The Drills Report: Auburn\'s Pass Rush for Defensive Tackles

by: Don Dunn
Defensive Tackles Coach, Auburn University
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At Auburn, our emphasis is on our players having great effort on each play. We want our players to have ‘relentless pursuit.’ If they get knocked down, they get up and sprint to the ball. We want them to know how to play hard and that loafing is never acceptable. This is the key to playing good defense and being a good pass rusher. We stress a three-and-out principle. Everything we do in practice requires three perfect reps before we leave the field. When you conduct practice that way, it gets the defense thinking ‘three and out’ every play. We want to be great on first down, second down and get off the field on third down (Three and Out). We never go on the snap count nor the QB cadence in our drill; it’s always our movement. We are a ball-key defense. When the ball moves we move. When the center touches the ball, we yell ‘ball-ball.’ This alerts us to be ready for the snap.

We begin each practice with a get off drill. It is a quick-tempo drill and does not take any equipment space. We work on the get off, stance, alignment and effort for pass rush.

The get off starts the progression we use to defeat the offensive linemen. If we call a first and ten, they get into a run stance and get off on the ball. If we call a jet, they get into a pass rush stance (sprinter stance); widen their alignment; and get off on the ball. Jet is an alert that is used in the third and long situation and puts them in a sprinter stance. We make a huddle call that alerts our players to think ‘pass rush’ first and ‘run’ second. This is a ‘JET’ call (See Diagram 1).

Diagram 1: Get Off Drill

We use a green ball as the get off key. We move the ball and they spring up field for five yards. We try to draw them off sides before we move the ball. The defensive ends are speed rushers. The nose is a power rusher. We teach the nose two rush options: a ‘bull rush’ (power rush) and a ‘club and rip.’ The three technique tackle is allowed to use a bull rush or other moves. He has a two way go, B gap or A gap. We want a vertical push out of our inside rushers (nose and three technique tackle).

On any pass, we have the opportunity for a ‘fit.’ It is always between the weak side end and the nose. The weak side end comes up and under and the nose loops to the outside for contain. We also practice all our twist games during the drill (See Diagram 2).

Diagram 2: Fit Drill

Another drill we use is the Close Drill. We teach our linemen to attack the outside shoulder of the blocker. We want to close the distance between them and the offensive blocker to create a new line of scrimmage. We also want them coming off low with their pads down.

During the pass rush, the feet and hands never stop. The defensive linemen are to remain active so the offensive blocker does not have a chance to regroup, reset his feet and get a new grab on the defender. If the defender swims with his right arm, his right leg has to work with his right arm and step through and vice versa.

We align offensive linemen and two defensive linemen in the drill. We go a half line at a time. The offensive tackle and guard are in a two-point stance. The center snaps the ball. The offensive tackle and guard kick out of their stance and retreat in a pass set as fast as they can. The defensive tackle and end react to the movement of the O-linemen. They fire off the ball and try to touch the outside shoulder of the offensive linemen as quickly as they can. What we want to teach our defensive linemen is to close the distance on the offensive linemen before making a move (See Diagram 3).

Diagram 3: Close Drill

We do not want the defensive linemen to make his move before he touches the outside number of the O-linemen. If the defender cannot touch the offensive linemen, he cannot execute an escape.

The defender jabs with the inside hand; clubs with the outside hand; and grabs cloth on the back of the jersey. Offensive linemen tie their jerseys down so the defensive linemen cannot grab them. The back of the jersey is the only surface we can grab and hold.

The next technique is to flip the hips past the offensive blocker. The coaching point for flipping the hips is to get the inside hipbone of the defender past the inside hipbone of the blocker.

Progression for the club

• Close to OL.

• Outside club and grab cloth.

• Pull and flip your hips.

• Outside hand with outside leg.

• Rip with the inside hand.

• Step through with the inside leg.

• Finish to QB.

When the rip comes through, it needs to be tight to the body and ripped to the sky.

We teach the bull rush to our nose. We use the bull rush when we find a lineman soft setting in his pass block. In the bull rush, we teach the defender to put his eyes right into the ‘V’ of the neck of the blocker. He shoots his hands and takes the blocker back as far as he will go. We want to push the pocket back into the lap of the quarterback.

Our defensive ends are the speed rushers that collapse the pocket. The three technique has a two-way-go technique and the nose pushes the pocket back. We want to build a box around the quarterback (See Diagram 4).

Diagram 4: Boxing the Quarterback

For every move the defensive lineman has, they need a counter move. We tell our nose that as he pushes the blocker back, when he feels the blocker anchor, he has to use a counter move. The counter we teach the nose is a forward jerk. When the blocker anchors, the nose tackle jerks him forward and down. He completes the counter with a swim move over the top. We tell him as long as the blocker is moving down, keep up the push to the QB.

Don Dunn is the Defensive Tackles Coach at Auburn and enters his tenth season on the Plains this fall. He previously coached at Tennessee, Montana State, Pacific, Nevada and Mississippi. Dunn is a graduate of East Tennessee State.

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