Former State Star Coaches Football Team On His Unique ‘Attack’ Knowledge

By Derek Redd, WV Gazette-Mail Sportswriter

Former State lineman Albert “Poodie” Carson didn’t set out to become a social media sensation. All he wanted to do was help a professional football player get better.

But add the top defensive player in the NFL and a huge pair of knives to the situation, and, well, any video of that training session will garner plenty of attention.

And attention — loads of it — is exactly what that video has received since 2Tenths Speed and Agility posted the session on Twitter. In it, Carson — a former West Virginia State football player, police officer with the city of North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and football coach — is working with Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, improving his ability to shed blocks using concepts of the fighting style Israeli Krav Maga.

Carson holds a pair of hard-rubber training knives, one in each hand. He slashes and stabs at Donald, who swats away each attempted strike. It’s eye-opening footage, and plenty have cast their eyes upon it. Several news outlets have posted the video, earning thousands of retweets.

Carson has been studying Israeli Krav Maga for six years and is the only civilian and law enforcement instructor in Western Pennsylvania for the Israeli Krav Maga Association. He appreciates the practicality and the life-saving techniques of the fighting style.

It may look strange when used for football, but Carson said Israeli Krav Maga’s principles — attacking the attacker, simultaneous attack and defense and quick, aggressive and simple strikes — translate well to the sport.

“David Kahn [the United States Chief Instructor for the IKMA] is a former defensive back at Princeton,” Carson said. “And he developed this system for football. No one else has ever or is currently doing anything like this. With some of the blocks and strikes that we do, when he showed me, I was like, wow, this really could be adapted for football.

“Being a former offensive lineman, I could see where offensive linemen could use it and I could see where defensive linemen could use it.”

And Carson figured the football players at his alma mater could use it. So he contacted West Virginia State running backs coach Quincy Wilson, who then told head coach John Pennington he had to check it out. Pennington always is looking for guest speakers for the team, and felt a former member of its ranks with a special message would be perfect.

Read the rest of the story at the Gazette-Mail

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