I
t is an honor to speak at the American
Football Coaches Association Convention.
As a defensive staff, we are proud to repre-
sent Coach Nick Saban and the LSU football
program.
I want to talk with you about our defensive
philosophy, our 2002 Fall Camp Objectives
we set for our defense and, finally, how we
prepare each week for an opponent from a
practice and staff preparation standpoint.
Each spring and fall, we meet with our
players and discuss with them our defen-
sive philosophy. We believe it is important
for our kids to understand what we, as a
staff, think is important.
LSU Tigers Defensive Philosophy
1. Stop the run — We will mix fronts,
movement and coverages in order to con-
fuse and pressure the offense.
2. In all situations, defend the inside or
middle of the field first.
vs. Run — We will not allow the ball to
be run inside — Force ball outside!
vs. Pass — We will not allow the ball to
be thrown deep down the middle — Force
quarterback to throw short or outside!
3. Trademark of LSU defense:
Aggressiveness — Physical toughness.
• Hustle and pursuit.
• Sure and hard tacklers.
• Eliminate mental errors — Mental
toughness.
• Strong at the line of scrimmage.
• Discipline — No foolish penalties.
• Eliminate big plays and cause
turnovers (NFL stat).
4. Efficiency in red zone and goal line.
• Make offense kick field goals.
5. Adaptability to any situation — Have
great communications and teamwork.
• Sudden change — Opportunity for
greatness.
• Third down.
• No huddle.
• Two minute.
• Personnel changes.
6. Turnovers
• Take the ball from opponent’s offense.
• Set up good field position.
• Score on defense.
7. Play for 60 minutes — Moment of truth
•Game of momentum, like a pendulum
— it will always come back to us.
Defense Wins Championships
Entering the 2002 season, we discussed
our areas of concern, areas we needed to
improve and the opponents we were facing
this season. We wanted to outline specific
goals for our players to understand what we
needed to accomplish in our Fall Camp.
LS U’ s
Defensive
Defensive Camp Objectives
1. Become a physically dominating
defense.
a. Being physical is a state of mind.
b. Pursuing the ball — hustle is a habit. P h il os op hy
c. Punishing the ball carrier.
d. Finish plays.
2. Mental toughness.
a. Prevent lack of focus at practice/game
(let down).
b. Eliminate mental mistakes/errors.
c. Improve yourself at every meeting
and practice.
3. Emphasize as a group.
a. Stop run and create turnovers.
b. Third down (Sense of urgency to
get off the field).
c. Red area (Keep them out of end
zone).
d. Eliminate big plays.
4. Take the next step — Be respected as
a dominating defense!
Fourth Quarter Program> Spring
Practice> Summer Workouts> ???
Throughout the season, we plan and pre-
pare the same for each game. We believe if
our kids understand and believe in the rou-
tine we have, we will receive better results.
Sunday is our players’day off. As a staff,
we grade Saturday’s game and usually fin-
ish at 2 p.m. for a full staff meeting to dis-
cuss the previous game. We start on the
next opponent after the meeting. Each
coach on our staff has certain phases of
the game they are responsible for:
Charlie Harbison, Defensive Back
Coach: Passing game — all phases (Red
area, Third Down, First Down, Second Down).
Lance Thompson, Defensive Line
Coach: Short yardage and goal line, pass
rush plan.
Kirk Doll, Linebackers Coach: Running
game, shifts and motion adjustments.
We start on our area of responsibilities
and work on that to prepare for Monday’s
practice and the rest of the week.
Here is an outline for our game week from
a practice and staff preparation standpoint::
Monday — Shells
Staff Preparation: scouting report, base
runs, base pass, short yardage and goal line.
Practice: Eighteen minutes of team,
seven minutes of red-area skeleton, seven
minutes of force drill (play action passes),
seven minutes of seven-on-seven.
Monday night staff: Discuss first and 10,
second down.
Tuesday — Pads
Practice: Nine-on-seven, seven-on-
seven, team vs. scouts (first/10, second
down, short yardage and goal line); all peri-
ods are vs. scouts and our offense.
Tuesday night staff: Discuss third down,
red area, pressure and pass rush plan.
Wednesday — Pads
Practice: Nine-on-seven, seven-on-
seven, team vs. scouts (review, third down,
red area); all periods are vs. scouts and our
offense.
Wednesday night staff: Off — recruiting
calls.
