It’s a tough path for a college football to balance physicality and a team’s health in practice.
Working on tackling in practice is the only way to improve tackling. But when a team is banged up, depth is tested, and additional hits throughout the week can add up.
Kenny Dillingham’s usual strategy is to let those deemed non-contact players to still practice throughout the week. With a veteran group, he’s trusted they could ramp up when needed while backing off the physicality in practice.
He admits though, that another strategy may be needed at this time after Utah out-physicaled the Devils in a 42-10 win no Saturday.
“I think I’ve gotten a little bit soft with a veteran group,” Dillingham said. “That’s 100% on me.”
While Dillingham said Saturday was the first time in about 18 months where the Sun Devils didn’t show the physicality needed to compete, he doesn’t want that to become a pattern during a crucial stretch of the season.
On Tuesday, practice was ramped up with live tackling and those in non-contact jerseys took a back seat. Dillingham said he’ll then evaluate who will be best positioned to play on Saturday against Texas Tech.
Jordan Hamm
