Pitt's Pat Narduzzi Favors Hip-Drop Tackle Ban

Pitt Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi wants the hip-drop tackle out of football.

Pittsburgh v Syracuse / Elsa/GettyImages

PITTSBURGH -- In pursuit of better player safety, the NFL has further regulated what defensive players are allowed to do to bring down ball-carriers and Pitt Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi is a fan of taking a potentially dangerous play out of the game.

Narduzzi was asked about the so-called "hip-drop" tackle that has been outlawed in the NFL as of this week following a spring ball practice at Pitt's South Side Facility and said he is in favor of a ban on that specific form of tackling. He expects a similar rule change to come to college football soon.

"Yeah, nobody wants to see that. I’m glad they did that," Narduzzi said. "There’s things safety-wise - I imagine college football won’t be far behind."

The hip-drop tackle was defined by the NFL as when a player leaves his feet and lands on the legs of a ball-carrier from behind. Narduzzi said he's seen some examples of hip-drop tackles during his practices at Pitt this spring and added that his coaches pulled players aside then and there to show them better form. He doesn't want his players potentialy injuring an opponent in the process.

"We don’t want to do that," Narduzzi said. "I don’t want to do it in a game and hurt an opponent, and I don’t want to do it, obviously, against our guys. Even if it’s legal, I still don’t want to do it in a game. Guys get rolled up bad and it just looks ugly."

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