On the Circuit

North Dakota uses circuit drills to develop top-notch defenses
by: Kyle Schweigert
Defensive Coordinator/Assistant Head Coach, University of North Dakota
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At the University of North Dakota, we have one major goal for our defense to attain each season. That goal is to lead the North Central Conference in fewest points allowed. This is not an easy task in one of the most balanced and powerful Division II conferences in the country. Yet we have reached our goal of allowing the fewest points in our league in six of the last nine seasons. During six of the last seven seasons, we have also been first or second in our conference in total defense. While we are proud of the fact that we have not allowed many yards when compared to other teams in our league, we are most proud to be the team that has allowed the fewest points in league play during six of the last nine seasons.

Our defensive staff, like all coaching staffs, feels that we must be great at the fundamentals to be able to reach our seasonal goal. There are four basic defensive fundamentals that we stress to our defense throughout spring ball, fall camp, and the regular season. The four fundamentals that we stress to our team are:

1. PURSUIT

2. TACKLING

3. CREATING TURNOVERS

4. DEFEATING BLOCKS

We constantly talk to our defense about executing these fundamentals at a high level to help us attain our defensive goal. But talk alone does not emphasize these fundamentals enough, we must constantly practice these fundamentals to stress their importance.

Similar to most staffs, we are faced with the challenge of planning practices to get players the maximum number of repetitions on fundamentals in the least amount of time. With the exception of pursuit drills, we practice our defensive fundamentals by using a circuit drill (station to station) concept. Circuit drills are used to practice tackling, shedding blocks, and creating turnovers. We believe that circuit drills stress the importance of these fundamentals to our defense and they are the most efficient way to practice these fundamentals.

Members of our staff were introduced to the Air Force Academy's tackling circuit by the late Bill Johnson when he spoke at the North Dakota State High School Coaches Convention in the mid 1980's. We began to use a four station Tackling Circuit as a part of our practice in the spring of 1990, when Dale Lennon, our current head coach, was named defensive coordinator. In 1992 we applied the circuit drill concept to practice creating turnovers and called this circuit the Take-Away Circuit. During the fall of 1997, my first season as defensive coordinator, we started to incorporate the Shed-A-Block Circuit into our practices to help our players become better at defeating blocks. These three circuit drills have been an essential part of our spring ball, fall camp, and regular season practices for the last four years.

CIRCUIT DRILLS

Our defensive practice will start with a five-minute block of pursuit drills following team warm-up and stretch. Immediately following the pursuit drills, we devote ten minutes of practice time to a tackling circuit, take-away circuit, or a shed-a-block circuit. We want this ten minute block of practice time to be high energy with very little transition time between drills so each player gets a high number of practice repetitions. Therefore, it is important to take the time to organize the circuit drills to use the practice time efficiently. It is also important to take enough time to design drills so they properly prepare the defense for game-like situations.

Four stations are used for our fundamental circuit training, with one coach per station. The coach stays and teaches at his station during the entire circuit. The players are divided into four groups and the groups will rotate from station to station. Defensive linemen, outside linebackers, inside linebackers, and defensive backs make up the four groups. Ideally we want 12-14 players in each group, so it may be necessary to move some players to even the numbers in each group. For example, we may put the some of the safeties with the outside linebackers or inside linebackers to get the numbers we want at each station. Players are at each station for two minutes and fifteen seconds and are expected to rotate to the next station and be ready for the next drill within fifteen seconds.

Each group of players starts with their position coach to begin the circuit, except for those players that need to join another group to balance out the numbers. After a short yet precise explanation of the drill, players rotate in and out of the drill as quickly as possible. It is important to remember not to be in too big of a hurry that fundamentals are sacrificed. We need to coach technique and give feedback on the run so repetitions are maximized at each station. A coach or assigned timekeeper will blow a whistle to indicate to the groups to rotate to the next station. At the whistle all players will sprint to the next station, receive instruction for the next drill, and begin to execute the drill at the next station. This process is repeated until each group goes through the four stations.

TACKLE CIRCUIT

Before we ever do a tackle circuit, all our players are taught the proper, safe way to tackle during a ten-minute tackle progression teaching session. The proper placement of the head, use of hands, and hip rotation is emphasized during each teaching progression station. This ten minute session is held during our first practice in the spring and during practice number one in fall camp. During this teaching progression, players are put into their circuit groups and rotate to each station to learn the fundamentals of tackling. The big difference between our circuit drills and our tackle progression teaching is that all coaches are teaching the same thing at the same time at each station. Therefore, it is not necessary to rotate groups from coach to coach but we feel it serves as a practice run for the circuit drill rotation.

The general philosophy for the tackling circuit is to have one station a sideline tackling drill, one station escaping from a block to make a tackle, another station to practice a running game open-field tackle, and a station to practice a passing game open field tackle. We use about fifteen different drills throughout the year to practice all different types of game-like tackles. The concept of the drill at each station remains the same yet the actual drill could change when a different group gets to the station. For example the defensive backs, outside linebackers, and inside linebackers may practice an open field passing game tackle by pass dropping and breaking up to a receiver, while the defensive lineman will practice tackling a scrambling quarterback at the open field passing game station.

There are certain points of emphasis that are common at each tackle station. All coaches will emphasize the proper placement of the head to promote safety and so the tackler is able to see his target. Each player is also encouraged to lower his hips into the hitting position before contact so he can roll his hips through the ball carrier to make a powerful tackle. The use of the hands to rake through the ball and grab the ball carrier is also stressed at each station. It is important to note, ball carriers are not taken to the ground during the tackle circuit. We believe tackling can be practiced at a high tempo without taking the ball carrier to the ground and putting players at a higher risk for injury.

