Last season, Tennessee football struggled immensely on the defensive side of the ball. A big reason for the lack of success was missed tackles at all three levels of the defense.
After the season, Josh Heupel decided to move on from defensive coordinator Tim Banks, who had led his defense since he got to campus in 2021. To replace Banks, Heupel hired Jim Knowles, who was on the market after Penn State went through a coaching change.
As Knowles looks to install his philosophies and system in Knoxville, one of the hurdles to jump through is figuring out a way to solve the tackling deficiencies. What has gone a long way in this effort is special teams assistant coach John Bonamego cutting up the film for every player, returners and transfers, to get a look at all the tackles and missed tackles in their careers.
“You can put them into categories on the ones that were successful and why they were successful,” Knowles said. “The ones that weren’t, why they weren’t. So you can show each guy has their own tackling reel throughout their career. So you’re able to show them the different situations, where the ball was on the field, what kind of play was it, what type of tackle you used or what you didn’t use and could have done.”
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The hope is that once players are on the field, it’ll be easier for them to put themselves in the position to use the correct type of tackle. Knowles said sometimes players will identify the correct time to use a certain tackle in film, but he’s quick to point out that they didn’t put themselves in a spot to execute it.
Just watching film can only go so far, though. Knowles will also need to teach the physical aspect of it. However, that’s easier said than done, with nearly no live tackling happening over the course of practices in this era of college football. That’s why he coaches mental tackling.
“You have to really be coaching body position, and it becomes more of a mental game,” Knowles said. “And I try to teach the guys like, ‘You have to mentally tackle,’ you know what I mean? Something has to click in your brain that, as you go to approach that ball carrier or receiver, what’s your technique gonna be in this particular situation?”
Tennessee is now three days into a 15-practice session leading into the annual Orange & White Spring Game. This is primarily an evaluation period for Knowles as he looks to see what he has to work with on the roster.
