The Archived Articles 1998 Crystal Publications Company

Training The Defensive Line

When performing
defensive line drills,
always use a visual take
off command such as a
ball being snapped or
even moving your foot.
This forces the linemen
to concentrate on ball
movement rather than
listening to the QB. By
using this technique,
you should see a
dramatic decrease in

t Eastern Regional High School

we take great pride in our defense.
We play a base 50 front with many
variations but we begin every season
teaching our basic 50. In this article, I
would like to illustrate how we teach
our basic 50 front alignment and assignments.

In our base front, we play our three

down linemen in a head up position on
the offensive center and tackles. When
our nose guard is aligned head up, we
call this a zero alignment and our tackles
alignment when head up on the offensive tackle is a four (see diagram one).

By Don Olsen
Defensive Line Coach
Eastern Regional High School
Voorhees, New Jersey

Diagram One

N
T
2

T
2

Diagram Two

off side penalties

We do not believe that aligning in an

outside shade and giving the offensive
defensive line.
tackles an easy out block. We tell our
defensive tackles that they are good enough to play form this
head up position. It now becomes our responsibility to train
them to do it.
committed by your

Base Alignments
Teaching our alignments to the front three does not take too
much time since all positions are numbered. All of our defensive linemen are placed in a four-point stance. We emphasize
feet under the body, weight forward on their fingertips, and the
foot closest to the ball placed back. Every lineman starts 18-24
inches off the ball allowing them more time to rad their keys.
As they get better at reading their keys, we move them closer to
the ball.

Diagram Three

Diagram Four

Alignment and Assignment

The two most important concepts taught to the entire defensive team are alignment and assignment. We want everybody
doing the same thing.
Defensive Line Assignments
Our nose guard is a two gap player in that he is responsible for
both A gaps as shown in diagram two. The defensive tackles in
our scheme are responsible for the C gaps while trying to con-

strict B gap on a turn-out block by the offensive tackle. This

may sound impossible, but it can be done. By constantly
demanding it and practicing it, your players will be able to perform it.
GRIDIRON

Archived Articles 8.1.3

Coach

www.coachhelp.com/gridironcoach

The Archived Articles 1998 Crystal Publications Company

We work on a few basic techniques every day to help our

linemen execute their assignments. Head reads are also done
each practice session. The techniques we stress are:
Locking out
Staying square to the line of scrimmage
Keeping the pads under the blockers pads
Separating and running to the ball

Diagram Five

T
B

The Teaching Progression:

Lock Out and Head Reads
In teaching the defensive line to lock out, we emphasize a six
inch step with the foot closest to the ball, a punch with the
palms of both hands, a lock out of the elbows and triceps, and
a rolling of the hips. Our aiming point on the punch is the
numbers of the offensive blocker. A good way to teach this to
get your defensive linemen in the blocking chutes and have
them step and punch into a hand held shield just outside the
chute. This drill forces your linemen to stay low.
Coaching Point
When doing defensive line drills always use a visual take off
command such as a ball being snapped or even moving your
foot. This forces the linemen to concentrate on ball movement
rather than listening to the quarterback. By using this technique, you should see a dramatic decrease in off side penalties
committed by your defensive line. In our drills, we use a Nerf
ball to prevent injury to the players should the ball be accidentally stepped on.
Reading the head of the offensive lineman tells us where to
go to find the football. Our defensive linemen are instructed to
read the offensive blockers hand-to-hat. This means reading
the hand of the offensive lineman in his three-point stance for a
take-off key. When the hand moves, we explode into the
blocker and immediately look to his helmet for our next move.
We will move in the direction of the head. The defensive linemen will then fight across the face of the blocker. A cardinal
rule we have is never go around a block. Going around a
blocker opens a seam for the ball carrier to run through.

Basic Head Reads

Diagram Six

Diagram Seven

Diagram Eight

Diagram Nine

Playing the base block (diagram three).

When the blocker fires straight out, step and collide with him.
Stand your ground and find the ball.
Playing the reach block (diagram four).
When the blocker fires to your outside hip, collide with him
and try to turn his shoulders by pushing his outside shoulder
while pulling his inside shoulder. Rip your inside arm across
the blockers face and run to the ball.

Playing the inside release (diagram five).

In the offensive blocker releases inside get your hands on him
and force him down the line of scrimmage. You must close
down with him to keep him off the linebacker. As you close,
look inside for the trap. Play the trap square to the line of
scrimmage and attack the trapper.

GRIDIRON
Archived Articles 8.1.3

Coach

www.coachhelp.com/gridironcoach

The Archived Articles 1998 Crystal Publications Company

Playing the double team (diagram six).

When being double teamed, we teach our nose and tackles to
stand their ground, play the base block, and feel the down
block. If they start to be driven off the line of scrimmage, they
are to drop and build a pile. Dont disrupt the linebackers path
to the ball.
Playing the pass set (diagram seven).
If the offensive lineman shows pass, our linemen are to lock on
to the blocker and execute one of their pass rush techniques
a rip or a swim. We also stress staying in their rush lances and
looking for draws and screens.
Playing the pull away (diagram eight).
On the pull across the ball, our tackles follow the offensive
blockers hip and look into the backfield for the ball carrier.
Playing the outside pull (diagram nine).
The pull away from the ball presents problems if you play a
team that uses the influence trap. What we prefer to do is to
teach the tackle to follow the pull and then adjust to the influence on a game to game basis. When playing the influence, we
get the read and take one step with it. We then immediately
close down inside.
Some of the drills we use to teach these reads are the oneon-one, three-on-one, and five-on-three line drills. Sled drills,
agility drills, and bag drills are also used to teach the defensive
line.
Don Olsen is the defensive line coach at Eastern Regional High School in
Voorhees, New Jersey. If you would like to reach Coach Olsen for additional
information, write to him at 615 Stokes Ave., Collingswood, NJ 08108. n

For a complete listing of GRIDIRON Coach archived articles, call (877) 262-2464.
Archived Articles 8.1.3

GRIDIRON

Coach

www.coachhelp.com/gridironcoach