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won’t take over the defensive coordinator’s headset during games, nor will he stand on the practice field and oversee every rep players on the defense take over the course of 24 periods.
The seventh-year Notre Dame coach won’t shift complete control of the defense into his hands as he and the rest of his staff attempt to solve a multitude of problems that have emerged in the opening three games and led to the unit’s rankings in the nineties and one-hundreds in most major statistical categories.
"Kelly will alter the practice schedule in order to give his defense more opportunities to practice their tackling, a fundamental technique that has been a challenge for the group thus far.
On Tuesday Kelly made room for a 20-minute period where the defenders simulate a tackle by grabbing hold of the offensive player—known as thudding up—instead of blowing the play dead when a defender runs by his opponent.
“… .I'm going to do it to add more speed to the practice, and we're going to thud up so we can get from speed to power,” he said. “… .I'm just looking to coach better. So we're going to thud up everybody, which is going to put us in a power position on everything that we whistle off today.”
The speed-to-power technique is what Kelly has identified as the reason behind the numerous missed tackles that have plagued the Irish defense this season. Instead of approaching an opponent quickly and wrapping up the ball carrier, Kelly says his players’ bodies are “out of control.”"
won’t take over the defensive coordinator’s headset during games, nor will he stand on the practice field and oversee every rep players on the defense take over the course of 24 periods.
The seventh-year Notre Dame coach won’t shift complete control of the defense into his hands as he and the rest of his staff attempt to solve a multitude of problems that have emerged in the opening three games and led to the unit’s rankings in the nineties and one-hundreds in most major statistical categories.
"Kelly will alter the practice schedule in order to give his defense more opportunities to practice their tackling, a fundamental technique that has been a challenge for the group thus far.
On Tuesday Kelly made room for a 20-minute period where the defenders simulate a tackle by grabbing hold of the offensive player—known as thudding up—instead of blowing the play dead when a defender runs by his opponent.
“… .I'm going to do it to add more speed to the practice, and we're going to thud up so we can get from speed to power,” he said. “… .I'm just looking to coach better. So we're going to thud up everybody, which is going to put us in a power position on everything that we whistle off today.”
The speed-to-power technique is what Kelly has identified as the reason behind the numerous missed tackles that have plagued the Irish defense this season. Instead of approaching an opponent quickly and wrapping up the ball carrier, Kelly says his players’ bodies are “out of control.”"
