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Defensive LineTechniques and DrillsFrom the 4 3 Defense Part iBy GrcgCrum. Defensive CoordinatorWorcester (MA) Polytechnic InstituteC oaching is a world ofgive and take and I knowthat in my last years as acoach, I have certainlybenl the ears of many great coachesin developing niy philosophies andtechniques of defensive line play.

Allow me to present a few of thecoaches with whom I have reallyenjoyed spending time with over theyears;SteveTirrell (U-Mass);JerryAzzinaro (DLike);Joe Cullen (DetroitLion.s); Keith Willis (Boston College);Sean Sp encer (U-Mass); Scott James(Nortliea stem); Dwayne Brooks (Yale);and Frank Chimiend (CW. Post).

Phis ... special thanks to HeadCoach Don Brown and Defen.siveCoordinator Keith Dudzinski of theU. of Mas.sachiisetts for allowing meto spend counUess hours watchingtheir team practice and learning fromtheir successful prognmi.Coaches are the greatest peopleand I have been fortunate in findingthe ones who are always quick to offerup their time and knowledge.I would like to start with the way Ipreach my version of the 10 com-mandments and then insert them intomy practice plan in the followingorder:

1. Alignment2. Assignment3. Stance4. Get-off/Snap reaction^. Ground-to-pads/TargetKey reads/. Separation8. Escape9. Pursuit10. TackleEvaluation:(-3 requires zero talent. 4-8 requirescountless hours of practice. 9&I0require effort.

In our practice schedule every day,il is imperative for the Defensive Line( Dach to implement all 10 conimaiid-uienLs inlo his daily practice pian. Wwill comhine several of them into onedrill to minimize the use of precioustime in the preparation of ou r higmen for Saturday.DEFINITION OF TER MS:

A stretch or exercise that is loolong or not easy to reproduce andperform correctly will have poor com-pliance hy the athlete and will ulti-mately hecome useless.

Flexibility is terme d as the abilityto move a Joint or series of joinLsthroughout a full range of motion.Range of motion is the movement at ajoint and is determined by a numberof factors, such as connective tissuestmcture, the athle te's activity level,age, and sex.Improvements in range of motionas a result of stretching are primarilydu e to the connet tive tissue adapta-tions.Two types of stretching techniquesare generally used: (I) ballistir, or

dynamic stretching, the use of musclecontradions thai create a boimcingtype movement in wbich the eiidpointis not held, and (2) static stretching,where the muscle isplaced

If we start witli an agility drill andbave our d-line run over the bags, we

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players wbo may bave never used this tecbniqu e. We callthis ground-to-pads.As we recognize mo vement an d begin to take our firststep toward tbe LOS, we want to lead with our hands andstrike otir opponent hard or "shock" him. A defensive line-man's liands will tell him all he necd.s to know about hisopponent's intent.For instance, if we are getting a drive block and ouropp one nt gets into our grill imm ediately, ou r han ds willsurely strike very quickly.This will alert us to a drive block and we will progress otitof it by keeping our pad level low, rolling tbe hips, and run-ning ou r feet in or der to put the offensive lineman back onbis beels and control the LOS. I think ihe drive block is ihebardest block we will lace and I put a lot of empbasis intotaking it awa).Our guys know that a double team can easily bt' neutral-ized if we get a great strike on the drive block, forcing thesecond m an to adjust because we have negotiated the LOS.Some of tbe drills I tise to defeat the drive block are setup in a progression, wbich takes my guys tbrougb tbe diffei-ent skills necessary to acbieve success.Tbe fn^t drill is meant to get them used to leading wiibtbeir hands. 1 use agile bags or shields to simulate offensivelinemen and start our guys from a 6-point stance (Hands,knees, and toes on the g round ).Using a ball or my foot to simulate movement, our line-men will "shoot" their hands to the target as fast as possibleand return to the starting position until movement triggersthem on ce m ore. We will have them shoot their band s 10dmes quickly for two sets.Next, we will move the bag off about two yards and I willkey the bag-ho lders to simtilate a drive block. Th e defen-sive linemen who are still in a 6-point stance will now .shoottheir hands to the target and dig their toes into the gronndas the man with the bag tries to nm them over.This automatically engages the defensive linem an's hips.

As he rolls forward to prevent getting nm over, he will popout of his 6 point stance and run his feet to gain control ofthe blocker.This bas been an excellent drill for teacbing o ur guys to

utilize their hip power to defeat an opponent's drive blockand gain separation.The only time we really tise the hip roll is to defeat adrive because the other blocks are less aggressive and wereiy more on foot speed to get out of the block.

