This first football drill is for defensive backs:

Starting at the top left corner
1.Begin by sprinting to top right corner
2.Back peddle down to lower right corner
3.Shuffle to the lower left corner
4. Sprint back up to top left corner
5.Sprint diagonally to lower right corner
6.Repeat drill 3 times

Note: You can use cones and space them 7 yards apart across the top and 5 yards apart along the side.

The second drill is aimed on improving our RB to WR exchange for reverses.

I break my team into 2 teams.  Each team will get into two lines spaced about 15 yards apart and facing each other with 2 or 3 kids in each line.  One player runs at the other and they work on exchanging the football cleanly.  I will also put a string on the ground to assure proper spacing so that they don’t run into each other.

The football team that goes through a cycle with no drops and clean hand-offs wins.

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Have the O-line stand as they would for a normal double tight end formation.  On the snap count, vary the snap count. Have them step forward with the play side foot, throw their hands forward (like going into the D-lines middle chest) and yell “Hieee Yaah”, just like a Kung Fu Warrior, Ninja Turtle…you get the picture.  The kids love it and this really teaches them to fire off.  I have them go home and practice this too. Some kids really had fun hiding around hallway corners and firing off at their parents with a “Hieee Yaah”!  It scared a few Moms and Dads along the way.

For pain and injury I will do a short demonstration the first day in full pads.  I huddle the team and tell them that this was the first day as real football players; full pads.  They loved hearing this.  I then tell them that there is difference between “pain” and “injury” in football.  I  take the back of my hand and hit it fairly hard an a players helmet…thump.  Of course the player felt nothing, but my hand would normally show a red mark or slight bruise. “…Gentlemen, my hand hurts, it is painful, but I not injured..”  There would be a few ooohs and aaahs.  I told them that the football coaches will take care of them when they get injured, but that pain is part of football. We as Coaches will help them work through pain, but to have confidence that they weren’t injured just because it hurt.  The kids loved it.

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1. Circle your team.  If you have more than thirty make two circles.

2.  In the center of the circle there are 3 flat cones or anything that make up a target.

3.  Two players stand about 3 yards from the target.

4.  One player with the football tries to get in the target and the other tries to prevent him.  The defender pushes, punches, and screens the ball carrier all the while everyone is screaming, growling, hooting and hollering.  The ball carrier tries by hook or crook to get the ball in the target.

5   Everyone gets a turn and the team, through cheering, decides who the finalist are.

We have found this football drill convinces our players to be tenacious and resourceful.

It need not be pretty.  With toughness and conviction we can do it.  The hooting and hollering bring out the fake till you make it enthusiasm. That is what we find carries over to practice.

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Set up 3 cones.  2 cones are straight across from each other about 7 yards apart.  One is for the defense person (linebacker) and the other is for the offense running back.  The third cone is spread out about 15 yards towards the sideline right in the middle of the other two cones.  Makes a long triangle.

The quarterback sets up between the two cones and hikes the ball and pitches it back to the running back. The running back’s goal is to make it around the cone and head down field without getting caught. The linebacker starts out on his hands and knees and when the football is hiked races to the cone, breakdown and grabs the flag of the running back.

The first week we had one boy being able to pull flags at the point of attack.  Now the boys are catching the running backs flags about 60% of the time.  This has really helped us be able to stop running plays that were eating us up at the beginning of the season.

Linebackers start on their hands and knees because they were anticipating the pitch and getting there too quickly.  The position makes it more of a challenge.

This has also been good at teaching pursuit of the runner and getting the right angle.  Some boys used to try and cut straight to the running back and would end up getting beat.  As soon as they learned to race them to a point in space like the cone they started catching up to the running backs.

This has been good for running the ball as well.  First they have to catch a pitch out and not a hand-off.  Second they are trying to get to the corner of the defense and run to the end zone.  They are able to put a move on a pursuing defensive person and get away.

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Coaching the offensive line can be a very difficult thing to coach since many youth want to be the next Walter Payton.  As a former offensive lineman and a running back I can tell you playing in the trenches was more rewarding than scoring touchdowns.  The reason being is this simple offensive lineman blocking rule: GAP-ON-LINEBACKER.  Applying this rule was fun and I never made a blocking mistake, which was even better.

