Throughout my coaching career, I have been fortunate enough to be around several different schemes and player abilities. But the number one criteria that makes a great defense is solid fundamentals. At North Alabama, there are four characteristics that make a defense great – pursuit of the ball, being able to beat blocks (BTB), tackling and creating turnovers. We believe and coach our players that if you want to be a great defense, you must master these four fundamentals.
Every coach has different schemes, keys and techniques, but at the end of the day if your defense is lacking in any of these building blocks, you will not achieve overall success as a team. At North Alabama, we implement each of the four fundamentals into each rep every day of the week.
The defense at North Alabama earned its nickname the Purple Swarm after leading the team to back-to-back-to-back Division II National Championships. Throughout the years, the Purple Swarm tradition has continued and has carried a sense of pride among the defensive players. However, we believe that no one on the field is entitled to the name. Each player must earn the right to carry such a prestigious name and represent North Alabama with that pride.
In order to help our players continue the tradition and keep the Purple Swarm name, we start every week doing one of two different pursuit circuits with our players. On Mondays we do a 3-cone pursuit circuit called the ‘Hunt’ or a pass pursuit. As each drill is performed, each coach is responsible for grading the effort of their respective players. These are great drills to start practice and emphasize the urgency and tempo of playing great defense (See Diagram 1).
Diagram 1. The Hunt (3 cones) – On the snap of the ball, everyone does an up down and then sprints to their respective cone. When getting there, all players continue to run their feet until the coach blows the whistle. Then the defense runs to the last cone and breaks down on ‘purple swarm.’
Terry Bowden believes and continues to press upon his staff in every meeting that the game of football is about blocking and tackling. On Tuesday, the second circuit we focus on is tackling. We rotate between three one and a half-minute stations all going on at the same time. They include eye opener, open field, sideline and occasionally change with the sweep tackle (See Diagrams 2-4). Points we stress during tackling are stepping on toes, seeing what you are hitting, exploding through your hips, grabbing cloth and running your feet. We also coach the sweep tackle which is a last effort of getting the ball carrier to the ground. We teach to lay out and swipe at the ball carriers feet in order to make contact and knock him down.
Diagram 2: Eye Opener – Start square in a 2-point stance. Stress inside hip leverage on the ball carrier and attack ball carrier when he declares his hole.
Diagram 3: Open Field Tackle - Stress getting to the ball carrier under control, step on his toes and grab cloth.
Diagram 4: Sideline Tackle – Beat the ball carrier to the middle cone, come under control, and use the sideline as your buddy. Take correct angle and leverage to tackle the ball carrier, striking with near leg.
On Wednesdays, we work our third circuit which is beat the block (BTB) that has become a lost art in the game today. Being able to beat blocks is one way to eliminate big play opportunities. As we mentioned earlier, the game is about blocking and tackling so since the team focused on tackling on Tuesday, you must now coach beating the blocks. We use the same rotation method on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays while changing the drills. The keys drills we work with our BTB day are fit escape, release escape, and the peel drill (See Diagrams 5-7).
Diagram 5: Fit Escape – Emphasize how to engage the blocker and move to an extension of the blocker. Work a push-pull, arm over or a rip move with the release.
Diagram 6: Release Escape - Start in a fitted position with both the blocker and defender engaged. The defender runs his feet and works the violent extension and releases the blocker.
Diagram 7: Peel Drills – This drill works the cut block making sure the player retreats the front leg while giving ground to gain ground. This technique also requires to push the blockers helmet down and away from the body with both palms.
The final circuit on Thursdays, is the turnover skill. This is because the game is all about the ball and getting it back to the offense as many times as possible in order for the best field position. We believe our chances at winning the ball game depends on how many times the offense has the ball. We always talk and stress each week about winning the turnover battle and how important it is to win that statistic each game. The circuit consists of scoop and score, tip drill and punch/rake out (Diagrams 8-10).
Diagram 8: Scoop and Score - Coach tosses the ball on the ground. Players attack the ball and try to field it or we teach them to just recover on the ground.
Diagram 9: Tip Drill - Coach throws a high pass while the first defender tips the ball high into the air. The second defender catches the INT at its highest point and yells ‘oskie’ to alert the team of an INT.
Diagram 10: Rip/Rake Drill – As the defender approaches the ball carrier, he secures the tackle with his near arm around the runner’s hip. Then the defender works one of the techniques of rip or rake with the opposite arm. This is done at three-quarters speed and no one hits the ground. The key to forcing turnovers is to create space between the runner’s body and the ball.
In all of the fundamentals, it is crucial that you show the players how to achieve what you are looking for. Repeat every circuit one time each week as soon as your players arrive for the season. At North Alabama, we start in camp when all of our athletes report and carry these same fundamentals throughout the entire season. Spring ball gives us another opportunity to show our players the importance of these fundamentals and just gives them a head start for the season. Each day of the week has a theme and no matter where we are in practice, we stress that theme the entire day of practice. As your fundamentals become more solid during the season, you will become more confident and stronger in stopping offenses no matter what the scheme may be.
About the Author: Tony Pecoraro completed his second season at the University of North Alabama in 2011, serving as both Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach. He started his coaching career as a student assistant at Florida State and then became a Graduate Assistant and then Assistant Coach at Webber International University. Before joining the UNA staff, Pecoraro was a Defensive Graduate Assistant at Florida State.