Youth Football Drills for the Defensive Tackle when Practicing the Blitz

By Coach
Mar
07

Our youth football drills for the defensive tackles are coordinated with our inside linebackers since the blitzing movements for both positions are paired up on either side of the ball.  In almost all cases when we blitz our DTs our inside linebackers will automatically assume the responsibility of covering the gap (A or B) that the DT doesn’t blitz.

We blitz our DTs into four spots and each is labeled by the gap we want him to go through.  Our “Tak” stunt sends him to the A gap, “Tab” takes him to the B gap, “Tack” slides him into the C gap and “Tex” crosses him to the A gap on the other side of the center.   We also use an “X” stunt with our DTs and ILBs in which the ILB signals to the DT which way to go.  Either one will take the A gap and the other man will take the B gap.  We like to communicate the X stunt verbally and use a visible tapping signal as a decoy.

We use blocking bags to simulate the offensive linemen, a manager to handle the center snap and another defensive end linebacker to fill in for the offense’s tailback.

This drill begins with proper alignment.  We have our defensive tackle begin his stunt on the center’s snap.  The DT will attack the designated gap and chase the ball after hitting the gap.  He will pursue at a proper angle if the ball goes away from him and will redirect as quickly as possible if the ball heads toward his sideline.  If pass shows he becomes a full time pass rusher.

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Youth Football Drills for the Blitzing Outside Linebacker

By Coach
Mar
01

Our youth football drills for outside linebacker blitzing are coordinated with our defensive ends.  In most cases when we blitz our outside linebackers our defensive end will automatically assume the containment assignment that the OLB would usually have.

We blitz our OLB into two spots and each is labeled by the gap we want him to go through.  Our “Babs” stunt sends him to the near B gap and “Buck” takes him to the C gap.  In both situations the DE would have containment. “X” is another way we blitz our outside linebacker and he makes the decision to either hit the C gap or send his partner (DE) through the C gap.

We use blocking bags to simulate the offensive linemen, a manager to handle the center snap and another outside linebacker to fill in for the offense’s tailback.

This drill begins with proper alignment.  We ask him to hold his stance as long as possible so to not give away his blitz intentions any sooner than necessary.  He will blitz to the appropriate gap off the center’s snap.

The OLB will attack the designated gap and chase the ball after hitting the gap.  He never has any type of pass coverage when  involved in any of his stunts. If pass shows he becomes a full time pass rusher and we will cover his absence in the secondary coverage with other players.

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Youth Football Drills for the Blitz- The Safety

By Coach
Feb
22

Our safety blitz youth football drills are communicated by which gap we want our safety to attack.  Each drill is basically the same, but his destination is slightly different.  Each of his possible destinations are called with words that begin with “S”.  “Snake” takes him to the A gap, “Snub” shoots him through the B gap, “Snac” takes him to the C Gap and “Scud” blitzes him through the D gap.  Each of these calls would  come immediately after our front 8 players get their assignment during the huddle verbiage.  His stunt will also be signaled in from the sideline to the safety and the defensive signal caller.

Each of our safety stunts is set up using blocking bags playing the role of the offensive linemen, another safety serves as the offensive tailback while a manager handles the center snap.

This drill begins with the safety aligning at his proper depth.  We ask him to hold his stance and depth as long as possible so to not give away his blitz intentions for as long as possible.  He will blitz off the center’s snap.

The safety will attack the designated gap and chase the ball after hitting the gap.  He never has any type of pass coverage when  involved in any of his stunts. If pass shows he becomes a full time pass rusher and we will cover his absence in the secondary coverage with other players.

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Youth Football Drills for the Blitz- The Cornerback’s Role

By Coach
Feb
15

Continuing my series on the blitz… my favorite youth football drill for practicing the role of the corner back during a blitz is called “Crash”.  It goes by the same terminology that we use to call our corner back blitz.  I feel that by using the same terminology that we save time in setting up the drill and also to cement the term to eliminate confusion during the game.

“Crash” is set up using a couple of blocking bags playing the role of offensive tackles, another corner back acting as the offensive tailback, two other corner backs standing in as offensive wide receivers and a manager serving as the offensive center.

This drill begins with both corner backs aligning properly on the offensive wide receivers.  For more repetitions we will have both corner backs execute their Crash stunt at the same time even though we have never had both stunting at the same time in a game.   We have them hold their stance as long as possible so to not give away their blitz intentions for as long as possible.

They will both move on the center’s snap of the ball reading the movement direction of the tailback.  If the tailback comes toward a corner back the corner will make the tackle as soon as possible.  If the tailback moves away from the corner back the corner will chase hard and make the tackle as quickly as he can.   We then have the second group of corner backs rotate into position for their turn while the last group fills in the necessary offensive positions.

We never expect our corner backs to have any type of pass coverage when they are involved in the Crash stunt. If pass shows they become full time pass rushers and we will cover their absence in the secondary with other players.

