It may be the most iconic sound in football: helmets loudly cracking together to accompany a massive hit that drives the crowd crazy.

Players often wear the scars of head-to-head hits on their helmets as a badge of honor, showing the punishment that they had delivered.

But as concussion awareness grows more and more prominent and the topic of head injuries becomes bound to the sport of football, coaches continue their quest to make it a safer sport.

For Methuen, Massachusetts head coach Tom Ryan, that search brought him to the University of Massachusetts Lowell rugby team, and “hawk tackling.”

“We have seen the concussion issue explode,” said Ryan. “We began looking at film to see what kind of concussions we had and how they were happening. We began looking at different types of tackling, and we found tapes of hawk tackling.

“Basically it takes the head out of the game. We thought it made sense on both a health level and tackling level.”

The football program learned firsthand about this technique last week, when the team held a clinic in hawk tackling with the help of the UMass-Lowell rugby team that was attended by approximately 100 players and coaches from high school and youth programs.

Drawing its name from the NFL team that popularized it, the Seattle Seahawks, hawk tackling is growing.

It teaches spurning many aspects of the traditional tackling form for the mechanics of rugby tackling, most notably reducing contact with the head.

“I think that rugby tackling could make football a lot safer,” said Willy Weinhold, a current UMass-Lowell rugby player who was an instructor at the clinic. “It’s much more structured. You aren’t throwing your body at someone and trying to hurt them. It’s about taking them to the ground with precision. There are fewer big hits, but I think there would be fewer concussions and neck injuries.”

First catching attention when Seattle head coach Pete Carroll posted an instructional video on the Seahawks’ website, hawk tackling has gained support from big names such as Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer.

Its motto is “Keeping the head out of tackling” and focuses on shoulder techniques, wrapping up a ballcarrier at the hips and rolling to the ground.

Traditional tackling form taught players to tackle with their head across front of the ballcarrier to stop their momentum. Hawk tackling replaces that with the shoulder and the position of the body.

“Some old-school coaches have a hard time with not having players put their head across the ballcarrier,” said Ryan. “But studies show that’s where a lot of concussions come from, the head being across and players taking knees to the head. Here you are using the shoulder as leverage to make the tackle.”

Leading the instruction at the clinic was Josh Skinner, the current UMass-Lowell head rugby coach.

“In rugby, if you don’t wrap someone up, it’s a penalty,” said Skinner. “If you don’t bring them to the ground or leave your feet to make a tackle, it’s a penalty. A lot of the technique players are taught as a young football player, like wrapping up, they forget because of the things you see on TV (in the NFL).

“You aren’t trying to hit someone 120 miles per hour in rugby. So it takes the big hits out, but it is a lot safer. That’s why you see very few concussions in rugby.”

During the clinic, the players ran through drills that included how to approach and wrap up a ballcarrier in rugby. The football players then dealt out a few hits in full tackling drills.

High school middle linebacker Trevor Abdullah was impressed.

“I love hitting and as a linebacker you have to know how to tackle,” said Abdullah, who is heading into his senior season. “I had heard about hawk tackling but didn’t know much until (the clinic). I was really interested to learn about the form, like keeping your head to the side, getting really low and keeping your tongue on the roof of our mouth.

“Maybe it is going to take away some of the big hits, but if everyone learned this I think it can help prevent injuries.”

Ryan knows nothing can completely take the danger out of football. But he believes Hawk Tackling could be a major step.

“Football has gotten a bad reputation as a concussion sport,” said Ryan, who added that his team only had four concussions last season. “We want to show that if football is played right, it can be a safer sport. Football will always be a physical sport. You will always have to be tough to play it. But there is a way to play the game safer.”

Willis writes for The (North Andover, Massachusetts) Eagle-Tribune.