The following drills are my absolute favorites for teaching hand and eye placement along with body positioning for aggressive attacking fronts. I take great pride in getting my players to buy into the penetrating philosophy, using their read keys to take them to the ball, and then giving 100% effort to get to the football regardless of where it is on the field. We treat every play as if it were a passing down with our thought process and initial get off, then we will play the run blocking scheme used against us with our hands and eyes. A term that I use with my players in regards to their body positioning is “pushing a car uphill”. That analogy helps them picture in their head what I am looking for when it comes to the bend in their knees, slight bow in the back, stiff armed, and head up positioning.
My teaching progression starts every year with STANCE (hand of the player down with proper foot width and stagger, and the proper amount of bodyweight on the down hand), FIRST STEP (penetrating step, getting on the offensive side of the LOS), HAND PLACEMENT (controlling the gap side shoulder with the off hand and V of the neck with down hand), KEYS (screws of the OL helmet to backfield), and completing the progression with some sort of FINISH whether it is a RB tackle, QB Strip, plant and pursue, etc.
The following drills have helped our defensive line not only get in the backfield and cause havoc, but also have given them the ability to maintain both leverage and gap control.
QUICK HANDS: This drill teaches the DL exactly where to punch their hands at the snap of the ball and where their eyes should go. The DL will start this drill on their knees shaded in the direction I tell them. If they are shaded LEFT, their right shoulder pad should be splitting the middle of the dummy with their right hand on their right thigh board to simulate that hand being on the ground. Their off hand is in the striking position off their thigh board with a bend in the elbow and the wrist out slightly in front of their belt. I will have an assistant coach with a football on a stick to simulate the snap of the ball after a cadence.
On ball movement, the DL will strike the dummy with both hands. Make sure that the off hand (leverage hand), in this case the left hand, is the first to the hit the dummy to control the gap side shoulder of his opponent. That hand should strike the outside edge of the dummy or the shoulder pad of a hand shield with the DL hand in a grabbing position, palm out, thumb down, and fingers up. His right hand (power hand) should strike just underneath the facemask of the helmet painted on the dummy aiming for the V of the neck with his palm facing out, thumb straight up, and fingers out to the right forming an L with his hand. The DL helmet should come up from looking at the ball to looking at the screws of the helmet on the dummy or hand shield.
I am fortunate to have the use of a blaster with two dummies at one end with shoulder pads, a helmet and numbers painted on it for our aiming points. The DL arms should be locked out when striking the dummy and they should deliver a forceful blow. I will start slow at first, until the players get the aiming points down and they become second nature. Then we will progress to rapid fire with the actual “quick hands” portion of the drill. I do not want the DL to roll their hips when performing the hand strike. I want their backs to remain vertical, for them to use predominately their arms as well as the weight of their upper bodies when striking.
GUNSLINGER: We will progress to this drill once the DL has their aiming points down from the previous drill with good hand placement and good striking mechanics. This drill is great for getting a hand strike on a moving target coming straight at them and really emphasizing proper hand placement, stiff arms when delivering the blow, knocking the OL back, and then disengaging. A DL will start this drill on his knees, just like the starting position of the Quick Hands drill. Five players will line up in a straight line, one behind the other, in front of the DL, three to four yards away. I will designate which hand I want to be the POWER hand (down hand) and which hand will be the LEVERAGE hand (off hand) to start the drill.
On my command, the first OL will come downhill towards the DL, and the DL will strike him with his hands and deliver a stiff armed blow. As soon as the initial blow is delivered and the OL pads pop up, the DL will shed that blocker to the side of his designated POWER hand. For example, if the RIGHT hand is designated the POWER hand, then that is the hand that is striking the V of the neck, forming the L and the LEFT hand is striking the shoulder pad palm out and thumb down, enabling the DL to grab and control the gap side shoulder. Once the strike is delivered, the DL will shed that blocker to his right by simply shrugging him away and get prepared for the next OL coming downhill at him.The DL will now strike that blocker with his LEFT hand being the POWER hand to the V of the neck and his RIGHT hand being the LEVERAGE hand grabbing the gap side shoulder of the OL. Once that blow is delivered, the DL will again shrug-shed that blocker to his left.