TAKE-AWAY CIRCUIT

In the spring of 1992, our defensive staff felt that we really needed to become better at creating turnovers if we were going to be the team to allow the fewest points in the conference. Before spring ball began we talked to our entire defense in team meetings and individual meetings about forcing more turnovers. But like all fundamentals, it is not enough to only talk about creating turnovers. Forcing turnovers is a fundamental that must be practiced. At that time we decided the best way to stress the importance of forcing turnovers to our defense was to apply the circuit drill concept to practice getting turnovers.

The general philosophy for the take-away circuit is to have a fumble recovery station, a strip drill station, a tip drill station, and a station to keep the ball alive to allow another teammate to recover. We use about fifteen different drills throughout the season to practice creating turnovers. Like the tackle circuit, the concept of the drill at each station remains the same yet the actual drill could change when a different group gets to that station. For example, the defensive linemen tip drill station is a three-step pass tipped at the line of scrimmage and the rest of the defense practices catching a tipped pass thrown downfield at that station.

We believe the major benefit of the take-away circuit is that it ensures us that all defense players are handling the football during practice. The drills used in the take-away circuit range from simple one man fumble recovery drills to more complex three-man or even four-man strip drills. We need to be creative when designing the drills to create as many game-like situations as possible. The point of emphasis at all drills is to properly secure the ball and to protect the ball once it is in our hands. This point is made whether the ball is recovered on the ground, or being advanced after scooping a fumble or making an interception. Ball security is taught as if it were being taught to running backs and receivers.

SHED-A-BLOCK CIRCUIT

We all know it is important to teach all defensive players how to avoid or defeat blocks. In 1997 we applied the final fundamental to the circuit drill concept by using circuit drills to teach our players how to defeat blocks. At the time it seemed like the defensive linemen and linebackers devoted enough practice time to defeating blocks, but the defensive backs were not spending enough time to learn how to shed blocks. Therefore, we implemented the shed-a-block circuit into our practice plans. This ensured us that all defensive players were spending enough time learning how to defeat blocks.

Like the tackle circuit and take-away circuit, there are four stations set up when we use the shed-a-block circuit. During the circuit, there is a delivery of blow station, a cut block station, a fit and rip or escape station, and attacking the edge of a man blocking station. The delivery of blow station and fit and rip station remain the same for all the groups. The cut block station and the attacking edge station may need to change to make them more game-like for all the groups. Like the other circuits it is important to be creative to design the drills to be as position specific as possible.

There are some common points stressed at all stations. We stress to all our players that everybody gets blocked but the great players defeat or get off the block. We also emphasize that to defeat the block the defender must attack the block. The final point emphasized at all stations is the job is not complete after defeating one block. For that reason, a number of the drills designed in this circuit may require players to defeat more than one block or make a form tackle after shedding a block.

SUMMARY

The circuit drill concept has been a part of our defensive practice philosophy for over ten seasons. We began using this concept in 1990 by implementing a Tackle Circuit into our practice plans. In 1992 we developed the Take-Away circuit to use as apart of our practices. Finally, the Shed-A-Block Circuit was the last circuit drill to become a part of our practice in 1997. These three circuit drills are now an integral part of our defensive practices throughout the entire year.

The Tackle Circuit is always the first circuit drill that we use in the spring or fall workouts. It is also the most frequently used circuit drill. During the 2001 spring practices, we used the tackle circuit in seven of the fourteen practices. The Take-Away and Shed-A-Block circuits were used three times each during spring ball. During two-a-day practices in the fall, the tackle circuit will be implemented into every other practice, while the Take-Away and Shed-A-Block circuits are each incorporated into one out of every four practices.

During game week preparation circuit drills remain a part of our practices to stress the fundamentals. The Tackle Circuit will always be used during our first practice, as practice time shortens late in the year we may decrease the length of the tackle circuit to five minutes. Either the Take-Away Circuit or Shed-A-Block Circuit will be used during the second practice, this depends upon what the defensive staff feels we need to emphasize to properly prepare for the upcoming game. Many weeks we feel we need to emphasize both and a combination circuit will be part of the second practice. A combination circuit is a four station circuit with two Take-Away stations and two Shed-A-Block stations.

Each position group will at times practice tackling, creating turnovers, or defeating blocks during their individual time, but our staff believes using circuit drills is the best way to stress these fundamentals. There are several reasons we like the circuit drills to be a part of our philosophy. We believe circuit drills stress fundamentals because the entire defense practices the same type of fundamentals at the same time. Doing circuit drills early in practice further emphasizes their importance. The rotation from station to station helps to break the monotony of practice and creates a high energy, exciting tempo during practice. Finally, we feel circuit drills build team unity because every defensive player will have contact with all the defensive coaches during the circuit drills.

At the University of North Dakota we believe that circuit drills have played a major role in the success of our defense. By designing drills to be position specific and creating drills to be as game-like as possible, we feel the circuit drills are the best and most efficient way to practice tackling, creating turnovers, and defeating blocks. The strengthening of these fundamentals has allowed us to attain our number one defensive goal six of the last nine years, which is to lead the league in fewest points allowed.
The North Dakota defense has led the North Central Conference in fewest points allowed in six of the last nine years.

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