Missed tackles a continued theme Florida Football is trying to clean up

Tackling was a massive problem for Florida Football in 2023. With 116 missed tackles and a missed tackle rate of 15.3%, the Gators were the worst tackling team in the SEC and one of the worst nationwide.

While improved tackling has been a theme for Florida all offseason, according to Billy Napier after the team's first scrimmage, it is still a work in progress.

Florida Football: The Numbers Don’t Lie

During his press conference yesterday, Napier highlighted the importance of having all eleven players on defense on the same page and what happens when there is just one weak link.

"And then defensively, a lot of plays where we had 10 right and one wrong, where the good teams that we play will expose that, right, so consistency is what we're looking for. The tackling was good outside of a handful of plays, you know, and I think those proved to be costly, so we've got to continue – if we want to have a good football team, we have to be a really good tackling team."

- Billy Napier

Napier’s claim that the tackling was good is reassuring, but later in the press conference, he provided a specific statistic about how the tackling went.

"Overall, the tackling was good, I just think there's 8 or 10, I think we had 20 missed tackles on the day, which we played 122 snaps. I think the ball got loose a little bit, loose play, perimeter plays, check downs, perimeter check downs, some runs that rolled off the table where we misfit, then they turn into, eight-yard gain turns into a 22-yard gain. Very correctable, but overall tackling was good."

Twenty missed tackles on 122 snaps would be a missed rate of 14%. Factoring in not every play ends in a tackle (incomplete, out of bounds, touchdown, etc.), Florida’s missed tackle rate on the day was probably above that of the 15.3% rate they had in 2023.

And if you are keeping score at home, Georgia had a missed tackle rate of just 10.3% in 2023.

There are a couple of caveats, including the fact that tackling early in the year is a struggle for everyone around the country. We don’t know how “live” the tackling was in the scrimmage or who missed the tackles. Was it starters, or was it third-string guys who aren't going to see the field in 2024?

Plus, tackling during the spring game did feel better, and there was a far greater emphasis on rallying to the ball than in 2023.

But given the disaster that was tackling in 2023, a 15% missed tackle rate in a scrimmage will raise eyebrows. And the truth in sports is that until it’s fixed, it isn’t fixed.