We will then run a live drill from a 3-point stance (bothguys) and have them execute all the key coinp(ments wejus t worked on separately, vs. the drive block. This will givethem an opportunity to put it all together and allow thecoach to see each player's weakness.Initially, it is almost always the player's first step and u.se

of his han ds. Wlienever, we find a problem area, we will usthe "fit" drill principle to help onr phiyers improve anythinthey are having trouble with.

"Fit" means starting a drill from a position (stance) o utof which you have already lakeii vour fust step.

For example, if woiking ihe dii \e block, we will bave oudefensive Hneman start the drill with his bands in a goodstrike/contact position and his hat below tbe offt-nsive line-man's pad level.

On tbe whistle, he continues on and defeats the drive byrolling bis bips until he put.s the offensive lineman back onhis beels again.

Once this happens again, we will compleit- the drill witha good ])ress and biTak down lo lind llif ball carrier. Wecan also include H tackle drill with any oi" the "fit" drills towork the multiple techniques into a simple drill.

The progression and "fit" drills have to be inslnmientalin developing our defensive linemen.This brings us to the teacb ing of key reads from the 10

coninian dmcn ts. We call all ot our man blocks "Battle ofthe On e" Keys. They are Drive, Reach, Cut-OfT. Veer, andPull Sets.

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i AC . 3, BATTLE OF ONE KEYS & TECHNIQUES IE - Drive, DriveN - Pull-Down Block, Cross-Face, or FollowT - Double, D rive,A-Veer w/Tackle Down. Down to Spillbox

Wlien teacbing your players how to deiend "the batUe ofone" keys, it is important to tell tbem that tbeir bands mustalways adjust to the blocker. A term I use is "eyes in thepalm of your hands." This refers to the target from the 10com mand ments. We are always attemptin g to strike otiropponents shade-side armpit area and shoot our insidehand across his facemask to tlie opposite breast plate.We will always "grab clotb" wbenever our hands come incontact wiib the offensive lhi cinan . This enables us to gaincontrol of i>ur blocker, no matter what block he is attenipl-

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ing. Whenever we tell our guys to get their inside hand toilie midd le of ihe offensive blocker, we are giving the offen-sive man the advantage on certain blocks, especially driveand cut-off.letting back lo our first step alwa>'s being straight upfield, we are teaching om- people tliat no m atter wbat battleof one key tbey are getting, the firsi step must always lookthe same.If we aie getting a reach block, for example, our secondstep will come close to ourfii"st n order to push oiu towardthe reach and allow us to penetrate the LOS and work ourbips ttp field so that we may escape and force the stretchplav back inside where ou r help is.The defender's hands will adjust to the block as he takesbis first step and uses a power arm techniqtie to get his bipsoutside the O-lincman in preparation for escaping.Power arm technique involves your gap hand pushing tbeshoulder and you're inside hand pnlling cloih (pvisb-pull).If we get a cut-off block and the offensive lineman is tiy-ing to seal us to our shade, we will simply squeeze him downrhe LOS, using his body as half a defender and convertingour power arm . This will give us the oppo rtunity to "seethrough our gap." To convert the power arm, we simplypush with the inside band and pull with the gap hand.We never want to cross-face unless tbe ball carrier bascbosen bis patb. To defeat the cutoff, we tise our secondstep to push inward toward the olfcnsive lineman tosqueeze him down.Again, as with drive and reach, tbe fii-ststep is always up

field and the second enables us to get out of the block.Another bktck we have to face is called a veer block(trap, power, counter, op tion ). Tliis is where our man onwill not want to engage us and will lake a lateral step awayfrom our shade to climb up on a backer.Wlien we get a veer, we cannot possibly get both handson our blocker but ag;iin, our hands are assisting us inrecognition and allowing us to play otu of it with our sec-ond step.As with the ciitHjff, we will push toward ilic bhx kerand jam him inside and move laterally to seal off the areahe is leaving.We expect som ething to come at us, whether it's a back-side guard (Trap or Co un ter for DE's) or fullback (freezeoption for Tackle or Power for DE's) and look to take onthe next blocker.Defensive ends will often see this block when facingpower and option teams. We will discuss the D.F..'s progres-sions with veer later on.Anoth er man block to watch is Pull. Again, you can'texpect your lineman to get hands on, but he can recognizedirection and play out of it. The only rule in Pull is to staybome and read near block.

