Drills Report: A Special Teams Drill for the Entire Season

We have used the “Two Hand Touch Punt Cover Drill” for four seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and for seven seasons of college football in the U.S. and Canada. This August, we saw the drill being used at the training camp of a recent Super Bowl champion.

The drill has evolved every year and has been improved by adopting the open field tackling concepts taught by long-time NFL and CFL Defensive Coordinator Rod Rust and Bobby April, Special Teams Coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles.
During an 18-game CFL season, we found we were missing more tackles as the season went on. We needed a drill that would reinforce and sharpen all the key skills of tackling, punt protection, and coverage taught in training camp. These techniques include:

1. Bending your knees to get your eyes at football level when entering contact and tackling.

2. 2-on-1 open field tackling.

3. Shimmy with the inside foot up to “take the air out of the tackle” and to put the player in position to make a “same foot – same shoulder” tackle or redirect quickly to cut off the returner if he breaks outside.

4. Snapping and punting within performance standards.

5. Punt team S.A.K.R.T. (Stance, Alignment, Key, Responsibility, Technique).

6. Punt protection technique.

7. Release from LOS and accelerating to sprinting speed.

8. Locate and establish proper relationship to returner.

We also needed to develop a drill that would require full effort from the athletes without allowing them to hide in full team drills. At the same time, we needed to minimize the risk of injury. Therefore, we chose to:
1. Organize the drill so that only two or three players would cover at a time to reinforce the relationships between their positions.

2. Have the punt return team players turn the punt team personnel 10 yards off the LOS, or run a mutually-beneficial drill against our punt return team for the full duration of the play.

3. Finish the drill by simulating ideal body mechanics for tackling by requiring the coverage personnel to:

a. “Shimmy” with their inside foot up to execute a “same foot, same shoulder tackle”.

b. Bend their knees to get their eyes at football level.

c. Rip their arms upward and two hand touch the returner below the waist. Touching the returner below the waist forces defenders to bend their knees.

Drill Description and Coaching Points:

1. Each repetition includes snapping, punting and charting of results for quality control. We use a Jugs machine when only one punter was available.

2. During each repetition, all positions execute correct footwork (e.g., the kick slide) even though their position may not be “live” for that repetition.

3. Finish the drill:

1. Returner sprints the ball back to LOS and puts it down in front of the snapper. This forces players in coverage to retrace their path back to the LOS or until each man two hand touches the returner.

2. Each player pursues the returner and must two hand touch him below the waist while ripping their arms in an upward motion.
4. First and second team punters and snappers alternate repetitions.

5. Change hashmarks when the second team takes their turn.

6. Change field position each time you run the drill.

7. Punt into the wind one week and with the wind the following week.

8. The positions that you group together are based on your punt team formation and system. We work outside-in to minimize collisions.

a. Gunners.

b. Slots, center.

c. Tackles.

d. Guards, second team center, second team punter.

e. Personal protector, first team center, punter.

Variations of “Two Hand Touch Punt Cover Drill”
(See Diagram)

We do this drill weekly. Once the players are familiar with the drill, it takes only five minutes. Depending on the health of our team, we will do the drill with full pads, helmets and shoulder pads, or helmets only.

Drill Sequence:

a. Gunners.

b. Slots, center.

c. Tackles.

d. Guards, second team center, second team punter.

e. Personal protector, first team center, punter. u

About the Author: In his 27 years of coaching, Scott Fawcett has coached teams that won a total of ten championships in the CFL, Canadian and American colleges, Canadian Junior football and high school. Fawcett most recently was both the associate head coach and special teams coordinator at the University of Windsor.