OVER THE YEARS, our defensive staff successfully has identified areas where our defense needed to improve. After identifying a weakness, we have had the ability to devise some innovative drills to help our players improve in the specified area. Recently, we discovered that while getting into their zone pass drops, our linebackers and defensive backs were not reading the backfield action and the quarterback.
To improve in this area we came up with the “color drill.” In this drill we have a coach stand directly behind the QB as he gets into his drop (whether it’s a straight drop or a roll out). As the QB begins to set, the coach holds up a colored card. The coach holds this card directly above and behind the quarterback’s helmet until he releases the ball. At the conclusion of the play the coaches will ask a specific defensive player what color card was held up.
To keep the drill honest (and to keep the players from guessing), it’s best to have a stack of many different colored cards, or even some cards with numbers written on them instead of colors. This drill can be done during individual periods, 7-on-7 periods, or even team periods.
We have found that our players have gotten better at keeping their eyes in the backfield on their drops, and reading the quarterback’s eyes on his throws. Also we feel it helps them get a better idea of dropping to an area, rather then finding a landmark on the field to drop to. We hope to use this drill more during our off-season days, as we feel that it will be a huge benefit to our players once the season begins.