Changes Coming to Football Practices

[gdumont]

See the full list of changes coming to football practices

http://www.nwahomepage.com/razorback-nation/sec-to-adopt-ncaa-practice-recommendations-for-football/707735143

[hogsanity]

here come the " In my day....." and " why dont we just put skirts on them" and " lets just play flag football " replies.

[LZH]

here come the " In my day....." and " why dont we just put skirts on them" and " lets just play flag football " replies.

I won't bother with that but live contact/scrimmages/game situations certainly make football players better.

[BassinHawg]

And every player will play and every player will get a "Participation Trophy", Geesh!

[PorkSoda]

And every player will play and every player will get a "Participation Trophy", Geesh!

geesh is right, but in regards to whiny posters like you.

they are still getting the same number of practices and will get more time to schedule them in.

there is no need for 2 a days to get guys in shape.  they already train year round, unlike in the old days.

[ChicoHog]

I have no problem eliminating the 2 a day practices.  What i don't like is the lack of physical conduct during spring and fall practices.  I understand the reduction of injuries and that is important but it definitely hurts the quality of tackling because teams are not allowed to or don't want to risk injury.  That helps teams that run the wide open spread offenses that rely on getting players in space as the defenses don't spend enough time practicing tackling to the ground.  Buddy Teevens, head coach at Dartmouth and former Stanford coach does not allow tackling in any of this practices.  They practice tackling my using radio controlled "dummies"  instead of actual offensive players.  It may be the wave of the future. 

[bphi11ips]

I have no problem eliminating the 2 a day practices.  What i don't like is the lack of physical conduct during spring and fall practices.  I understand the reduction of injuries and that is important but it definitely hurts the quality of tackling because teams are not allowed to or don't want to risk injury.  That helps teams that run the wide open spread offenses that rely on getting players in space as the defenses don't spend enough time practicing tackling to the ground.  Buddy Teevens, head coach at Dartmouth and former Stanford coach does not allow tackling in any of this practices.  They practice tackling my using radio controlled "dummies"  instead of actual offensive players.  It may be the wave of the future. 

I saw the wave of the future last weekend at an "elite" camp.  WRs and CBs in shorts and t-shirts freelancing while QBs they'd never played with waited until the WR broke open. Can any of them actually play football?  God only knows, but they looked good in all that swag. 

[urkillnmesmalls]

I guess the silver lining is that if almost all of the teams adopt a no tackling to the ground in practice philosophy, they should all be equally bad at it.  We'll see more scoring across the board.  So, basically it will be like watching our defense in 2012 every week.   

I'm assuming there will be less injuries in practice as well.  So, those aren't actually that bad. 

It will be interesting to see if the overall injury rate will increase or decrease, because they could go from almost zero contact and resistance to momentum, to full on adrenaline hitting in games.  There won't really be any sort of ramping up to get them used to contact.  I guess only time will tell on that one.

[LZH]

there is no need for 2 a days to get guys in shape.  they already train year round, unlike in the old days.

Not sure about this. I would think that if you took two teams that were pretty equal and one has 2-a-day practices and not the other, you would see a difference on the field in the fourth quarter...more so in the first half of the season. And certainly this applies to us. For the past few years, we have just plain looked worn down toward the end of many games...just have frankly looked out of shape. I understand the depth issues, but we aren't the only SEC team that doesn't have Alabama-type depth.

As for contact, just because someone works out really hard doesn't mean that he is in football shape. I have a hard time believing that you could just take a bodybuilder with some football knowledge and put him in pads and expect him to hold up like the others. I think there is a real chance that injuries occurring during games could actually go up....especially if you eliminate 2-a-days.

Someone is going to get dinged up anyway. And if you eliminate more live game situations, not only does the whole team suffer, but it could put more emphasis on possible injury because you did. Plus, if we have had a hard time settling guys in position now, especially on the lines, then will it be the middle of the season before coaches can evaluate these kids in live game situations enough to decide who needs to play?

Guess my age is showing.

[oldfart]

as i understand it practices will begin a week earlier so the same number of tital practices. i hope that live tackling will still be heavily incorporated especially tackling in space

[PorkSoda]

football necessarily assumes a certain amount of risk, but I think there is a positive trend developing in trying to eliminate unnecessary risks; assuming it is done in a practical way.

[PorkRinds]

Not sure about this. I would think that if you took two teams that were pretty equal and one has 2-a-day practices and not the other, you would see a difference on the field in the fourth quarter...more so in the first half of the season. And certainly this applies to us. For the past few years, we have just plain looked worn down toward the end of many games...just have frankly looked out of shape. I understand the depth issues, but we aren't the only SEC team that doesn't have Alabama-type depth.

As for contact, just because someone works out really hard doesn't mean that he is in football shape. I have a hard time believing that you could just take a bodybuilder with some football knowledge and put him in pads and expect him to hold up like the others. I think there is a real chance that injuries occurring during games could actually go up....especially if you eliminate 2-a-days.

Someone is going to get dinged up anyway. And if you eliminate more live game situations, not only does the whole team suffer, but it could put more emphasis on possible injury because you did. Plus, if we have had a hard time settling guys in position now, especially on the lines, then will it be the middle of the season before coaches can evaluate these kids in live game situations enough to decide who needs to play?

Guess my age is showing.

Well, that and JMSU to support your preconceived notions.  I'm going to bet neither of us have a clue which of our opponents had two a days last year and which didn't. And I'd be equally willing to be the results had zero correlation to two a days. We did the same amount of practicing as everyone else. Which is the maximum allowed by the NCAA.

