The nature of pre-season practice

[SanJoaquinSooner]

From Bay Area Sports Talk on the Radio, the discussion focused on the contrast of Raider Coach Cable and 49er Coach Singletary in their philosophy in pre-season practices.

Cable is minimizing physical contact, focusing on assignments while Singletary is maximizing physical contact.

Both of the radio dudes thought it will come back to haunt the Raiders with poor tackling, etc during the regular season. They dismissed the issue of risking injury when going with full physical contact, saying injuries happen and that's just the way it is.

I don't really know how Stoops handles this issue. I know many arm chair QBs have conjectured that the Sooners peak too early, hence the poor bowl performances. Don't know if the two are related or not.

[o0Dan0o]

I heard about the raiders coach having the 1st O and D line up, but blowing the whistle a second after the ball is snapped, so that every player can be instantly judged on their position and how they handled their assignment. That seems like really good idea to me, solid assignment play is critical. I wouldn't want to eliminate full contact practices, but I like the idea of adding this in.
Dan

[ThatGuy65]

I don't really know how Stoops handles this issue

OU pre season practices are plenty physical. The first padded practice starts with the Oklahoma drill and the intensity doesn't subside until the first game week.

[Scott D]

Well one could argue that if you're not in position to make the tackle, you aren't going to make the tackle anyway. Conversely, if your team is too beat up going into the season you'll either struggle early, or struggle late.