Drills Report – Hand Placement and Body Positioning for Attacking Fronts

The following drills are my absolute favorites for teaching hand and eye placement along with body positioning for aggressive attacking fronts. I take great pride in getting my players to buy into the penetrating philosophy, using their read keys to take them to the ball, and then giving 100% effort to get to the football regardless of where it is on the field. We treat every play as if it were a passing down with our thought process and initial get off, then we will play the run blocking scheme used against us with our hands and eyes. A term that I use with my players in regards to their body positioning is “Pushing a car uphill”. That analogy helps them picture in their head what I am looking for when it comes to the bend in their knees, slight bow in the back, stiff armed, and head up positioning.
My teaching progression starts every year with STANCE (hand to the man down with proper foot width and stagger, and the amount of bodyweight on the down hand), FIRST STEP (penetrating step, getting on the offensive side of the LOS), HAND PLACEMENT (controlling the gap side shoulder with the off hand and V of the neck with down hand), KEYS (screws of the OL helmet to backfield), and completing the progression with some sort of FINISH whether it is a RB tackle, QB Strip, plant and pursuit etc.
The following drills have helped our defensive line not only get in the backfield and cause havoc, but also given them the ability to maintain both leverage and gap control.

GUNSLINGER: This drill is great for getting a hand strike on a moving target coming straight at them and really emphasize proper hand placement, stiff arms when delivering the blow, knocking the OL back, and then disengaging. A DL will start on his knees. Five players will line up in a straight line, one behind the other, in front of the DL 3-4 yards away. I will designate which hand I want to be the POWER hand (down hand) and which hand will be the LEVERAGE hand (off hand) to start the drill. On my command the first OL will come downhill towards the DL, and the DL will strike him with his hands and deliver a stiff-armed blow. As soon as the initial blow is delivered and the OL’s pads pop up, the DL will shed that blocker to the side of his designated POWER hand. For example, if the RIGHT hand is designated the POWER hand, then that is the hand that is striking the V of the neck, forming the L and the LEFT hand is striking the shoulder pad palm out thumb down enabling the DL to grab and control the gap side shoulder. Once the strike is delivered, the DL will shed that blocker to his right by simply shrugging him away and get prepared for the next OL coming downhill at him. The DL will now strike that blocker with his LEFT hand being the POWER hand to the V of the neck and his RIGHT hand being the LEVERAGE hand grabbing the gap side shoulder of the OL. Once that blow is delivered, the DL will again shrug shed that blocker to his left. The DL will alternate between POWER and LEVERAGE hands and which way to shed throughout the five OL. It is important to focus on the hand placement, striking with stiff or locked out arms, and having a flat back. Rolling the hips toward his opponent is not acceptable while performing this drill, as it is not acceptable during games to roll the hips on contact towards the OL and get chest to chest with them. I really emphasize these points the first few times we do this drill to instill the importance of good mechanics, and we will slow this drill down until the players are comfortable before speeding up the pace at which the OL will come downhill at him.

5-Point Cobra: For this drill, the DL will start in the same 5-point stance as they did in the previous two drills and I will designate which way to shade to give them their POWER and LEVERAGE hands. An OL will now be in front of the DL with his knees bent, hips low, chest up, and in a good low 2-point stance. Once the DL is set and shaded correctly, the OL will “Kick” like a pass set on his own. I will not give a cadence for this drill or use a football to purposely give the OL the advantage. The DL is to explode out of his stance on movement with great horizontal extension of the ankles, knees, hips, and elbows shooting his hands to his proper targets trying to grab the OL before he is out of reach. Make very sure that the DLs are not shooting up, rather they are shooting out like a COBRA striking. Look for the proper body positioning, hand placement with both the POWER and LEVERAGE hands, stiff arms on contact with OL, eyes up finding keys, and full extension of the major joints. This is a great drill for teaching the basic fundamentals of the explosive get-off without ever taking a step.

5-Point Hand Shoot: This drill is great for teaching players the upper and lower body explosion when getting off the football without having them worry about their first initial step. The players will start shaded which ever way I designate to start the drill and will have the proper hand down as their POWER hand. Their LEVERAGE hand should have a slight bend at the elbow now hanging just below the numbers on their jersey. Both knees should be on the ground and they should have their toes dug into the turf. I will allow the DL to sit back slightly towards their heels to ensure they are able to explode out horizontally. We use a cut sled that is low to the ground with shorter pads to emphasize staying low. On the snap of the ball, the DL should explode out towards the dummy pushing hard off his toes. Make sure that the LEVERAGE hand hits the outside shoulder of the dummy first, followed closely by the POWER hand hitting the V of the neck. Both arms should be locked out and stiff. Their eyes should be up looking for the screws of the OL helmet and they should have a slight bend or bow in the back, putting their bodies in what we refer to as the “Pushing the car uphill” position. I will have the players start this drill 1-3 feet away from their target, depending on the height of the DL, to give them room to explode out into the dummy without getting bunched up and feeling they need to roll their hips or over extended. On contact, I will have them hold this position and make sure each player has his hands in the proper places, his eyes are up, and back is slightly bowed.

Belly Get Off: For the start of this drill, the DL will get into the same 5-Point Stance as the previous drill, shaded which ever way I designate to start, but sitting further back on their heels. Everything in this drill is the same except now the players are not going to hit and hold on ball movement. They are going to again explode out horizontally pushing hard off their toes this time landing on their bellies. They should hit the sled with enough force to knock the sled back giving themselves room to finish the drill on their bellies. I will start them farther back from the sled for this drill and allow them to sit even farther back on their heels. I am still looking for proper hand placement, stiff arms on contact, eyes up to find the OL screws, full extension of the ankles, knees, hips, elbows and this time a flatter back. If done properly, all DL should hit the sled at the same time, knocking it back enough to allow all players room to get full extension of the previously-mentioned joints then landing flat on their bellies. u

Wes Bell is in his third season with the Griffons as the defensive line coach. Last season Bell coached Soane Etu who was an All-MIAA First Team selection at defensive end as he recorded 12 tackles for a loss to go along with eight sacks. Bell’s two defensive ends recorded a combined 16.5 sacks a year ago. Two seasons ago Bell coached a Second Team All-MIAA performer and helped the Griffons defense record 28 sacks.
Bell came to Western from Minnesota State University-Moorhead where he coached for two years where he was the D-line coach, special teams coordinator and strength and conditioning coordinator.
He can be reached at wbell@missouriwestern.edu