Teaching Tackling Safely: Heads-Up Principles

By 4Football Staff · October 21, 2026 · 12 min read

How coaches teach tackling so players see what they hit, keep the head out of contact and finish with the body, from first-day drills to full-speed practice.

A new coach stands in front of twenty-two players on the first night of practice. Some of them have never been tackled and some have never tackled anyone. Every one of them will be asked, within a few weeks, to run at another player and bring him down. The way that coach teaches the first five minutes of tackling will shape how those players hit for years, and it will shape how often they are hurt.

Tackling is the most dangerous skill in football and also the most teachable. It is a sequence of body positions and decisions that can be broken into pieces, practiced slowly, and then put back together at speed. This article covers the principles behind modern "heads-up" tackling instruction, how to build a progression from the first day, how to run the drills, and what to watch for. It is written for coaches at the youth and high school levels, but the ideas apply anywhere tackling is taught.

Nothing here replaces the rules, training requirements or coaching certification that apply to your league or state association. Where a detail varies, we say so.

What "heads-up" actually means

"Heads up" is shorthand for a simple idea: the player's head and neck are not the tools used to make contact. The eyes are up, the chin is up, the neck is firm, and the helmet stays out of the collision. The tackler sees the target through the entire approach and makes contact with the shoulder and chest, with the arms wrapping and the legs driving.

The reasoning is practical. A player who drops the head to aim at the ball carrier loses sight of the target at the moment the target changes direction. He misses the tackle more often, and when he does hit, the force travels through the top of the helmet and down the neck. Football rules at every level forbid using the crown of the helmet as the point of contact, and the reason is not just the penalty yardage: it is the most dangerous way to hit.

Several national youth organizations and many state associations teach their own version of this idea, and the details of the vocabulary differ. Some coaches say "see what you hit," others say "eyes through the numbers," others say "face up, bite the ball." The labels matter less than the habit. If your players leave practice with the same few cues in their heads, the cues are working.

The two jobs of the head

Think of the head as having two jobs in a tackle: seeing and staying out of the way. It does not have a job in making contact. When you correct a player, start from that framing. "Where were your eyes at the moment of contact?" is a better question than "Why did you do that?" because it points to something the player can fix.

The tackle in five parts

Almost every tackling program breaks the skill into the same handful of pieces. The names change from coach to coach, but the sequence does not.

1. Approach. The tackler closes the distance under control, with the feet moving and the body balanced. Running full speed at a ball carrier is often the way to miss, because the carrier simply steps away.
2. Breakdown. In the last few steps the tackler shortens the stride, widens the base, lowers the hips by bending the knees and hips (not by bending at the waist), and keeps the chest up. This is the "fit" position, a little like a basketball defender's stance.
3. Hit position. The tackler brings the head up and to the side of the target, placing the face and helmet on the correct side of the ball carrier's body, with the shoulder pads aimed at the target's near hip or stomach area. Many programs teach this as "head across the bow," which means the helmet goes in front of the ball carrier's body on one side, not through the middle.
4. Wrap. The arms close around the ball carrier, hands gripping cloth or the body, and the tackler pulls the arms in tight.
5. Drive and finish. The legs keep driving, the tackler keeps moving through the target, and the ball carrier is taken to the ground. The tackle is not complete when the arms touch the player, only when he is down.

A table helps when you plan teaching time, because each part has a different common failure.

Start without contact

Players should not learn the hit position at full speed. A sound progression starts with positions and movement and adds contact only when the earlier steps look right. Here is one common order for a first session, which you can adjust to your age group.

Step one: the stance and the breakdown

Line players up in pairs, a few yards apart, and have them practice shuffling and breaking down on a coach's signal, with no ball carrier and no contact. Watch the feet first: they should be wider than the shoulders, with the weight on the balls of the feet. Then watch the back and head: the back is flat, the chin is up, the eyes are forward.