The DL will alternate between POWER and LEVERAGE hands and which way to shed throughout the five OL. It is important to focus on the hand placement, striking with stiff or locked out arms, and having a flat back. Rolling the hips towards his opponent is not acceptable while performing this drill, as it is not acceptable during games to roll the hips on contact towards the OL and get chest-to-chest with them. We want to keep our body positioning in that “pushing a car alignment”. I really emphasize these points the first few times we do this drill to instill the importance of good mechanics. If necessary, we will slow this drill down until the players are comfortable before speeding up the pace at which the OL will come downhill at him.
5-Point Hand Shoot: This drill is great for teaching players upper and lower body explosion when getting off the football without having them worry about their first initial step. The players will start shaded which ever way I designate to start the drill and will have the proper hand down as their POWER hand. Their LEVERAGE hand should have a slight bend at the elbow now hanging just below the numbers on their jersey. Both knees should be on the ground and they should have their toes dug into the turf. I will allow the DL to sit back slightly towards their heels to ensure they are able to explode out horizontally. We use a cut sled that is low to the ground with shorter pads to emphasize staying low.
On the snap of the ball, the DL should explode out towards the dummy pushing hard off his toes. Make sure that the LEVERAGE hand hits the outside shoulder of the dummy first, followed closely by the POWER hand hitting the V of the neck. Both arms should be locked out and stiff. Their eyes should be up, looking for the screws of the OL helmet, and they should have a slight bend or bow in the back, putting their bodies in the proper “pushing the car” position. I will have the players start this drill 1-3 feet away from their target, depending on the height of the DL. This will give them room to explode out into the dummy without getting all bunched up and feeling they need to roll their hips or become over-extended. On contact, I will have them hold this position and make sure each player has his hands in the proper places, eyes are up, and back is slightly bowed.
Belly Get Off: We will progress to the belly get off drill once the players have the explosion and proper technique from the previous drill. For the start of this drill, the DL will get into the same 5-Point Stance as the previous drill, shaded which ever way I designate to start, but sitting further back on their heels. Everything in this drill is the same except now the players are not going to hit and hold on ball movement. They are going to again explode out horizontally, pushing hard off their toes this time and landing on their bellies.
They should hit the sled with enough force to knock the sled back, giving themselves room to finish the drill on their bellies. I will start them farther back from the sled for this drill and allow them to sit even farther back on their heels. I am still looking for proper hand placement, stiff arms on contact, eyes up to find the OL screws, full extension of the ankles, knees, hips, elbows and this time a flatter back. If done properly, all DL should hit the sled at the same time. This would knock it back enough to allow all players room to get full extension of the previously mentioned joints before landing flat on their bellies.
5-Point Cobra: The final progression is the 5-Point Cobra. For this drill, the DL will start in the same 5-point stance as they did in the previous two drills and I will designate which way to shade to give them their POWER and LEVERAGE hands. An OL will now be in front of the DL with his knees bent, hips low, chest up, and in a good low two-point stance. Once the DL is set and shaded correctly, the OL will “kick” like a pass set on his own. I will not give a cadence for this drill or use a football to purposely give the OL the advantage.
The DL is to explode out of his stance on movement with great horizontal extension of the ankles, knees, hips, and elbows shooting his hands to his proper targets and trying to grab the OL before he is out of reach. Make sure that the DL are not shooting up but rather like a COBRA striking his prey. Look for the proper body positioning, hand placement with both the POWER and LEVERAGE hands, stiff arms on contact with the OL, eyes up finding keys, and full extension of the major joints. This is a great drill for teaching the basic fundamentals of the explosive get off without ever taking a step. p
About the Author: Wes Bell is in his fourth season as the defensive line coach for Missouri Western State University. He previously coached at Minnesota State-Moorhead where he coached the defensive line, special teams, and also served as strength and conditioning coordinator. Bell also coached at Southwestern College in Winfield, KS. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Emporia State where he played on the defensive line and a Master’s Degree from MSU-Moorhead.