Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Knowles discusses how often the Vols will tackle live in practice
Tennessee Vols defensive coordinator Jim Knowles met with reporters on Thursday.
One of the Tennessee Vols’ biggest issues in 2025 was poor tackling.
Tennessee obviously made plenty of big-time defensive plays, but the tackling simply wasn’t consistent.
At one point last season, the Vols led the SEC in missed tackles, averaging around 12.3 missed tackles per game at the midpoint of the season.
The tackling issues were a major reason behind Tennessee’s decision to hire a new strength coach.
Tackling, however, won’t improve just because players get bigger and stronger. Technique matters, too. But it can be tough to work on technique when teams aren’t tackling live during practice.
Vols defensive coordinator Jim Knowles discusses live tackling in practice
Vols defensive coordinator Jim Knowles met with reporters on Thursday and discussed how often Tennessee will tackle during practice.
Knowles admitted that it’s not realistic to tackle live these days.
“I don’t think so,” said Knowles when asked if tackling in practice will ever be an option again. “I mean, you may have a couple live situations. I’m sure Coach (Josh) Heupel will put us in some live tackling situations, but you don’t do it that much because you’re trying to save the player on both sides, offense and defense. And also, even when you’re live against your own team, you’re not gonna cut tackle or tackle low. So, that can build bad habits. You see in the game, guys are gonna pull the trigger, shoot the guy, cut a guy — even when you’re going live against your own offense, you’re not gonna do that.
“So it’s a difficult proposition. I’m glad we’ve adjusted to it for the health of the player. But now you have to get creative in how you teach them all these things with having these tackling breakdowns, and these drills. And then coaching — even in a non-tackling situation — your body position. And asking the player, like you can put the film up there, ‘Okay, what kind of tackle were you gonna use right here?’ He says one thing, but your body is not in a great position to use that tackle. So I think that’s the best you can do. It’s good for the game. It makes it more difficult, but as coaches, we have to adjust to that.”
Not being able to tackle like players would in a game certainly makes it difficult to improve as a tackler. But keeping players healthy is important. The last thing the Vols need is to lose an offensive or defensive player because of friendly fire.
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