Update on Inky

#27
#27
dantheman617 said:
Antwan Stewart is single worst football player in the history of the game...I have tried to like him, but he is always falling down, getting beat, or just sucking...i dunno
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You must be EXTREAMLY worried about our defensive backfield then. I'm not saying he was that good, but I do think if there was a better backup, he would be playing instead.
 
#30
#30
The Dude said:
You must be EXTREAMLY worried about our defensive backfield then. I'm not saying he was that good, but I do think if there was a better backup, he would be playing instead.
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The better player was supposed to be D. Morley. So much for that...
 
#31
#31
dantheman617 said:
What exactly did he do? or should I say NOT do?
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One thing he couldn't do was play better than Antwan Stewart. The reason he got kicked off the team is that he didn't have time to go to class because he was spending all his time ignoring his playbook.
 
#32
#32
dantheman617 said:
Antwan Stewart is single worst football player in the history of the game...I have tried to like him, but he is always falling down, getting beat, or just sucking...i dunno
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Obviously you've been watching football for about 1 year. In 2005, he was one of the only players that bothered to show up for every game.
 
#33
#33
Antwan Stewart bashing aside...the collision between Inky and the AF back was incredible. Inky was trying to gain leverage by getting lower than the ball carrier. The AF player's helmet glanced off of the side of Inky's helmet and caught him squarely on the top of his shoulder. Unfortunately that collision changed a young man's life forever. I was coaching on the sideline of a high school football game in 98 when a young man nearly lost his life. He was paralyzed.

Tackling techniques have changed over the years and those changes have helped to protect some players. I think we can all agree that football is a game of violent collisions that is played at full speed. Blaming a coach or group of coaches for a freak accident is simply irresponsible.
 
#34
#34
allvol123 said:
Hate to hear that about him. Wish him good luck in other areas of life.

Not sure if anyone ever mentioned it, but that injury probably does not happen with proper tackling. If my memory serves me right. Defintely not piling on Inky, more of a problem with coaches not emphasizing proper techniques enough.
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This is way off base, Inky was hurt trying to make a play, it was just a freak accident that sometimes happens in the extremely physical sport of football, it's a 1,000 wonders it doesn't happen more often. Air Force's ball carrier was running up the sideline full speed ahead and Inky was running lateraly at him full speed ahead to try and cut him off before he got the endzone, the collision was a big one with Inky trying to make a big hit and the Air Force RB trying to run over him.

As a defensive player especially a defensive back you never know what a ball carrier is going to do or what angle he is going to take and sometimes technique goes out the window, sometimes you just try to do whatever you can however you can to make the play. No coaching staff anywhere teaches its players bad tackling techniques that will get them injured. All our players Inky included are taught proper tackling technique but in the end it's the player who makes his choice at the moment of impact. To say that Inky was injured because he was not coached to tackle properly is just plain ridiculus. I'll bet if you were to make the statement to Inky himself that his injury was because of poor coaching he would tell you just how absurd that is.
 
#38
#38
JOEY'S ALL VOL !!! said:
This is way off base, Inky was hurt trying to make a play, it was just a freak accident that sometimes happens in the extremely physical sport of football, it's a 1,000 wonders it doesn't happen more often. Air Force's ball carrier was running up the sideline full speed ahead and Inky was running lateraly at him full speed ahead to try and cut him off before he got the endzone, the collision was a big one with Inky trying to make a big hit and the Air Force RB trying to run over him.
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It is not way off base. Don't confuse my questioning of why he got injured as some sort of lack of sympathy for him. There are people that make a living at investigating why accidents happen. Accidents are not always the result of pure chance. In fact, I would find it very irresponsible of the coaching staff if after reviewing that play that they found he led with his head down and did not give the players a lecture or some instruction on not doing that. This idea of "laying the wood" seems to be some sort of excuse? A player can put a great hit on a ball carrier without coming in with his head looking down. As I said, I don't have the play memorized and have not seen it since the weekend that it happened. But if that is how it occurred, then a large part of the incident can be attributed to it. I have played plenty of football so don't tell me about angles and pace of the game and last second decison making. If you are in position to reach the ball carrier and unload on him with what amounts to a full body tackle, you can do so without coming in with your head looking at the ground.
 