Thursday — Shells
Staff Preparation: Watch Wednesday
practice tape, two minute and two-point
plays.
Practice: Seven-on-seven, move field,
red area, two minute vs. our offense.
Friday
Staff Preparation: Watch Thursday
practice tape.
• Practice: Walk thru.
• Game Week Checklist.
• Base calls vs. Personnel groupings
• Run Game Plan: Fronts, movements,
stems and change-ups.
• Pass Game Plan — coverages,
zone/man, shifts and motion adjustments.
• Pass Rush Game Plan vs. Personnel.
• Short Yardage and Goal line (quarter-
back sneak plan).
• How will we give them bad plays in all
situations vs. all personnel groups (pres-
sure package).
• Red Area Plan
• Third Down Plan/Fourth Down Plan
• Two Minute (before half, end of game).
• Two-Point Plays
• Get the ball back defense, end of game.
• Trick plays
• Have we repped what hurts us and
what has hurt us this year?
Lance Thompson, Defensive Line
Defensive Line Play
I appreciate the opportunity to speak at
the AFCA Convention and share ideas on
the fundamentals of Defensive Line play.
We are fortunate at LSU to work for a head
coach that understands the importance of
playing great defense. Coach Saban pro-
vides an environment for us to be success-
ful as a staff, in a scheme that maximizes
the potential of our players.
Today I am going to talk on defensive
line fundamentals. To start, I want to just
share my basic philosophy of front play and
set the stage for how we want our linemen
geared mentally.
Philosophy
“Football is a line of scrimmage game,
the game is won or lost in the trenches.”
Defensive line is the most physically
demanding position to play in football. The
men who play D-Line understand that the
outcome of each contest is a direct result of
their performance. You must prepare your
body and mind to play every snap to the
best of your ability.
Playing defensive line entails having the
ability to control and dominate the line of
scrimmage. Necessary for success is a very
aggressive attitude in controlling the run game
with the relentless ability to rush the quarter-
back on passing plays. Through a great atti-
tude towards improvement in practice and
constant repetition of techniques, you will gain
the confidence in your ability to excel as a
defensive lineman.
Quickness of your attack with eyes and
hand speed, while developing the ability to
react to the block will be stressed in all pro-
gression of individual techniques. Individual
techniques will be kept to a minimum so prop-
er execution and master of techniques can
take place.
Mental mistakes will not be tolerated.
Defensive scheme will give us enough
latitude to handle physical problems.
Eliminate mistakes in alignment, know
your defensive assignments, game plan
and what you must do to defeat your
opponent.
• Play Hard
• Play Physical
• Play Smart
Defensive Line Play Objectives
I. Be physical (body)
“Great players dominate physically”
II. Discipline (mind)
Do everything right — all of the time
III. Be a team player (attitude)
Work to be the best, know your role
Defensive Line:
Techniques & Fundamentals
Sound Techniques
1. Eyes and hand speed (eyes in your gap).
2. Use of hands—Quickness, Explosion
and separation.
3. Footwork (quickness and redirection).
4. Body position and control (leverage
and strength).
5. Recognition and awareness (shock,
shed and tackle).
6. Be a good tackler (at line of scrim-
mage and in open field).
Fundamentals
1. Pre-snap situation
2. Stance and alignment
3. Take-off
4. Hands: Placement, stab and shed.
5. Facemask under facemask (low man
wins).
6. Effort/Desire
Fundamentals are the foundation for you
to become a great defensive lineman. These
areas must become habit and are areas we
will work on every snap, every day.
1. Pre-snap Situation: (Awareness)
Each opponent will have tendencies that
you will be made aware (ex.: scouting report,
tip sheets, video, etc.). To be the best player
you can be, you need to have an awareness
of the following pre-snap situations:
a. Time/score of game (two minute,
winning, losing)
b. Tempo of offense (normal, no hud-
dle, quick huddle)
c. Down and Distance, Field position
d. Personnel, Formation, Backfield
sets, Shifts or Motions
e. Offensive line—splits, levels
f. Defense called & keys
2. Stance and Alignment
a. Stance
• Three-point, flat back, weight distrib-
uted, up foot should be flat.
• Feet should be shoulder width or wider,
with a stagger that will allow you to power
step on the snap; shoulders will be square to
line of scrimmage with face behind down
hand, with down hand crowding the ball.
• Eyes/head should be up in bull-like
position (eyes on keys).
•Your body should be coiled and in posi-
tion to explode from your power angles:
ankles, knees & hips.
