UNH Is Tackling Without Helmets to Prevent Head Injuries

The University of New Hampshire has one of the top football programs in the FCS this year. The Wildcats also using an innovative practice program in an attempt to reduce head injuries. They’re doing tackling drills without helmets and pads. It might sound counterintuitive at first, but it actually makes sense. The theory is that helmets protect the head and face enough that players feel safe enough to increase their risk and lead with the head while tackling. Removing the helmets for tackling drills will reduce that protection factor and help reinforce proper technique. At least that’s the theory.

As Jenny Vrentas explained in an interesting article on MMBQ, the drills are just one aspect of a program called Helmetless Trackling Training, or HUTT. In addition to removing helmets, the program also fits 50 players with head sensors and measures the impact to their heads throughout the season. Half the players form the treatment group and participate in the helmetless tackling drills. The other half serve as the control group and don’t go helmetless. The data from each group will be analyzed throughout the course of the two year study.

The drills themselves are pretty simple and are intended to help players develop the muscle memory to use good form and stop leading with the head.

Players in the treatment group complete two tackling drills without helmets and pads. In one, they start in a standing position, shuffling side to side, then speed up and enter a narrow corridor between two step-over pads, and wrap up a live runner protected by a blocking shield. The objective is to keep good form as they transition from moving laterally to entering a tight space. In the other drill the players begin face-down on the ground. When they jump up, an assistant coach cues one of two teammates, on either the left or right side, to advance toward the tackler. This emphasizes rising into contact in the correct position and maintaining it while reacting to action on the field.

It’s a thought provoking article and certainly a program worth tracking. The safety measures instituted by the NCAA, mainly the targeting penalty, seem to do more to frustrate fans than actually improve player safety. Teaching proper technique through programs like HUTT strikes me as a smarter way to address the problem. It will be interesting to see if the program itself or the fundamental tackling techniques it utilizes, spread throughout college football. The JMU defense improved throughout the season, but as we all saw against Liberty the Dukes missed a lot of tackles by trying to clobber someone instead of wrapping up. Programs like this one at UNH could help prevent all those missed tackles and make the game safer at the same time. Seems like a win-win.