The Drills Report: Defensive Line Progression and Drills: UW-Platteville

by: Wayne Anderson
© More from this issue

          
At UWP, seven areas are emphasized that will make a defensive lineman successful on Saturdays. These areas are: Stance, Starts, Hands, Blow Delivery, Block Recognition, Squeeze and Escape, and Pass Rush Techniques. We feel that these are the areas that must be repped each day at practice.

    The first area that we work on is stance. Feet should be armpit width apart with toe to instep relationship. We want the toe to in-step relationship so that our defensive lineman can react in all three directions; we believe that if you have a toe to heel relationship this prevents us from moving smoothly in all three directions. The ball hand is down and the ball foot is back in a toe to instep relationship with your other foot. Sixty percent of the weight should be on it so that you are ready to fire out and attack the offensive lineman. We preach having a flat back and having the butt raised in the air but some guys have flatter backs and some will have the butt not quite as high; the most important thing is that they are comfortable in their stance. To teach stance we put the entire defensive line in 5 x 5 yard grids and have all of them get in a stance. This allows us to walk around and check all of the stances, as well as teaching them to keep their body square with the L.O.S. (See Diagram 1).

Diagram 1: Stance
    The second drill that we work on every day is starts. For this drill I take three defensive linemen and put them in a stance in a trap chute. I get in the trap chute across from them with my green football on a stick. The defensive lineman reads the back tip of the football (the tip closest to the QB) and on its movement they explode off the ball. I paint the football green because it gives the illusion that the back tip moves before the front tip and causes the lineman to get a quicker takeoff. I position myself in the chute so that I can see how quickly they lock out their arms in front of them. During this drill I try my best to get the defensive lineman to jump off sides with hard counts and I am constantly coaching them to get a quicker explosion out of their stance.

    The next part of my defensive line progression is the hand drills. To be a successful defensive lineman you must possess quick and powerful hands. One drill we do is called “letters ” (See Diagram 2).

Diagram 2: Letters

In this drill a defensive lineman is in a two point stance lined up across from another player. He is then given a letter from the coach and then traces the points of that letter on the chest of the other player as quickly as possible until he hears the whistle. It is important for the player to keep his elbows in and thumbs up.

    The fourth part of our defensive line progression is blow delivery. In order to take on an offensive lineman’s blocks we must be very powerful in delivering our hands and rolling our hips to defeat his momentum. A drill that we do to develop blow delivery is six-point explosion. In this drill we get down in a six-point stance in front of the sled and on the ball movement we explode out delivering our hand onto the sled. The most important coaching points for this drill are that they are locking out their arms with their elbows in and thumbs up while rolling their hips through completely. This drill teaches the defensive linemen that they must lock out their arms and roll their hips to be successful.

    The next and most important drill that we do here at UWP is block recognition. In this drill we teach the defensive linemen to react quickly and explosively to the different blocks that he will see. First we work on one-man block recognition. In the drill, the defensive lineman is shaded over an offensive lineman and reacts to the four blocks that he can get: 1) down 2) base 3) reach 4) pass. The offensive linemen that the defensive linemen are lined up over is called the visual key. The defensive lineman will look at the helmet of his visual key to determine how he should react in his first step. It is important that no matter what block the defensive lineman gets that he stays in the half of a man relationship with one hand on the sternum and one on the outside shoulder. He keeps his shoulders square with the L.O.S. So if the helmet of the offensive lineman goes down inside, the defensive lineman is going to step down inside with his inside foot and he is going to squeeze the offensive lineman and look for a trap block while keeping his shoulders square. If the helmet comes towards you then it is a base block and you are going to step forward with the back foot and squeeze the offensive lineman back into his gap. If the helmet goes out then it is a reach block and you must step out with your outside foot and keep your hat in an outside relationship and push/pull the offensive lineman while trying to drive him back into the backfield. If the helmet goes high then it is pass block and the defensive lineman steps forward with his back foot and goes into a pass rush move to get to the QB.

    Two man block recognition is the next drill that we do. In two man block recognition you still have your visual key which is the offensive lineman that you are lined up on but now you also have a pressure key which is the offensive lineman that is lined up to your outside. You never look at your pressure key; you feel for him. You always fight pressure with pressure. In two man block recognition you still work down, base, reach and pass but now you add double team and double down blocks. So when the defensive lineman sees the hat go down he squeezes the down block unless he feels a down block from his pressure key. Once he feels that pressure he has to drop his hip to stop the momentum of the down block and work over the top of the down block. Never work underneath the down block. When the defensive lineman gets a base block from his visual key and a down block from his pressure key this means he is getting a double team. He needs to attack and squeeze the base block and when he feels the down block he needs to throw his hip and butt in the down block while driving his feet to split the double team. It is very important to work block recognition for a significant amount of time every day. This is by far the most important drill we do and it cannot be repped too much.

    The next part of our progression is squeeze and escape. In the 3-4 defensive scheme we do not want our defensive linemen to just fly up the field and penetrate. We want them to take on blocks and squeeze the blocks to allow our linebackers to be unblocked and make plays. In order to accomplish this we work on squeeze and escape every day. In this drill the shaded defensive lineman takes on a base block and squeezes the offensive lineman flat back into the gap inside of him. Once he hears the coach’s whistle he pulls and sheds the offensive lineman and tackles the pop-up dummy. It is very important that the defensive lineman squeezes the offensive lineman flat down the line on scrimmage and that he is as powerful and violent as possible when shedding the block. We feel that this drill teaches defensive linemen to squeeze all base blocks and to wait for the back to declare his path before shedding the block.

    The last part of our drill progression is the pass rush. Like most coaches we teach multiple pass rush moves. We feel that it is important to introduce multiple moves and counters and find one or two moves and counters that the player is comfortable with. The first part of our pass rush progression is a drill called “Rush the Coach.”  In this drill we have a pop up dummy that simulates the QB and the coach is the offensive lineman. On the coach’s movement the defensive lineman explodes off the ball and the coach tries to grab the jersey of the defensive lineman. The defensive lineman must knock the coach’s hands down and explode past him and tackle the dummy (See Diagram 3). This drill teaches the defensive linemen that they have to knock down the offensive lineman’s hands in order to rush the QB.

Diagram 3: Rush the Coach

    The next pass rush drill we do is called “Viking.” Viking is a one-on one pass rush drill between the offensive and defensive lines. In this drill one defensive lineman rushes and an offensive lineman tries to stop him from tackling the dummy. At the whistle the defensive lineman sprints back past a cone that is about a yard behind where the defensive line is located. In order to make this drill as realistic as possible the offensive line will mix in draws and screens so that the defensive lineman has to have a controlled rush. It is also important the offensive line has realistic splits so that your defensive linemen have a realistic look. It is very important to not only coach the moves that your players are using but to make sure that the defensive lineman’s hips are pointed towards the QB.

    Here at UWP we feel that if these seven areas are repped every day you will have defensive linemen that will execute their assignment on Saturday’s.

NEW BOOK!

Digital Download - 304 Pages of Football Forms for the Winning Coach