FSU Tackling its Tackling Issues

Missing dozens of tackles last weekend at NC State has FSU tackling its issues with, well, tackling.

After Florida State’s defensive performance against the NC State Wolfpack on Saturday — arguably the worst since Jimbo Fisher took over the program — FSU’s coaches got on its players about just how many tackles the Seminoles had missed against the Wolfpack.

“They told us today that we missed 30-something, something like that,” said senior S Tyler Hunter on Monday.

33 to be exact.

If anyone could afford not to know the exact number, it’s Hunter– who racked up ten on Saturday.

“I thought Tyler Hunter tackled well in the game,” said head coach Jimbo Fisher. “I thought he played really well.”

The problem is, your safety isn’t supposed to finish second on your team in tackles. That’s indicative of one of several potential problems and none of them are good. In FSU’s case, it’s indicative of poor tackling.

How many tackles would Hunter have had if his teammates hadn’t missed so many?

“Not ten or eleven, I know that,” joked Hunter. “Probably about five, maybe.”

That’s why it wasn’t surprising when, on Monday — as FSU opened its practice to the media — the defensive backs and linebackers were doing drills aimed at improving tackling in space.

“We started off the practice with just tackling, just focusing on the fundamentals of tackling and just making the guys do it right,” said Hunter. “Guys just want to sometimes do their own thing and just dive in there and cut them down or whatever, you have to keep your eyes up, wherever your eyes [are] at that’s where your body’s going to go. That’s really it.”

FSU still didn’t go live, there was no tackling to the ground. Players just thudded and worked on taking the correct angles and form.

But when pressed on whether the lack of live tackling at Florida State’s practices could be the reason for the FSU tackling woes, Hunter wasn’t having it.

“You’re in college now, so you should know how to tackle,” he said.

Tackling, to me, is a lot of ‘want to,’

Added Fisher: “Tackling, to me, is a lot of ‘want to,’ — being able to step on guys’ toes and hit them in the mouth and get into position to do that.”

So what happened on Saturday?

“I’ve never been a part of any team where we missed that many tackles,” said Hunter. “It was definitely different for me, but hey, just gotta move on and work at it.”

That last part — about FSU needing to work on it — couldn’t be more true. Against the Wolfpack plays that should have gone for just two or three routinely turned into eight or nine yard gains as Seminole defenders fell at the ball-carriers’ knees or failed to wrap up after making contact.

“Sometimes I thought we jumped too low on tackles, didn’t hit on the rise– we’re physical enough,” said Fisher. “And other times we got ourselves out of position. [We] had bad eye discipline, no matter what. No excuse, we have to tackle better and we will tackle better and we’ll have a lot of space and drills and work on those things.”

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Nobody victimized FSU’s defense more than NC State QB Jacoby Brissett. Brissett looked as though he had been doused in Crisco as he flitted through the Seminoles’ attempts to tackle him and continued to make plays for the Wolfpack. The NC State junior accounted for nearly 400 yards as the Wolfpack pushed the ‘Noles to the brink.

“[I] thought we had sacks [but] their quarterback did a great job of avoiding [us], we should have had six or seven sacks in the game and a lot of that was due to him, but still we’ve got to close the gap and put pressure on him and get him on the ground and make those plays because you can only cover down field so long,” Fisher said.

This isn’t a new problem though.

Florida State had issues with tackling a year ago.

Exactly a year ago, in fact.

Last September 28th, Florida State played its fourth game of the season on the road at Boston College and — after missing a myriad of tackles — gave up 200 yards on the ground to the Eagles. The Seminoles won by two scores but it was a much closer result than was expected. Many around the country worried FSU’s defense was just not at the level it had been at a year ago.

The following week FSU found itself exactly where it is at this point in this season– 4-0, working on its tackling.

Déjà vu.