• Off arm — in a loaded position, ready
to stab.
b. Alignment
Lateral: determined by defense called
and the splits of the offensive line.
Vertical: get all of the ball possible with-
out being in neutral zone; your hand should
be in front on your hat; “crowd the ball”;
keep hands out of neutral zone.
3. Take-off: (this is the most critical factor to
your success).
a. Tackles
• Key V of neck, of man aligned on —
see the ball with your peripheral vision; on
movement, you are exploding thru your
man, control your gap and 1/2 of next gap.
When your key moves, mash your foot
into the ground hard. This will release your
hips and help you stay low. Your steps
should be quick, short & explosive that will
get you into your man/gap in a good lever-
age position. Do not step out of your stance,
this will cause you to get high. (Release your
hips first.) We must develop quickness in
our takeoff. This allows us to explode on
people. Stay low — low man wins!
4. Hands
• Your take-off will provide you the
opportunity to have a successful snap, but
your hands (eyes) will take advantage &
assure your success.
• The speed, placement & stab are the
three critical areas that will allow you to
shock and shed the blocker.
• Your hands must move from the
stance to the man in an explosive and con-
trolled manner.
• Slow hands will allow the blocker to
control you.
a. Speed
• On take-off, bring your hands up from
your stance; do not coil, explode from your
stance.
b. Placement
• On take-off, your gap hand should go
to shoulder of blocker, the shade hand will
go to the chest of the blocker; your eyes
and hands must work together to allow
proper placement.
c. Punch
• Your target area to stab is thru the
blocker; from your stance you should uncoil
& explode with your hands thru the man; try
to penetrate his body with your stab; your
stab will be with your thumbs up and fin-
gers out and elbows in.
• The force of the stab should come
thru your palms.
• From your stance, keep elbows in, as
you take off, you want to stab & lockout
(grab cloth); the lockout is critical in allow-
ing you to shed the block & go to the ball.
5. Leverage
• Facemask under facemask, eyes in
the throat.
• Football is a simple game. The low
man will win. In your stance, take-off &
hands placement, you should be in a good
leverage position that will allow you to :
a. Stop progress of blocker.
b. Shock & shed blocker.
6. Shrug — Shed
• Once we have controlled the block, we
want to find the ball.
• Control your area until the ball reach-
es a point of no return.
• Now it is time to shrug & shed.
a. Two-hand Shrug.
• Must have control (grab cloth).
• Find ball — shrug opposite, use the
offensive line’s force and position against
them.
• Do not leave a block, shrug; most
used on direct runs.
b. Press & Rip
• Most used on flow runs.
• When offensive line steps flat, he has
no power; attack the block, press & run thru
your key; press with the front side arm to open
the door, then rip with the backside arm and
leg; run thru the front side pad of the blocker.
• Stay in leverage position, do not rise
to rip.
7. Effort/Desire
• Rarely will you win on your initial
effort. It is the second effort & your desire to
win that allows you to make a play.
• Give great effort from snap to the
“echo of the whistle,” sprint to the ball — no
exceptions, no excuses!
• If you hit the ground, your head should
snap up & your body should pop back to your
feet; where your head goes, your body goes.
• Fundamentals will be stressed on
every snap! These are essential to you
becoming a good player. Treat them like
they are the law.
Kirk Doll, Asst. Head Coach/Linebackers
It has been a great honor to work with
Coach Saban and the defensive staff this
year. I have learned a great deal from all of
them. Our staff at LSU stresses fundamen-
tals throughout the spring and fall prac-
tices. Each work day we work on the ABC’s
of football. The different drills rotate to spe-
cific situations and needs but emphasize
blow delivery, defeating blocks, tackling,
agility and footwork. This discussion will
focus on six drills we use to teach blow
delivery and defeating blocks. I hope it will
be of interest to you.
The first drill is the six point explosion
drill. The drill’s purpose is to improve
hand placement and quickness on a
blocker.
The drill is set up with the linebacker in a
six point position. The blocker is one yard
away from the linebacker in a three point
stance. On the coach’s command, the blocker
comes off at the linebacker two hard steps.
The linebacker, upon movement,
explodes out of stance at the blocker with
his hands attacking the blocker’s breast
plate. The linebacker should form a cup
with his hands on the blocker’s numbers.
