AFM RSS Feed Follow Us on Twitter       
AMERICAN FOOTBALL MONTHLY THE #1 RESOURCE FOR FOOTBALL COACHES
ABOUT |  CONTACT |  ADVERTISE |  HELP  



   User Name    Password 
      Password Help





Article Categories


AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Linebacker Play The Minnesota Way

by: Jason Gelber
© More from this issue

Click for Printer Friendly Version          

Linebackers are usually the leaders of the defense. The good ones have poise, intelligence, leadership, mental and physical toughness, dependability, intensity and football instincts. They must have knowledge of the defense. They must be able to defeat offensive linemen weighing 320-plus bearing down at them. They must be able to react quickly and trust what they see and know. Finally, they must, must, must, be able to tackle.

They are linebackers. The good ones have a lot of these qualities. The excellent ones have them all. At the University of Minnesota, we try to teach these intangibles to every linebacker with the hope that the players will become great at most of them, which in turn, would make them excellent linebackers. Unfortunately, some of these qualities are hard to teach and therefore, All-America linebackers are rare. Regardless, that is what we strive for each and every practice – to develop excellent linebackers.

The first quality we feel we can teach well is the basic understanding and knowledge of our defensive scheme. It is always said that it does not matter how much the coaches know, but how much the players know that helps us win. The coaches cannot play, we can only put the players in the best possible positions to win and then it is up to them. We want the linebackers to be able to set our defensive front and make any necessary checks, to put us in the best defense possible between the time the offense lines up and when they snap the ball. We also teach them the coverages they have to play and the gaps they are responsible to defend. We play a base 7-man front with four defensive linemen and three linebackers (Diagram 1). If they do not grasp these concepts they will never see the field. If we, as coaches, cannot trust our players to know their assignments and responsibilities, they will never play for us.

Diagram 1

Before the basic fundamentals and techniques can be taught, it is necessary for our linebackers to know the best way to decipher what the offense is doing and where to go in order to make the play. Therefore, we coach them on how to read and react to their “keys.” These are the things linebackers look for immediately after the offense snaps the ball that will help them to know where the ball is going and where they should be, to make the play. Through constant repetition on the practice field and in the meeting room, we teach them to know these keys and to trust them. A good linebacker trusts his keys.

Once the linebacker knows where to go they most likely have to defeat opponents’ blocks to get there. In our opinion, next to tackling and pursuing to the football, this is the most important aspect of the linebacker’s game. We teach two different ways to defeat blocks: “Hands of Fury,” and “Same foot, same shoulder.” In addition to that, in certain situations our linebackers need to know how to defeat the “cut block” as well.

After they have reacted to their keys correctly and defeated a block or two to get to the ball carrier, they must be good tacklers in order to finish the play. In my opinion there are six steps to mastering the art of tackling: getting the head across the ball carrier’s bow, being close enough to him to “step on his toes,” using the same foot, same shoulder technique, shooting the hips, wrapping the arms, and finally running his feet through the tackle. If the linebacker masters these six techniques he will be an excellent tackler.

After briefly reviewing the essentials for great linebacker play, I would like to break them down and explain how we teach reading keys, defeating blocks, and tackling.

First of all, our linebackers always play the run first and then react to the pass. They take a short 6-inch jab step to their assigned gap while reading their keys to determine if the play is a run or pass. We have the “backers” key the offensive guards through to the “flow” of the running back(s). The guards could do one of three things: pull, base (including reach, down or combo blocks) or pass block. The backfield flow could be hard, fast or split. Hard flow usually means the play is a lead, isolation, power or inside zone. Fast flow normally tells us to watch for option, toss or outside zone. Split flow shows up on the split zone or counter plays (Diagram 2).


Diagram 2A

Diagram 2B

Diagram 2C

Each linebacker’s main read though, is the guard to their side. If he pulls, it is probably going to be a power, counter or outside zone. When the guard or any other lineman in the linebacker’s vision pulls, they will “chase the pull” to wherever he ends up going. If any one of the linebackers see a pulling lineman after the snap, they are taught to yell “pull” and the play-side “backer” will try to take a path to get to the pulling lineman before he gets to him. The next nearest linebacker will chase to fill the new gap created by the pulling guard. The backside Linebacker will stay where he was in case the other two do a good job and make the ball carrier have to bounce or cut back the other way (Diagram 3).

Diagram 3

If the guard base blocks, which means he comes straight off the ball, or if there is split flow, then the linebackers will simply run through their assigned gaps (Diagram 4).

Diagram 4

We practice reading and reacting to keys everyday in practice (“LB key drills” attached). In addition, we also do a half line inside run/key drill once a week versus the offense (Diagram 5).

Diagram 5A

Diagram 5B

Diagram 5C

We also practice taking on and defeating blocks every day as well. The ways to defeat blocks are by using the “hands of fury” method and using the “same foot, same shoulder” technique. We also touch on getting off the cut block too. The linebacker wants to use the hands technique when he gets an offensive player who already has gotten up the field and has set his feet in order to block him. When this situation occurs, the linebacker does not have a lot of time to waste on the blocker because he needs to get to the ball carrier to make the tackle. So, he shoots his hands out with his thumbs up and his elbows in and he aims for the breastplate of the blocker. As soon as he gets his arms extended or “locked-out” he should then throw the lineman to the side away from the ball and continue to gain on the runner. It should all happen in one fluid motion and it needs to be fast, hence the term “hands of fury.”

