Tackle Dummies

i


these are robotic and remote controlled by a coach.

"Wouldn't it be neat," Teevens began, "if we could make one of those move?" He waved to a tackling dummy on the field below.

"You know, Buddy," said John Currier, the researcher friend, "I think we can."

Currier convened a team of engineering students, including one of Teevens' football players, to fashion the prototype that eventually became the Mobile Virtual Player. (Today, Teevens is chairman of the MVP company board.) It was janky at first, parts falling off here, loosening up over there, but was refined into what is now one of the beloved centerpieces of Dartmouth practices. (For others too. In college: Texas and Notre Dame, to name two. In the pros: the Cowboys and Steelers, among others. The NFL even spotlighted the MVP in a 2017 Super Bowl ad, a "future of football" tagline flashing on screen after a shot of the motorized dummy hurtling across Memorial Field.) It really does look like any other old tackling dummy -- until a coach wields that radar-gun-looking remote and presses go. Then it's a roving target for defensive players to fire their bodies at, and the closest approximation yet of tackling an on-the-go player. With less potential for head-to-head trauma.
So not only can our players miss real players we can get them to miss tackles on dummies also LOL
 
The fear that you might get hurt learning how to avoid getting hurt, playing a game where you could get hurt, is called?

Stop! It's making my head hurt! Concussion protocol! STAT!
 
I don't care if the guys missing tackles probably won't be on the field.

How the hell can you even get a shot to wear the Green and Gold if you can't tackle?

Drive shoulder in, wrap arms, bring bad guy to the ground. It is simple, and it is mental.

I'm glad I haven't been able to watch
 
Back
Top