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Youth Football Drills for the Blitz – Practice for the Inside Linebacker

By Coach
Feb
08

Here is one of my favorite youth football drills for practicing the role of the Inside Linebacker during a blitz. Our inside linebackers are our most involved players in our total blitz package. These players have to be aware of not only their own blitzing responsibilities but also the blitzing directions of all of the other players as they are often asked to compensate immediately when other defenders are blitzing.

The actual blitzes by our ILBs are pretty easy. His position requires that he “Plug” (attack his A gap, “Loop” (attack his C gap) or “Cross” (attack the opposite side A gap). We also use our “X” stunt with our ILBs and their DT partners.

His other movements and responsibilities vary depending upon who else is blitzing in and near his area. An example would be that he needs to cover his C gap if the DE on his side is executing an “Ebb” stunt. All stunts will be signaled in from the sideline to the ILB and the defensive signal caller.

Each of our ILB stunts are set up using blocking bags playing the role of the offensive linemen, another inside linebacker serves as the offensive tailback while a manager handles the center snap.

This drill begins with the linebackers aligning at their proper depth. We ask them to hold their stance and depth as long as possible so to not give away their blitz intentions until the last second. They will blitz off the center’s snap. We almost always have both ILBs blitz at the same time to gain additional practice repetitions even though we do not always blitz both of these players at the same time in a game.

Since our inside linebackers are so closely associated with more defensive players than just his partner (DT) we often schedule a full defensive front practice time to work on the timing of the stunts to be made by the ILBs. This also give additional reps for our other defensive players

The ILB will attack the designated gap and chase the ball after hitting the gap. He never has any type of pass coverage when involved in any of his stunts. If pass shows he becomes a full time pass rusher and we will cover his absence in the secondary coverage with other players.

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Youth Football Plays – The Either Way Q Option

By Coach
Feb
08

As we have found that reading the defensive team’s adjustment to motion to be very effective (and quite easy) with our “Two Plays in One” theory we have added the “Q Option” to our series.

The “Q Option” is nothing more than the old speed option (quarterback and one back) which attacks the end man on the line of scrimmage. The QB will keep if the DE takes the fullback or pitch (to the fullback for us) if the DE steps inside to take the QB. Like in Sweep-B, the QB and FB read the motion adjustment and the QB informs the center as to which direction we will be running the play, and both sides of the formation block for the “Q” to their side.

The “Q” fits right into our “read-the-motion-adjustment” concept. We end up running the “Q” to whatever side we get the manpower advantage. If the defense reacts quickly to the motion of the slot back we will run the “Q” back to the weakside, and if the defense does not adjust quickly we will run the “Q” to the side the motion is going to take advantage of our extra blocker on that side.

If you have the concept of option in your offensive playbook, I think that you will like the “Q”.  Post below to let me know how you are using options in your offense.

Best of luck to you.

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Youth Football Plays- Sweep C, The Counter Play

By Coach
Jan
30

As we have explored and expanded our vision of running Two-Plays-in-One we had to find a way to take advantage of the backside ILB’s movement when our slot motioned past his original alignment.  To this point we basically had found a way to counter any defensive player’s adjustment to our motioning slot.  Now when the defense shows that they are going to slide this backside ILB toward the motion we attack back to the spot he vacated.

To quickly review, have built our offensive plays to give a method to attack the defense when they adjust to our slot motion without waiting for the next play.  The QB and the FB “read” the motion adjustment by the defense and either run the first part of the play (ex: sweep) if the defense does not make an immediate adjustment or run the second part of the play (ex: boot) if they do make an immediate adjustment.

We have previously developed a way to attack if the defense rotates their secondary (“Sweep/B” – sweep/boot), a way to attack them if the front side ILB slides out toward the motion (“Sweep/G” – sweep/gash) and run the speed option (“Sweep/Q”) if the backside OLB runs across the formation with the motioning slot.

We can also get 2 plays in one by calling the basic “Q” (speed option that can be run to either side depending upon defensive adjustment or lack of adjustment) or the “T” (toss to either side with the same read as the “Q” for the QB and the FB.  Your team may or may not want to use both the “Q” and the “T”, however. The limiting factor in your decision may be based on whether your QB can run the speed option well.

We have now figured a way to attack the backside ILB when he tries to cheat toward the motion side.  If he does cheat early we now have good blocking angles on him and his fellow backside teammates (DT and DE) to run the “Sweep/C”.

This play is read just like the other “Two-Plays-in-One” in that the QB and the FB (upright stance) look for the defender adjusting and attack where he isn’t.  If that backside ILB vacates we run the “C” and if he stays home we run the “Sweep” part of the play.

All of the front side offensive players are blocking for the Sweep (although we can run our Two-Plays-in-One off our power as well) while the backside players (OG, OT, SE) are blocking for the “C”. The center receives a signal from the QB to determine which play is going to be run.