This drill feels too simple to older players. Keep doing it anyway. Breakdown is the position that everything else depends on, and a player who cannot hold it in an empty drill will not hold it against a ball carrier.

Step two: the fit

Next, have a player in the breakdown position walk up to a partner (or a stationary dummy or bag) and place the shoulder pads on the target, with the head to the side and the arms wrapping. This is a "fit." There is no run-up and no drive, just the shape of a correct tackle held for a count. Walk down the line and correct every player who has his head down or his helmet in the middle of the target.

Many coaches do the fit in two or three stages: first with no pads, just shoulders, then in shoulder pads with no helmets, and finally in full equipment. Whether your league allows the helmet-free versions depends on its rules and on your equipment policy. A safer variant, where it is allowed, is to practice the fit entirely on a bag or a soft shield rather than on a teammate.

Step three: the drive

Once the fit is clean, add the legs. The tackler fits on a bag or shield held by a coach or teammate and drives the feet for several steps while keeping the head up. This teaches the finish. Many missed tackles in games come from players who stop their feet at the moment of contact.

Step four: controlled tackling at low speed

Only after the first three steps look right do you add a live ball carrier. Start with a ball carrier who walks or jogs, and a tackler who closes the distance under control. Keep the area small, keep the pace slow, and have the ball carrier go to the ground in a controlled way. The goal is to rehearse the whole sequence with a person, not to test toughness.

Drills worth running

Good tackling drills share three traits: a small space, a clear goal for each repetition, and limited speed. Here are several that coaches use widely, described in general terms. You will find your own variations in clinics and coaching materials.

• Mirror drill. Two players face each other in a narrow lane. The ball carrier tries to move left or right, and the tackler mirrors with the feet while staying in the breakdown position. There is no contact. This builds the footwork that makes a clean tackle possible.
• Form tackling on bags. The tackler fits and drives on a shield or bag. A coach watches the head and the feet.
• Angle drill. A ball carrier runs along a line and the tackler approaches from the side at an angle, practicing the approach and fit without a full-speed collision. Use cones to define the lane.
• Gauntlet or circuit. Several stations in a row, each practicing one piece of the tackle. Players rotate through them in small groups so no one waits long.
• Open-field tackling in a tight box. A short, narrow area, such as the width of a few cones, keeps the speed down and forces the tackler to break down and use proper form because the ball carrier has little room to move.

Whatever drill you pick, apply the same rule: a repetition that looks wrong is stopped and fixed, and it is not repeated at higher speed in the hope that it will improve.

Teaching the roles around the tackle

A tackle in a game is rarely one player against one player. Several things need to be taught alongside the hit itself.

Pursuit and the angle

The best way to avoid a dangerous head-down collision is to arrive at the ball carrier with a good angle. Defenders who run directly toward the ball carrier at the same speed usually end up behind him. Teaching defenders to take a path that cuts off the ball carrier's lane lets the tackler arrive under control. The first defender to the ball is trying to make the tackle, but the second and third are trying to help, and a simple "everyone to the ball" habit is part of tackling instruction.

Gang tackling and the strip

When more than one defender is involved, assign roles. The first tackler secures the ball carrier. The next arrivals wrap and help finish the tackle without piling on late or striking the head. Some coaches coach the ball-strip movement at the same time. This is an extra skill, and many programs introduce it only after players can tackle cleanly.

Learning to fall and to be tackled

A good program teaches the ball carrier too. Learning to protect the ball, keep the head up, and go down in a controlled way reduces risk for the ball carrier and makes drills safer for the partner. The ball carrier is not an obstacle. He is a teammate in a training exercise, and he should know the rules of the drill.

Rules that shape how you coach tackling

At every level, football has rules against using the head as the point of contact and against striking certain players. The details differ by governing body: the NFL, the NCAA (college), the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) rules used by most high schools, and the rule sets used by youth leagues all define their own fouls and penalties. Some call it spearing or targeting, and others describe it as lowering the head to initiate contact. Check the current rulebook for your level.