There are several variations to this rule, but I’ve found that this variation  is very easy to understand and very easy to teach.  Remember nothing will work unless you have repetition with your playbook and rules – football practice without constant repetition will yield an unsuccessful season.

Offensive Lineman Blocking Rule: ‘GAP-ON-LINEBACKER’

GAP: (1st Level) Refers to the inside area for the offensive lineman, which is the most important area to block.  When teaching young athletes this rule they often want to block the man over them even when there is a man in their gap, but if you apply the rule ‘ON’ which is the second part of the rule; they shouldn’t get confused.

ON: (2nd Level) Refers to the man directly over you, pretty easy.

LINEBACKER: (3rd Level) If there is no man in your ‘GAP’ (inside area), or directly over you ‘ON’, than the lineman proceeds down field and blocks a linebacker.

Rule Changes:
For instance, when a Guard or Tackle is pulling to lead block for a trap, sweep, counter, bootleg, passing, etc. this rule obviously does not apply to them, but for the rest of the line it would.

However, 90% of the plays you run at the Pop-Warner or High School level applies, enjoy!

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Flag Tag -
I have 9 kids on my football team so we set up about a 20 yard by 20 yard square area.
Rules:
If anyone pulls your flag you are out.
If anyone goes out of bounds (outside the 20 x 20 grid) you are out.
2 boys are “it” and they try and grab and get as many people out in 1 minute as they can or down to the last two.
The last two standing are then “it” for the next round. We typically do about 3 rounds so that different boys get a chance.

This football drill teaches grabbing flags and team work to get to the last two flags.  I have coached the boys that they can work better as a team of two to grab a flag than running independently after a single boy.

We have also done it as a free for all the first time through where anyone can grab anyones flag and the last two standing start the next round.  The kids are always asking when are we going to play Flag Tag.

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I’ve pushed, pulled, bumped, and nudged them in their stances only to find them leveled on the line. So I decided to have them get in their stance 3 or 4 point and put my hand on their helmet. As they look up from their stance at me I can see first hand how they go.

If they have to put a foot back or side shift their feet or they stand right up I can just push them on their butts. But then I tell them why and what they did. I can have them think about it and adjust before the football moves and our blocking and defensive launching forward has greatly improved.

The idea is they need to be immediately moving forward with my hand on their helmet or any backwards movement or sideways ends with them on their butt.

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I make them look at the football as they freeze it and tell me what half of the football is up or toward them.  If the laces or words are toward them they call out “words.”  If the opposite side or blank side of the ball is toward them they call out “blanks.”

I like to start the year with this for most of the football drills we do and I will let them stop if they get in a good habit of “freezing” the ball and tucking it away properly.  If they relapse into lazy habits, I make them call it out again.

Small thing but seems to really help with their concentration and forming good habits.

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To teach our boys how to fire off of the offensive line and hit low to drive their opponents back, we use a 9 foot jump rope, suspended between 2 coaches, starting at their chest height. 2 lines on each side of the rope are formed, next to each other, and facing the rope inside of the football coaches.

The first 2 players on each side approach the line of scrimmage and face off in a sumo drill of lock and drive. After an exchange, the coaches blow the whistle and each player rotates to the back of their opponent’s line. After each full round of exchanges the rope is lowered and the players must complete the football drill without their helmets touching the rope.

We call this football drill the SUMO LIMBO–”how low can you go.”

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• Start on one sideline.
• Divide your team into several lines (depending upon team numbers) with equal number of players/line.
• The first group will run the width of the football field starting on a called out number using our cadence.
• Every line will go through the same type of run with the player in the group who finishes first moving up a group and the last finisher dropping down a group.

If any person jumps or slow out off the ball, that group will do pushups before they return on the run back.

Depending upon your conditioning goal, this may be 10 to 20 sprints w/competition  and a short rest between.   We try to teach snap discipline along with acceleration in a competitive format.  Of course the first group can only have a person move down.

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