The other technique, “same foot, same shoulder,” should be used when the blocking lineman is still at the line of scrimmage and has not yet set his feet. He is either still pulling down the line or is still running up field to get to his man. In order to execute this method the linebacker needs to be on the move and get to the blocker with a good low base and have whichever foot he wants up (usually inside foot in order to keep outside leverage), in front of the blocker with his knees bent and lower pad level than the offensive player. He then explodes upward with his same side shoulder aiming for the neck/chin of the blocking lineman.

If this technique is done correctly it will knock the blocker back into the runner or at least into the runner’s initial path almost 100 percent of the time. I am a firm believer in this technique because it works and can be done well by anybody regardless of size or strength. The linebacker has to practice it and trust the technique in order to be good at it. Another technique we coach is defeating the cut block. This is when the blocker gets near the linebacker and then proceeds to dive at the thighs, sometimes knees, of the defender in order to “cut” the legs out from under him. This is a potentially dangerous block and the possibility of getting cut should definitely be in the back of a linebacker’s mind on every play because they never know when an offensive lineman might want to try this block. Sometimes, a blocker may think the cut block is the only way to get the linebacker out of the ball carrier’s running lane. The way to defeat this block is by taking the defender’s play-side hand and extending it to the blocker’s play-side shoulder while extending the backhand on the lineman’s helmet and slamming him to the ground. As they do this technique, they must kick their feet back and side step around the blocker as they continue on towards the ball carrier. We do practice this from time to time, but we do not work on it as often as the other blocks because it does have the potential to cause injury, and you never want to hurt a player, especially on your own team.

Finally, we come to my favorite part of football – the tackle. After having reacted correctly to his keys and defeating a block, the linebacker must now get the runner on the ground. A great linebacker is a great tackler and at Minnesota we work on this part of the game every practice throughout the whole year. The first and probably most important aspect of the tackle is getting the head across the bow. This means that the tackler needs to get his helmet across the front chest area of the ball carrier. If he gets his head behind, usually that would mean his body is also behind the runner and the linebacker is only using one arm to try to make the tackle. Most good runners will break arm tackles. So it is a virtual necessity for the tackler to get his head in front. We emphasize this all the time. “Get your head across the bow” is one of our head coach’s favorite sayings. Whenever we see a missed tackle, more often than not, it is because the tackler had his head behind the ball carrier. The next step to a good tackle is the “step on his toes” aspect. By this, I mean the defender should get close enough to the runner that he can literally step on his shoes, before he attempts the tackle. This will allow the defender to get his whole body into the tackle as opposed to having to lunge at the ball carrier and leave his feet. We never want a tackler to have to leave his feet to make the play. This is another common mistake of a missed tackle.

Once the linebacker is close enough to the ball carrier, he tries to use the same foot, same shoulder technique to get a good base to explode through the tackle. As described earlier, attacking with the same foot and shoulder puts the tackler in a powerful position where he will not get run over. After he has his head in front, he is right up next to the runner, and he has a good base, the good tackler should “shoot his hips” into the runner. He should thrust his mid-section into the ball carrier to put more power into the tackle. Shooting his hips forces the tackler to use his full lower body strength to assist in bringing down the runner. The fifth step to a good tackle is wrapping the arms. The linebacker should throw his arms around the ball carrier and grab a piece of his jersey to lessen the chance of a missed tackle. Finally we come to the last and in my opinion the second most important aspect to a good tackle, behind getting his head across the bow, running his feet through the tackle. A great tackler will most often stay on his feet and even keep driving his legs while making a tackle. If a defender does everything right while attempting a tackle, but stops his feet upon contact, he still may make the tackle, but a good ball carrier who keeps his feet moving will always gain an extra few yards before being brought down. However, if the tackler keeps running his legs through the tackle, he would most likely drive the runner back a few yards.

If a tackler only gets his head across the bow, wraps his arms, and runs his feet, the three most important of the six aspects of a good tackle, more often than not, he will make a good tackle. The more parts of a good tackle the defender can get in the habit of doing, the better tackler he will become. The way to teach these techniques is to split into three or four groups and emphasize each aspect on its own (“step on toes” and same foot/same shoulder can be taught together, as well as wrapping the arms and shooting the hips). This should be done at a slow-down teaching pace. Once each technique is taught my favorite tackling drill to use is where we put down a big mat and have a ball carrier stand one yard in front of it with a tackler five yards in front of him. The player with the ball will just stand there and get tackled onto the mat. This is not dangerous, the players have on equipment and they land on a soft mat. The tackler will run at the ball carrier and when he gets close enough to step on his toes, he’ll be in a good same foot, same shoulder position with his head in front, making sure to shoot his hips and wrap his arms around the player, always while running his feet through the tackle. I once had a player that still had his feet moving as he was in the air taking the ball carrier to the mat. At least with him, I knew I was getting my point across.

Linebacker is a great position to coach because they have to be able to do it all. They have to be able to know the defense and put us in the proper alignments on the field. They have to be able to read and trust their keys. They have to be able to defeat blocks while pursuing with great effort to the football. They have to be able to cover a tight end or running back in the passing game. Finally, they have to be good tacklers.

If a team has great linebackers, they will probably have a great defense. So much is predicated on their play in the run game as well as the pass game. This in turn carries over to the overall defense. With these ideas as a basis, at least as coaches we can do our part in getting them ready to play winning defense.

I would like to thank Vince Varpness and Greg Hudson for their contributions to this article.






NEW BOOK!

AFM Videos Streaming Memberships Now Available Digital Download - 304 Pages of Football Forms for the Winning Coach



















HOME
MAGAZINE
SUBSCRIBE ONLINE COLUMNISTS COACHING VIDEOS


Copyright 2024, AmericanFootballMonthly.com
All Rights Reserved