What does not change is the principle. A coach who teaches the head-up fit is teaching the technique that the rules reward and protect. For the penalty side of this subject, see the overview of tackling technique and safe contact, and for the player-side basics see tackling fundamentals: form, angles and finish.

Practice limits matter too. Many state associations and youth organizations restrict how much full-contact practice a team can run each week, and the NFL's labor agreement limits contact practices as well. Those limits are one more reason to build the skill in a no-contact or low-contact setting, because the minutes of live tackling you are allowed are scarce.

Equipment, fit and surroundings

Technique cannot compensate for gear that does not fit. A helmet that is too loose moves on the head, and shoulder pads that sit wrong change where the contact happens. Before any tackling instruction, check that every player's helmet and pads are the correct size and properly fastened, and that the mouthguard is in. Equipment standards and inspection requirements come from your league or school, and a certified equipment manager or athletic trainer can help with fitting.

The ground matters as well. Choose a practice area free of holes, sprinkler heads and debris, and shorten or stop drills when heat, rain or ice makes footing poor. If you work in warm weather, follow your association's heat acclimatization rules, because tired and overheated players tackle badly and are more likely to be hurt. Your athletic trainer or league can supply a written heat policy.

Reading the signs of a problem

Coaches are not doctors, and no article can make them one. What coaches can do is notice and act.

• A player who hesitates to tackle may be afraid, injured or confused about the technique. Talk to him privately and slow down.
• A player who suddenly tackles with the head down after weeks of good form may be tired, may be hiding an injury, or may be imitating a bad habit he saw somewhere. Stop the drill and reteach.
• A player who seems dazed, moves unsteadily, complains of headache, or does not remember the play after contact must be removed from activity immediately and evaluated by a qualified professional under your league's concussion policy. Coaches do not diagnose, and they do not decide when a player returns. Your state's law and your school or league protocol set that process. See the site's article on concussion symptoms for background.

If your program has an athletic trainer, make that person part of the tackling plan from the start. If it does not, make sure someone at every practice is trained in first aid and knows the emergency plan.

Common coaching mistakes

• Teaching at game speed too early. Speed hides flaws until someone is hurt.
• Correcting the outcome, not the position. A tackle that succeeded with poor form needs the same correction as a miss.
• Using tackling as punishment or a test of toughness. Hitting drills used to "toughen up" players teach bad habits and carry risk with little benefit.
• Skipping the ball carrier's education. If the ball carrier lowers his head, the drill is no longer safe for either player.
• Running long contact periods when players are tired. Form fades with fatigue. Put tackling early in practice, when players are fresh.
• Ignoring the small players. Mismatched sizes in a drill are a safety problem. Pair players by size and ability in early drills.
• Never filming practice. Short video clips let players see their own head position and make correction concrete. Keep video policies in mind and follow your organization's privacy rules for minors.

Putting it on the calendar

A season-long plan helps. In the first week, spend most of the tackling time on breakdown and fit. In the second week, add the drive and controlled low-speed work. Introduce live tackling gradually, within the contact limits that apply, and keep returning to the basic positions every week as a warm-up, even late in the season. Players forget form when the focus shifts to game plans, so a few minutes of fundamentals at the start of practice is time well spent. For how to arrange those minutes, see how to build a practice plan, and if you are looking for a place to find or register a team to coach, the Play section and the high school directory are good starting points, and the college pages show where players who learn well may end up.

The short version

• Heads-up tackling means the eyes are up, the neck is firm, and the helmet stays out of the contact.
• Teach the tackle in parts: approach, breakdown, hit position, wrap, drive.
• Start with no contact, then add a fit, then the drive, then controlled live work at low speed.
• Stop and correct a bad repetition instead of repeating it faster.
• Learn the rules for your level and the contact limits in your league or state association.
• Check equipment fit, field conditions and heat every day.
• Remove any player showing concussion symptoms and follow your protocol; do not diagnose.