Thumbs should be up with hands inside
blocker’s. The linebacker’s hands should
be above his eyes on contact. The hands
above eyes insures that the linebacker led
with aggressive hands and his pads out in
front. This drill continues down the line as
the coach makes corrections as he goes
(Diagram 1).
Diagram 1
The second drill is used for blow deliv-
ery and defeating blocks on the one-man
sled. The drill is set up with linebacker four
to five yards from the sled. The linebacker
is offset on outside tip of sled. On coach’s
command, the linebacker shuffles into sled
attacking, separating and shedding. Drill
footwork and attack from both sides.
The drill purpose is for the linebacker to
work on his athletic position as he attacks
down hill on the sled. He is moving and attack-
ing the sled with the blow delivery fundamen-
tals taught in the six point explosion drill. The
linebacker wants to strike with force, separa-
tion by hand placement, pads out and running
feet upon contact. Emphasis is upon contact
for his feet to be instantly restarting securing
separation and then on the whistle rip off the
sled in football position (Diagram 2)
Diagram 2
 The third drill is the triangle drill. The
purpose of this drill is for the linebacker to
aggressively attack blockers in a football
position from a 45-degree angle — sepa-
rate, stress and shed.
The drill is setup with two offensive
blockers five yards from each other. The
linebacker is five yards in depth away from
the blockers mid-pointing the two. The drill
begins on the coach’s command with play-
ers buzzing their feet. The coach points to
blocker one or two. That blocker attacks the
linebacker. Upon recognition, the line-
backer attacks the blocker with near leg
and shoulder in proper football position.
After contact and separation, both players
return to original alignment and drill is
repeated as needed (Diagram 3).
Diagram 3
The fourth drill is the shed drill. The
purpose of the shed drill is to work on the
linebackers footwork and attacking a
blocker from the football position while
separating from the blocker and executing
from tackle.
The drill is setup with three agile bags
five yards apart. The blocker and line-
backer face each other with five yards of
separation. On command, the blocker shuf-
fles twice and enters between bag one and
two to block the linebacker entering. The
linebacker, upon movement by the blocker,
shuffles and attacks the blocker.
The linebacker separates and both play-
ers retreat back. They shuffle twice and
enter the next area. The linebacker attacks
and separates. Both players retreat and re-
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enter outside the third bag. The linebacker
mirrors the path of the blocker (now the ball
carrier), attacks inside-out path and exe-
cutes a form tackle (Diagram 4).
Diagram 4
The fifth drill is the zone drill. The pur-
pose of this drill is to teach proper footwork
and hand placement, football position to
defeat and separate from blocker and form
tackle the running back.
The drill is setup with blocker in three point
stance four to five yards from the linebacker.
The running back is behind the blocker, five to
seven yards deep, pending tempo of the drill.
On command, the blocker zone blocks and
running back runs at a 45 degree angle. The
linebacker shuffles in a football position as the
running back goes at speed to insure line-
backer defeats stresses and separates block-
er, maintaining gap control.
The runningback then works toward the
line of scrimmage as the linebacker exe-
cutes form tackle. Linebacker must see
movement direction of running back and
offensive line. He must leverage the block-
er with proper hand placement with his
pads out in front of toes. This drill can also
be set up with two linebackers and two
blockers simulating zone flow to and cut off
scoop away (Diagram 5).
The final drill used at LSU for blow deliv-
ery and defeating blocks is the Cut Drill.
The purpose of the drill is to teach the line-
backer how to defeat a low block and then
execute form tackle in football position.
The drill is setup with the blocker in a six
point stance aligned at a 45 degree angle.
Diagram 5
The linebacker is in a two-point stance with
head up on blocker in a football position.
On command, the blocker crabs to block
the linebacker’s outside leg.
The runningback shuffles on movement
laterally and goes at speed where the line-
backer must defeat the blocker first, main-
taining football position with leverage to
execute form tackling on the running back.
The linebacker must keep vision on block-
er first. He flattens ear hole of helmet with
directional hand and off hand is placed on
rib cage of blocker. This should flatten out
blocker’s force and keep linebacker outside
leg force. As linebacker defeats block, run-
ning back goes toward line of scrimmage
and the linebacker executes form tackle
(Diagram 6).
Diagram 6
I hope that these drills will be of some
use to your linebackers. If you have any
questions or need clarification, please feel
free to get in touch.
I want to thank the AFCA and Coach
Teaff, not only for this opportunity but for all
of their tireless hours and dedication to pro-
mote the greatest game — football!