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:
CB Kerry Coombs is at podium now. Said switch to rugby-style tackling was a "game-changer" for Buckeyes in 2014.
— Bill Rabinowitz (@brdispatch) April 7, 2015
So what is rugby tackling? Sit back and allow Super Bowl champion Pete Carroll to elaborate on that.