[LZH]

Well, that and JMSU to support your preconceived notions.  I'm going to bet neither of us have a clue which of our opponents had two a days last year and which didn't. And I'd be equally willing to be the results had zero correlation to two a days. We did the same amount of practicing as everyone else. Which is the maximum allowed by the NCAA.

Good Lord man, save your energy. Saying "I would think..." isn't jmsu. Saying "I have a hard time believing..." isn't jmsu. It's opinion, not preconceived notions.

And as for your opinion that there are zero correlations between one practice a day versus two practices a day, that is like saying my grandfather smoked all of his life and lived to be 90 years old. Well, if he had never smoked at all he may have damn well have lived to be 120. There is no way to tell. But as for me, I will stick to the old school methods of getting guys ready to play tackle football.

[PorkRinds]

Good Lord man, save your energy. Saying "I would think..." isn't jmsu. Saying "I have a hard time believing..." isn't jmsu. It's opinion, not preconceived notions.

And as for your opinion that there are zero correlations between one practice a day versus two practices a day, that is like saying my grandfather smoked all of his life and lived to be 90 years old. Well, if he had never smoked at all he may have damn well have lived to be 120. There is no way to tell. But as for me, I will stick to the old school methods of getting guys ready to play tackle football.

Which is why I'm so damn glad it's someone else's job to get our guys ready! 

[LZH]

Which is why I'm so damn glad it's someone else's job to get our guys ready! 

I'm sure you are....

[tophawg19]

2 a days weren't so much for physical prep as mental toughness. it taught that even when tired, you can always find a bit more .

[LZH]

2 a days weren't so much for physical prep as mental toughness. it taught that even when tired, you can always find a bit more .

It's a kinder, gentler football these days. Ban the Gatorade!

[ThisTeetsTaken]

Why not cut the games down to 40 minutes?  10 minute Qtrs should cut down on the number of injuries.   They could also start each drive at the 25 yd line with no kick off return or punt return.  That would certainly cut down on some injuries also.  Another thing is when a receiver catches the ball you have to wait until he takes 5 steps before you can hit him.   Man, there are all kinds of things we can do to make football more safe. 

[PorkSoda]

Why not cut the games down to 40 minutes?  10 minute Qtrs should cut down on the number of injuries.   They could also start each drive at the 25 yd line with no kick off return or punt return.  That would certainly cut down on some injuries also.  Another thing is when a receiver catches the ball you have to wait until he takes 5 steps before you can hit him.   Man, there are all kinds of things we can do to make football more safe. 

sure, but none of those are practical.  I'm guessing you knew that.

[PorkSoda]

For the past few years, we have just plain looked worn down toward the end of many games...just have frankly looked out of shape. I understand the depth issues, but we aren't the only SEC team that doesn't have Alabama-type depth.

I think you answered your own question. Depth has been an issue.  the other factor you overlooked is the "Tortoise vs the Hare" factor.  Quite a few times we were able to gain a lead by playing harder and faster than the other team.  however that also meant that we ran out of juice quicker. 

this isn't a sprinters game, you gotta be able to go the distance, which means you can't just blow your wad in the first half and expect to be able to cruise to the finish line.  but since we aren't going to simply out talent many of the teams on our conference schedule that means we have to play with emotion.  that tends to be only a temporary boost that leaves you drained at the end.

[Inhogswetrust]

football necessarily assumes a certain amount of risk, but I think there is a positive trend developing in trying to eliminate unnecessary risks; assuming it is done in a practical way.

There are risks in life every minute of every day that people must navigate. No way to eliminate all risks but the issue is who decides what are necessary risks and what are practical measures. Ironic that sometimes even similar risks are given different views. For example why do we have to wear seat belts to drive to make travel safer by driving a car YET motorcycle drivers don't even have to wear a helmet anymore. Why are some laws filtered down to the smaller levels yet others are not thus causing massive inconsistency across the country for certain laws so that people don't even sometimes know the law where they happen to be.

[PorkSoda]

There are risks in life every minute of every day that people must navigate. No way to eliminate all risks but the issue is who decides what are necessary risks and what are practical measures. Ironic that sometimes even similar risks are given different views. For example why do we have to wear seat belts to drive to make travel safer by driving a car YET motorcycle drivers don't even have to wear a helmet anymore. Why are some laws filtered down to the smaller levels yet others are not thus causing massive inconsistency across the country for certain laws so that people don't even sometimes know the law where they happen to be.

who is responsible for determining what is necessary and what is practical?

I assume the people in charge.  for the NCAA, im sure they have a safety committee that makes recommendations and another committee that votes on whether to institute it while considering if the new rule is both practical to implement and effective towards achieving its stated goal.   I'm sure they use a mixture of common sense and statistical data  to make their decision.

[DeltaBoy]

here come the " In my day....." and " why dont we just put skirts on them" and " lets just play flag football " replies.

Well yes it time to call for Flag College football,  Properly used 2 a days got your ready for football faster. Good lord they are killing the game more every year. 

[PorkSoda]

Well yes it time to call for Flag College football,  Properly used 2 a days got your ready for football faster. Good lord they are killing the game more every year. 

there will be plenty of time for them to practice 8 hours a day when they get into the NFL.  in college their are other concerns.  as long as the rules are the same for everyone, then its fair.

[hogsanity]

there will be plenty of time for them to practice 8 hours a day when they get into the NFL.  in college their are other concerns.  as long as the rules are the same for everyone, then its fair.

Many nfl teams have done away with two a days, at least in the traditional sense. Many are now one physical practice and then film study/meetings.

Well yes it time to call for Flag College football,  Properly used 2 a days got your ready for football faster. Good lord they are killing the game more every year. 

Yeah back before players started working out year round.