If the back is dow nhill, it's an influence trap . If he isout, it's most likely a to.ss and your S tech will get a downblock from his near lineman or pressure key.If we sec pull inside, we will tn' to get to ihe hip of tbe

pulling lineman to avoid the down block from tlie nearlineman.If we are inside shade on a pulling lineman and thedown block comes quick, we will cross face vs. the downblock to add on to the play.The lasl man key is pass, and we will read the set of thelineman to dete nn ine if it's 3-step or 5-step. We refer tothis key as "high hat." As we take ou r first step and shootour hands, we will not engage an aggressive blocker. Otn"band s will be the first to "feel" this.We use this to help us distinguish between run or pass.We will evahiate our opponent eveiy week to detennine any

"tells" in their passing gam e. Offensive lines use many p r otection schemes for 3/5/7 step, bootleg, and sprint pass.As a result, we will work on our opponents' schemes everyweek to prepare o ur defensive line. One poin t we work onreligioiLsly is tbe handling of hard-setting oflensive linemenwbo punch and otlierwise abuse people on tfie LOS.You will be ineffective if you tiy to bull-msh them . The irset position will allow them to take a powei position quickly.So we must get to o ur half man as soon as possible, with ourbands up into the throwing lane and lake away the short ball.

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D I A G . 4 , BATTLE OF ONE KEYS & TECHN IQUES I IE - Veer, ClawN- Reacb, Power ArmT - Reach, Power ArmA - Cut-Off/Tackle Fold. Convert Power ArmIf we get a soft set (kick slide), we will bave more optionsin our arsenal to call upon, Tbe bull-rtisb is certainly oneof the moves we will work out of.Many ot the great defensive line coaches with wlunn Ihave worked have talked about "stopping the inn on the wayto the QB!" This metliod of teaching your players to takethe same first step, no matter what the man on key gives you.

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illustrates our philosophy because that first stp is alwaystoward the QB. If you stress the .second step as the escapestep, your defensive lineman will always have the o ppo rtunityto react to whatever his batde of o ne is giving him.You should use the fit/progression drills to help yourteam learn how to play out of each man b lock. You canagain add a tackle drill, fumble d rill, or pursuit drill to tbeend of each unit to extend the multiplicity of the singledrill and save time.

Another drill we tise every day to prepare for their battleof one keys is called tbe "Giant Drill." You don't bave tobave full pads for this drill because it starts out at balf^peedand progresses from there.I use it in botb spring and fall practices. We pair up ourplayers (offense vs. defense) using sbields or padstbeyproduce the same re.sults.Tbe first time we introduce this techn ique, we call it"predicted," meaning we will tell them wbat type of blockwe are trying to defense.We teach the players how to ha ndle each type of manblock before enabling tbem to distinguish one from tbeotbe r. We will eventually progress to full speed , and oncewe have gone throug h all tbe different types of man blocks(drive, reach, cut-cjff, veer, pull, pass), we will run the sam edrills, but tbis time tbey will be "unpredicted."In this version, the coach signals to the ofFensive manwhat type of block to use, as well as tbe count.It is always interesting to .see bow that first step is no

longer up field vs. tbe different blocks as it was when tbeyknew wbat was coming in the predicted drill.This is where yonr players will learn that with an aggres-sive first step, they may not be in great position vs. anythingother tban the drive, but tbe second step will always playyou out of it and gain control of tbe blocker.In-season, this is a great time to bring the offense linedown and nm the Ciant Drill.Another drill we tise to prepare our people for tbeirBattle of One Keys is set np in mucb tbe same way, but thedefense will always "slide" down to a different lineman aftereach re p to get an oppo rtunity to play against different O-linemen with varying degrees of exp erience.We call this the "Caundet Drill" and it assists us in get-ting our guys in great game sh ape because they must facefive O-linemen in succession. This gives us the o pportun ityto see which part of their techniqtie will become lax whenthey get ti red . You will almost always .see the stanc e gosouth until they play into shape. This is where you get toevaluate all 10 commandments in one drill!

DE'S PRO GRE SSIONS , II; 14:You must dedicate time in your weekly practice plan toteach the defensive ends their progressions whenever their

man on (T or TE) doesn't engage them (veer). Againsttecbnique (inside sbade vs. TE), our visual key is tbe TEand our pressure key is tbe tackle. Tbis means we areemphasizing a great strike on our man on (TE), but seeintbe pressure key (Tackle) to determine where our fit is.

Any time we see tb e tackle down; we will automaticallycontrol the C-Gap and look to find something coming at uwbetber it's EB, B.S. (iuard, or bail inside (dive option).Once the tackle is down, we play the same tecb nique as thopen-side defensive end in following our progression rulesIf we have engaged the TE and read the tackle, whetheit's a combo block or a fold block, we uill work to defeat tbTE to bis otitside and escape, forcing the wide play backund ernea th. It is impo rtant for your players to imderstantbat tbe reason we are playing outside vs. tbe tackle isbecause tbe LB's will work to replace on r G

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