Foster at middle linebacker, Overshown at boundary safety
The middle linebacker in the Under gets put into space a ton at the college level and ruthlessly attacked with run/pass conflicts. Ideally you help him out at times with techniques like the 4i or a heavy 5-technique strongside end that plays the B-gap rather than setting the edge. At any rate, you want at least one of your ILBs to be capable of keeping up with a good flex TE or slot receiver underneath in coverage, playing sideline to sideline, and fitting inside runs from the hash mark. That's often the middle linebacker that has to do that in this scheme, so that's where you want your converted safety.

Why Foster rather than Overshown? For one, Foster has shown a lot more willingness to play in this sort of role than Overshown, for another he's actually probably better at it. Foster's specialty is generating insane explosiveness and power over a short area, Overshown's specialty is covering a ton of ground quickly and arriving with pop. Foster can handle playing up in the box both in terms of dealing with the conflicts in space and also in blowing up blockers and generating the necessary power within a few steps. Overshown is exactly the kind of guy you want lining up back at safety like Chancellor or Edmunds only to appear in position to make plays like a linebacker unexpectedly and after the snap.

The defensive line
I think Ta'Quon Graham could play strongside end or 3-technique defensive tackle and I'm not sure which he'd be better at. It might depend on whether the better fourth DL is Marqez Bimage, who's a pretty prototypical strongside end, or Moro Ojomo who's probably more of a 3-technique. If Ojomo is next best, Graham can play strongside end. If it's Bimage in 2020, then Graham can probably play at 3-technique. Joseph Ossai is your weakside DE/OLB hybrid, full stop. It's hard to imagine Texas hiring Chris Ash and using Ossai as anything other than an edge rusher who can drop into zone at times rather than a zone dropper who can rush the edge at times. This is the way to do it. If Ash tries to play Overshown or Foster at nickel and that's the talk of the spring, you'll know that there's likely to be some issues in 2020.

 

[Goodman 3,283]

55 minutes ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

What do you think all those analysts at Alabama do?  Or at any other school?  Self-scouting better be a part of your program - and I damn sure want Texas to have people on staff who are evaluating the team.

The real crime was not having analyst looking at every inch of this program from the beginning. Ash can coach and should be fine. Now go fix he Offense and ST.

[hayden_horn 11,403]

4 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/2015/04/52228/video-heres-pete-carroll-explaining-rugby-tackling-which-revolutionized-ohio-states-defenseIf

VIDEO: HERE'S PETE CARROLL EXPLAINING RUGBY TACKLING, WHICH REVOLUTIONIZED OHIO STATE'S DEFENSE.   By D.J. Byrnes on April 7, 2015

Remember in 2013 when Ohio State was bad at tackling? Those were not fun times. But then Urban Meyer brought in Chris Ash, and well, the fruits of the hire played out on national television back in January.

So what kind of tweaks did Ash make? (Here's Ross a year ago asking schematic questions.) Allow Chris Ash himself to tell you the biggest change Ohio State made, via Scout.com:

"The No. 1 thing I'll tell you is we've become a rugby tackling team," Ash said, explaining he was inspired to learn more about such a method after seeing an instructional video from Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll last summer. The video has become very popular over the past couple of years within football circles.

Kerry Coombs concurred today after Ohio State's ninth spring practice:

So what is rugby tackling? Sit back and allow Super Bowl champion Pete Carroll to elaborate on that.

 

i like this, and it's great and all, but...um, this is how i was taught to tackle in the 7th fucking grade. see what you hit, head to the side and fucking wrap up is about as fundamental as it gets.

[Goodman 3,283]

Just now, hayden_horn said:

i like this, and it's great and all, but...um, this is how i was taught to tackle in the 7th fucking grade. see what you hit, head to the side and fucking wrap up is about as fundamental as it gets.

Mastering fundamentals is good.

[hayden_horn 11,403]

3 minutes ago, Goodman said:

Mastering fundamentals is good.

of course it is. i'm simply noting that this notion of tackling should not be considered revolutionary. this "how to tackle 101"

Edited December 16, 2019 by hayden_horn

[wood 11,770]

As a guy who watches rugby in large part due to the pure way they just fucking tackle vs always trying to get the big hit, I love this move to coaching rugby tackling. Say what you want about Pete Carroll, but that asshole knows a few things about the game.