We block the “C” by having the backside OG and OT handle the two down linemen on their side (turn out/seal down or a cross block) and have the FB lead the QB through the B gap.  The FB gets a good angle on the ILB that has moved with the motion.  The QB will take a couple of steps back like he is starting to move into his path to deliver the ball to the slot for the sweep and then comes back to follow the FB’s lead block.

If you have read my other Two-Plays-in-One thoughts you have seen that we will sacrifice whatever front side blocks that any backside players may have been able to make to be sure that we are capable of attacking the entire width of the field.  At least, we will be able to attack a particular defender if he does indeed try to adjust early to the motion of our slot player.

We also somewhat assume that most youth league (and high school?) teams will not have practiced multiple schemes to adjust to our slot motion.

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More “2 Plays in 1″ – The “T” Toss

By Coach
Jan
06

Our “Two plays in 1” theory has been very good to us.  (Don’t forget to sign up for the free playbook) It has been very easy to read for both our QB and FB, has allowed us to attack the width of the field on every play by allowing  to set the  point of attack very quickly when the defense moves to balance their strength to our strength on our slot motion from one side of the ball to the other.

We still like the “Q Option” very much, but realized that we will not always have a QB who shines on the speed option all the time. But, since we still want to get to the defensive flank where we outnumber the defense that we needed to do something besides the “Q” to supplement  the “B” (boot).

Coming up with the “T” (a straight toss to the FB-our best running back going to the side where the defense is outnumbered) came to us  from our second string QB who was not as confident in his ability to run the “Q”.

If we called the “T” either way (base formation, rip motion, “T”) we would block each side like it going to be the Toss and let the QB and the FB read the defensive adjustment to the motioning slot back’s movement.  If the toss is to take place to the side the slot is motioning, the slot just becomes the lead blocker for our FB.  The QB will inform the center of which side the toss is going so that he may cut off the play side A gap or block the middle LB away from the toss.  The wide outs and the linemen to each side block for the toss as if it were coming in their direction.

Like on our other “2 in 1” plays (“Q” and “B”) we know that we are losing whatever blocks that the backside guard, tackle and wideout might have provided on the front side (often pretty minimal), but believe that forcing the defense to stay “home” on the backside (or get outnumbered if they do not stay home) has been a very important advantage for us.

We have also incorporated the “T” into our sweep and power plays so that by reading the defensive movement with motion that we can run the “T” to the opposite side if the defense does react hard and move early to help on the side of the originally planned sweep or power.

Such a 2 in 1 play call in the huddle might sound like: “rip (motion right), sweep right, ”T”.  We will run the sweep right if the defense does not in some way adjust early to the slot motion going right or we will run the toss to the left if the defense does adjust quickly (pre snap) by moving to the sweep side with the motion man.

Again, thanks for reading and please do not hesitate to toss in your thoughts or questions.

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A Better Flood Pattern

By Coach
Oct
20

It would be safe to think that just about every youth football team has some form of a “Flood” pattern in their basic passing offense. I know that I have always had one, and it has been just about the same for years and years.

Upon further reviewing this part of my offense, it came to light that we have been successful but with only one portion (pass to the flat/QB run) of this play over the years. More startling, we have almost never been able to complete the pass to the “deep” receiver. We have justified running it the same way by telling ourselves that the play is successful “even if we don’t complete the deep ball because just throwing the deep ball once in a while will get the defensive secondary to at least play deeper respecting our “deep” threat”.

When we looked at the tapes, we found that when we sent the widest guy on a fly that he was: 1) not easy to throw to because he was almost too deep for most of our QBs to reach him and, 2) only one defender had to play deeper (and, after a certain depth was attained even that one defender likely leveled off enough to be able to come back up to support the flat in some way).

So, you ask “what did you do to make your new flood pattern better?” We made our sprint out flood pattern look and act more like a play action play at least for the corner back (deep third defender). We realized how interested these guys usually are to come up and help stop the run and used this aggressiveness against them. Read More »

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Defensive Stunts and Blitzes

By Coach
Oct
05

Our defensive base is the old 4-4 stack with a three deep coverage.  We have used it for years because it is easy to learn and teach as well as giving us the best and most versatile front and coverage possibilities to include stunts from every possible position and angle as well as very sound pass coverages behind the stunts and blitzes.

We partner up each of our four linebackers with a defensive lineman and make four quick calls before every play that give us a wide variety of possible stunts.  We can also use our corner backs and safety to blitz at any time and situation.

Our system of communication for all the stunts and blitzes has been stolen from many sources over the years. I do not claim to be very original.  But, we are very effective with our communication system and get plenty of different stunts with very little learning time for our defensive players.

In our system, the first word before each play always tells the left defensive end and left outside linebacker group what they will be doing.  We always progress from left to right (just like a person reads a sentence in a paragraph) so that the left tackle is paired with the left inside linebacker, the right defensive tackle with the right inside linebacker and the right defensive end with the right outside linebacker.  Players can easily switch positions and have nothing new to learn. Read More »

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