Nick Perry injury prompts USC no-contact practice policy
I had not heard anything about this on the board. Apparently following a high ankle sprain sustained by Nick Perry during practice, Coach Kiffy (xoxoxo Layla) has instituted an policy of no live-tacking for the remainder of the fall practices with only a few specific exceptions. That is a pretty serious step to take and has to indicate serious concern over the depth chart. I assume they must now be down to two 5-star athletes at each position. EDIT: link http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/blog?name=feldman_bruce&id=5468021&addat…
August 16th, 2010 at 4:23 PM ^
Tackling in football, who needs that? No one said Kiffin was a good coach.
August 16th, 2010 at 8:37 PM ^
by hiring him to decent contracts.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:33 PM ^
in the flag football championships, they werent banned form that
August 16th, 2010 at 4:36 PM ^
As long as he declares them all hybrid linebackers instead of safeties, they will learn how to tackle overnight. (I'm looking at you Stevie...)
August 16th, 2010 at 5:00 PM ^
I think they are down to about 71 scholarship players--which is where Michigan was at the end of last season. It's probably a pretty smart move. They can get back in the swing of things against overmatched teams like Hawaii without risking more practice injuries.
USC will probably be fine this year, but they are going to start to struggle soon as the decreased numbers take their toll.
August 16th, 2010 at 6:08 PM ^
...this was a staple of the Carroll era. USC prided itself on always being "live" even when it meant losing players to injury (Carroll was often critized for the policy). Things must be very dire on the depth chart to change a tradition. I'll bet SC keeps its head above water this year, but next year, it could get ugly.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:43 AM ^
This is not necessarily that abnormal - some coaches don't do "live" tackling in practice, although it depends what you mean by live. A good policy I've used (I'm a youth coach, not a genius like Charlie Weis or anything) is that we can hit live but don't take anybody to the ground, we blow the whistle once the guy is wrapped up.