#39
#39
I'm not implying that you have a lack of sympathy, I'm sure you are sympathetic just like everyone framiliar with Inky's situation. However to even remotely imply that it was caused by a lack of coaching or improper coaching is way off base. The point I was trying to make is the coaches teach the proper technique, it's up to the player to apply that technique, the coaches can only teach players how, they can't go on the field and do it for them. I'm sure the play resulting in Inky's injury was reviewed and gone over extensively by the staff and team to see what, if anything could have been done differently to prevent his injury. No coach wants to see one of his players wheeled out on a gurney,and will do everything in their power to prevent it.
 
#40
#40
JOEY'S ALL VOL !!! said:
I'm not implying that you have a lack of sympathy, I'm sure you are sympathetic just like everyone framiliar with Inky's situation. However to even remotely imply that it was caused by a lack of coaching or improper coaching is way off base. The point I was trying to make is the coaches teach the proper technique, it's up to the player to apply that technique, the coaches can only teach players how, they can't go on the field and do it for them. I'm sure the play resulting in Inky's injury was reviewed and gone over extensively by the staff and team to see what, if anything could have been done differently to prevent his injury. No coach wants to see one of his players wheeled out on a gurney,and will do everything in their power to prevent it.
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You're probably right. If the injury was due to poor tackling technique, then the blame would fall to the player.
 
#41
#41
I think the player that knocked the ball out of Cory Anderson's grasp in the 2005 Alabama game was leading with his helmet. I believe that was Roman Harper. I doubt he was lectured about his technique.
 
#42
#42
I haven't seen the play since they showed it during a game later on (Georgia, maybe?) so I don't have it committed to memory.

To me, the issue has nothing to do with coaching and not coaching. One problem that we see at the college game is poor tackling. THIS IS NOT UNIQUE TO THE VOLS! The NCAA allows 20 hours per week. Due to the size of most playbooks and the way practices are run, there is (at best) minimal time spent by ANY college coach teaching tackling fundamentals.

What you see, with kids lowering their shoulder and "tackling" by nothing more than glorified hockey-style checking, is a dramatic increase in upper shoulder, neck, and head injuries. This is a result of poor coaching AT THE HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL AND BELOW. And unfortunately, very few high school coaches teach proper tackling. The end result is that most kids are left on their own and they'll emulate what they see on SportsCenter, which is usually atrocious. It works out fine for me, since my offense will eat up poor tackling teams until the end of time, but as a fan of college football, it bugs the crap out of me to see what masquerades as tackling.
 
#43
#43
Ohio Vol said:
I haven't seen the play since they showed it during a game later on (Georgia, maybe?) so I don't have it committed to memory.

To me, the issue has nothing to do with coaching and not coaching. One problem that we see at the college game is poor tackling. THIS IS NOT UNIQUE TO THE VOLS! The NCAA allows 20 hours per week. Due to the size of most playbooks and the way practices are run, there is (at best) minimal time spent by ANY college coach teaching tackling fundamentals.

What you see, with kids lowering their shoulder and "tackling" by nothing more than glorified hockey-style checking, is a dramatic increase in upper shoulder, neck, and head injuries. This is a result of poor coaching AT THE HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL AND BELOW. And unfortunately, very few high school coaches teach proper tackling. The end result is that most kids are left on their own and they'll emulate what they see on SportsCenter, which is usually atrocious. It works out fine for me, since my offense will eat up poor tackling teams until the end of time, but as a fan of college football, it bugs the crap out of me to see what masquerades as tackling.
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Agreed. Kelly Zeigler, the former UT LB, coached football at my high school. One day we did tackling drills for two hours, then ran and went home. He was firm believer in tackling properly to say the least.

The tackling is terrible at the college level. There is hardly anyone of them that wrap up. They just fly around crashing into each other. It is a wonder that more injuries like this do not occur.
 
#44
#44
There is a very slight difference between leading with your helmet and leading with your shoulder.
 
#45
#45
The Dude,

True, but they're both incorrect and have potentially catastrophic results.

I had one guy this year who tried to lead with his head in the middle of a pile (ah, the joys of a power running conference). He got blocked from the side and ended up perpendicular to the running back, who, in attempting to run through the hole, hammered our guy in the side of the head with his leg. Our guy sprained his neck and suffered a concussion, in addition to stretching the brachial plexus (which is the same neural plexus that Inky Johnson injured).

My points on not leading the head would fill a book and certainly isn't worth expounding on here. My points on not leading with the shoulder in a checking motion can go on just as long. Nevertheless, both are incorrect and show a flagrant disregard for the opposing player's safety. Let's not lose sight of the fact that football is a game, and inducing a brain injury to an opposing player will impact them for life. That reality is why it doesn't break my heart when parents say that they don't want their kids playing football (although you'd better believe I let them know what the high-risk injuries are in, say, soccer).
 
