MVP-DRIVE^™ Mobile Tackling Dummy: The Beginning

Buddy Teevens, head football coach at Dartmouth College, was tired of his players injuring one another during practice.

So, he banned live tackling in practice.

From that day forward, Dartmouth football decided to focus on fundamental tackling drills to improve performance.

By introducing these new technique-specific tackling drill circuits, his players not only became better tacklers, but also remained healthier throughout the season.

To simulate live tackling in the most effective and realistic way, Coach Teevens — in conjunction with Dartmouth engineering students — introduced the Mobile Virtual Player (MVP): the first commercially available remote-controlled self-righting training dummy.

Ultimately, the modifications made to practice along with the use of high-tech solutions like the MVP helped Dartmouth to its 18th Ivy League Championship this past season.

The MVP helped increase performance and reduce injuries for the Dartmouth defense, playing a big role in its finish as the No. 1 ranked scoring defense in the country!

Now Rogers Athletic is bringing their own version of the Mobile Virtual Player to your practice field. Newly renamed as the MVP-DRIVE™ Mobile Tackling Dummy.

Since 1968, football coaches have trained youth, high school, college and professional champions by making Rogers Athletic football training sleds and dummies an important part of their practices. Now, as the exclusive manufacturer and distributor of the MVP Mobile Virtual Player for football, Rogers looks to expand upon its already vast product line with yet another essential tool for your practice field.

Rogers will be bringing MVP-DRIVE™ to select practice fields this spring in an initial beta test, followed by a deeper rollout to additional teams for the start of summer practice.