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Your
next job is to disable and make ineffective his blockers as
they come toward you. The better you do this, coach said,
the easier it will be for Kenny, Jupe, and Joe to make a
blocker free tackle. Never let them get around you, throw
the blockers down on the ground with your bare hands. As the
play develops you can yell for Kenny, Jupe, and Joe as to
where the runner is going and get as many of you as possible
in on the tackle. Coach told me to rush the passer, but only
after I was certain the enemy was not going to do a reverse
or even an end and around. He also told me never to tackle a
runner with just my arms, he said to always put my shoulder
and wrap your arms around the runner to get an effective
tackle.
I
remember one night we were playing on our field against
Union. They were lined up over close to the grade school
side of the field. They lined up in a single wing formation
and the tailback Ronnie Bostic ran straight hard toward the
other side of the field. He had the wingback, the blocking
back, the pulling guard, and the right end all running as
hard and fast as they could toward the far side of the
field. I turned and sprinted as hard and fast as I could
toward the far side of the field yelling loudly at Kenny,
Jupe and Joe that Bostic and his gang was going to try to go
around me and try to go a long long way! As I ran I pushed
down Union blockers as they charged toward me. We reached
the other side of the field and as Ronnie went to turn on
the sideline Kenny, Rick, and Jupe all hit him and not
surprisingly he went down, no gain, not one yard after all
that effort!
That was
one of many excellent plays by our hard nosed line, thanks
to coach McLaughlin's superb coaching skills. That is one of
the many reasons he had the best won loss record in West
Virginia. I appreciate his larger than life talent much more
now than I did then. It was A true lifetime privilege to
play football and basketball for Abe! |
