Practice During the Season

[WorkHorse]

Most schools pretty much use the same basic practice schedules during the week of a game. Arkansas' Bret Bielema outlines his weekly practice routine.

"You have two heavy work days on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday is shine and polish. Friday is a walk-through and Saturday you play the game. If you try to do more than that in a week, players begin to break down."

Years ago, most teams would hit on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before cutting back. Times have changed with limited hours to practice, cut back in scholarships, etc.

[WorkHorse]

Ever catch yourself screaming at your favorite team last season for poor tackling? Man, I'm guilty and my favorite team won the national championship.

Well, recently I heard one of the SEC's defensive coordinators discussing 'Bad Tackling'. He explained that missed tackling in college football today is because the game has changed. It's faster, it's more spread out and there are more skilled athletes playing today.

"The biggest thing that gets kids in trouble is angles to the ball. Because the more spread out, you've got to get proper angles to the ball with great effort. They overrun or take a lazy angle, that's when they get in trouble, and you see all the reaching and ducking and diving when you see broken tackles."

Something not mentioned is most schools do tackling drills during the season without going to the ground. Fear of injuries has caused this trend. Guess I'm old school, you play like you practice and bad tackling is proving that.