11/11/2020 football Edit

Beavers Aim To Improve Tackling

Defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar (right) will be looking to flip the script against UW after his group had a rough outing against WSU (Karl Maasdam)

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

Publisher

PROMO: Join BeaversEdge.com and get 30 DAYS FREE!

MORE: WATCH: Tibesar, Colletto, Wright, & Arnold Talk Defensive Improvement | 2022 Recruit Big Board

While there were many aspects of the Beavers' play against Washington State that drew concerns, the most glaring issue was the inability to finish tackles.

More times than not, they were in good positions to make the play, but for one reason or another, couldn't finish. It ended up costing them dearly as Washington State was able to capitalize on the Beavers' missed tackles and ultimately, win the game,.

It's unclear just how many tackles the Beavers missed against WSU, but thanks to our analytics via PFF, we were able to determine that overall, it was one of the worst tackling performances the Beavers have had since they began tracking in 2011.

Defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar, whose group came up well short of expectations against the Cougars, says that the team has been focused on honing in on the fundamentals in practice this week, but also cautioned against too much live tackling during the week.

"We didn't tackle at the level we wanted to, so we're going to continue to work on the fundamentals by drilling it, coaching it, teaching it, and emphasizing it," Tibesar said. "But you can't line up and go live during an entire week of practices because your team won't be healthy enough to play."

Redshirt-junior inside linebacker Jack Colletto echoed his defensive coordinators' comments, noting that they're limited by just how much true-tackling they're able to conduct during a given week, but that they've got to sharpen up the mental side and be confident enough to finish the plays when they present themselves.

"Tackling (has been the biggest emphasis this week)," Colletto said. "A lot of times we were in a position to make plays, but we just didn't make them. We can't recreate the game in terms of tackling, so for us, it's important to visualize a good position to be able to finish on the ball."