Blue White Illustrated

Butler recalled. "You thud 'em up, you run through, you do everything you do, basically, except go to the ground. Guys get hurt when you go to the ground – and not just the tackling part of it. The blocking part of it, the going after [fumbles], the leaving your feet to make plays. … We practiced like they practice in the NFL." In Penn State's case, the less-punishing approach is aimed at avoiding rolled-up ankles, buckled knees and brain-jarring helmet-to-helmet blows. While certain risks may be unavoidable on game day – witness Michael Mauti's season-ending knee injury against Indiana last November – the coaching staff can control the tempo and intensity of practice. With the Nittany Lions allowed to carry no more than 65 scholarship players from 2014 to '17, keeping players healthy is a major point of emphasis. O'Brien made that crystal clear during a teleconference in May, after Sports Illustrated released a story that raised questions about changes to Penn State's medical staff. "We are at 67 scholarships," O'Brien said, referring to the Nittany Lions' 2013 roster. "Do you think for one second that I would jeopardize the health and safety of this team?" While O'Brien angrily rejected speculation that Penn State's sports medicine program is moving toward an NFL model with an emphasis on getting injured players back on the field as quickly as possible, the second-year head coach has been taking steps to avoid injuries on the practice field. And that approach is modeled after the NFL. The NFL is continually limiting unnecessary collisions during practice. In fact, the league doesn't allow live contact in its off-season workouts, its players aren't allowed to wear full pads during those workouts, and during the season they only hit once a week. College programs have recently begun following suit. In 2011, the Ivy League began limiting full-contact practices to only two per week – three fewer than the NCAA allows. In July, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott announced that his league will limit in-practice hitting. While the rule only recently took effect, Pac-12 schools began limiting contact this past spring. At Cal, for instance, the spring game featured only one full quarter of action; a running clock was used for the remainder of the game. At Arizona, more than 20 players were held out, and at USC there was no tackling. O'Brien began scaling back Penn State's contact during spring practice. While the NCAA permits full contact in 12 of the 15 spring sessions, the Nittany Lions staged only two full-contact scrimmages during the spring, one of which was the Blue-White Game. All the other scrimmages were thud only. The approach does raise questions. Will there be a cost associated with playing it safe in practice and avoiding the collisions that will most certainly occur during games? Might the crispness of Penn State's defense be jeopardized? You're not going to have a form-tackle opportunity on every play in the Big Ten; sometimes it takes a shoelace-grabbing tackle to prevent a touchdown. And that's certainly not going to be a drill during O'Brien's – or anybody's – practice sessions. Might the Lions' new approach affect the accuracy, the pin-pointedness, of a defender and compromise his ability track down ball carriers? Linebacker Mike Hull said he doesn't think the lack of contact in practice will result in missed tackles on game day. "Definitely not," he said. "We've all been in game situations and we've been in live scrimmages. I'm sure we'll amp it up when we get into fall." Hull, a projected starter and one of the top playmakers in the Lions' front seven, added that the team will perform tackling drills using blue tackling pads to help polish its skills. "You have to work on it every week," he said. "Whenever you do these thud drills, you're basically working on your tackling form. You're facing everybody up and you're in perfect low square position. It's kinda the same thing. You're just not taking them to the ground." But for other linebackers, especially the young ones who have yet to fully adjust to the speed of the Division I game, there could be an acclimation period. "Practice is very up-tempo. We're all moving fast, we're all getting to the ball, but the thuds can kinda hurt you in a sense," redshirt freshman Nyeem Wartman said. "We're all aggressive in getting to the ball, but at the same time, when we go live, you might forget to run through a tackle. But that's just for the first few tackles. After that, you're in it, you're back to normal." It's an adjustment the entire team will have to make once the season begins, one that O'Brien and Butler surely hope won't take more than a play or two in the opener against Syracuse. "That's going to be our biggest challenge: practicing as hard as we can, being as smart as we can and getting our healthiest and best football team to the gates so we can execute the plan that Coach O'Brien puts together," Butler said. "And the most important thing is that our best players play against Syracuse and Ohio State and they're playing at their best. So that's the balance." Long term, O'Brien is exploring the possibility of making even bigger changes. He said he's thought about altering the Blue-White Game in 2014, a consideration inspired in part by the hand injury that Zach Zwinak suffered during this year's scrimmage. (The 1,000-yard rusher is expected to be healthy for the opener vs. Syracuse.) And there's a chance that Penn State could continue to use its new practice style even after the sanctions have elapsed – provided, of course, that it's as effective as the coaches hope. "We've gotta practice as hard, as fast and as physical and as tough as we can, but we have to make sure our best players are fresh and healthy when we play games," Butler said. "That's why football is such a unique sport. You have to practice football to be good at it, but in order to practice football, you have to practice it hard and physical. You can't walk around and walk through, so that's going to be our biggest challenge as we move forward over the next couple years with our I roster."

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