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Barry Odom and the Mizzou defense are adopting safer, rugby-style tackle techniques

Pretty cool pre-scrimmage story from Matter here.

"It’s the same drills we’ve always done, just with a focus and message we’re sending the kids about exactly where they put their body," said [Rob] Droege, who also teaches at Lindbergh High and coaches at Kirkwood High. "You’re using the front of the shoulder for contact and not the top of the shoulder, so the head doesn’t come down." [...]

Droege’s alma mater has installed a new tackling technique, too. A few years ago, while coaching at Memphis, first-year Mizzou defensive coordinator Barry Odom began teaching a rugby-style tackling philosophy popularized by the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks.