3️⃣ Drills for Creating a Dominant Defensive Line
Jul 31, 2023 4:10 pm
Coach ,
One of the best coaching points I picked up over the last year of clinic talks and podcast is you need to teach your players to “feel their technique.” Sometimes that is difficult to do if you are not putting a body on a body.
Chris Achuff, defensive line coach at Syracuse, is able to teach this with his favorite drill which he calls “trainwreck.”
Trainwreck Drill - Feel Your Technique
In this drill, the offensive linemen or players simulating offensive linemen will align with their feet to a tackle mat or a high jump mat and take their initial footwork off the ball into the defensive lineman.
The lineman will react and explode off the ball with a flat back. The OL will move his feet initially then allow a stalemate and then the DL will drive and finish him knocking him backwards into the mat.
This teaches the DL to use proper technique and feel that point when the OL has stopped his feet. The DL learns to continue to keep his feet going and finish the play. This is a great way to train DL to feel their technique while at the same time creating a safer drill with the mat absorbing the blow for the OL who is being defeated.
RPO - Transition Run to Pass Rush
In a game becoming dominated by RPO and play action, a defensive lineman must become very skilled in being able to transition from a run block defeat demeanor into his pass rush.
Anthony Camp, former Louisiana DL Coach and now the DC at Baton Rouge HS, teaches this and illustrates it on game film in this video:
Defeat Double Teams
In the zone and gap scheme world we live in, a defensive lineman will take on double teams often. He needs to learn to not allow movement and even defeat those double teams.
Yale defensive line coach Dennis Dottin-Carter teaches how they work to break the double with drill and gae film in this video.
With the time crunch we have to get our players ready, finding the great drills that teach the skills our players will execute the most just makes sense.
Good luck as you kick off camp for the 2023 season!
Always be growing!
Keith Grabowski
P.S.
Whether you watch them all before the season or keep them handy on your digital shelf for reference during the season, the knowledge shared in the Prep For Camp- Defensive Line Edition will help you grow as a coach. This resource is available now.