#46
#46
Ohio Vol said:
The Dude,

True, but they're both incorrect and have potentially catastrophic results.

I had one guy this year who tried to lead with his head in the middle of a pile (ah, the joys of a power running conference). He got blocked from the side and ended up perpendicular to the running back, who, in attempting to run through the hole, hammered our guy in the side of the head with his leg. Our guy sprained his neck and suffered a concussion, in addition to stretching the brachial plexus (which is the same neural plexus that Inky Johnson injured).

My points on not leading the head would fill a book and certainly isn't worth expounding on here. My points on not leading with the shoulder in a checking motion can go on just as long. Nevertheless, both are incorrect and show a flagrant disregard for the opposing player's safety. Let's not lose sight of the fact that football is a game, and inducing a brain injury to an opposing player will impact them for life. That reality is why it doesn't break my heart when parents say that they don't want their kids playing football (although you'd better believe I let them know what the high-risk injuries are in, say, soccer).
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Walking down the street on a beautiful day has "catastrophic potential." We're supposed to use our head and shoulders when tackling. We learned in 1986 that we're not suppose to lower our head. But we're supposed to tackle with our shoulders and facemask. If we're not supposed to use our facemask or shoulders, how are we supposed to tackle?
 
#47
#47
Jasongivm6,

If walking down the street was done in the same manner as running the gauntlet, it would apply (and yes, I understand you were being facetious).

I'm familiar with the tackling method you describe, but here's the problems with it.
1) It places inordinate strain on the shoulders. If the shoulder is lowered with the head up, it creates a situation where an impact to the top of the shoulder can result in a downward dislocation. If the impact is directed toward the anterior part of the shoulder (near the forward part of the joint), you run a risk of a brachial plexus injury (which is what Inky suffered)

2) When you're using your facemask to tackle, it turns the face into an impact point. The problem with that is that it creates an enormous amount of strain in one of two spots. The first is the posterior part of the neck; the force can cause severe neural damage (which is usually referred to as a "stinger", no matter how major or minor the nerve injury is). The second is the anterior part of the skull, where the frontal lobe of the brain will literally slosh forward and jar into the interior part of the forehead. One impact can cause a severe concussion, while repeated impacts can cause brain damage. The frontal lobe is responsible for, among other things, mood. It also is in the immediate vicinity of the olfactory bulb (which you need functioning in order to be able to smell and taste properly) and the pituitary gland (which regulates hormonal output).

There's an additional caveat. I know linebackers love to use the MacGregor Cowboy Collar in order to reduce the likelihood of stingers. The problem is that it then creates additional force on the posterior part of the brain as well as the anterior part. The posterior part is where the occipital lobe is (which allows you to be able to associate vision with memory) as well as the cerebellum, which stores learned motor patterns (the so-called "muscle memory").

The ideal way to tackle is to break down and square up, then lock on (launching the arms through and wrapping up) and drive through the ballcarrier with the head back while rolling the hips. This transfers the force onto the large muscles of the back while keeping the shoulders, head, and neck out of harm's way. It also has the added benefit of, due to the enormous amounts of kinetic energy that can be derived from driving off the ground, arresting the ballcarrier's progress at the point of impact. The motion itself and the muscle groups used are the same as in an Olympic-style power clean, which is a terrific conditioning exercise for your defensive players due to the similarities. It turns tackling from an impact-driven exercise into a muscular-driven one.

The description of the act of tackling itself is one that probably requires reading a few times to fully understand the coordinated effort. Trust me, it's not that confusing if you see it live or in pictures. I've actually thought about starting a website just so I can have pics and videos of various techniques being demonstrated.
 
#48
#48
#50
#50
I like the Willis play in the sense of stopping the ballcarrier and driving the legs to finish the tackle. But the initial contact is a good example of that whole upper-body lowering I can do without. The problem with what he did was, if the ballcarrier were to cut one way or another, Willis is in a prone position and liable to get a knee to the head. In addition, the weight that he has forward of his center of gravity also puts him WAY out of position with a quick move.

I need to find the college video of a guy I coached once. This would be the tape that was sent out to various colleges so they could see what kind of player he was. Best athlete I've had yet, and he had more of a desire to do things the right way than anyone I've been around. He was an absolute terror on defense.

Yeah...I need to find the tape and find a way to extract it onto my computer.
 
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