The Island
Both players are on their back about three feet apart. It works on quickness off of the ground, finding the football and making the tackle. The defender is not off of the island, until he makes five consecutive stops without giving up a touchdown.

It’s a fun  drill, and it shows what a player will do when he is fatigued. One of our players made 15 straight stops without giving up a touchdown. Every time we do this drill, we get a crowd of about 20 or thirty people rooting the boys on.

I think you’ll love seeing how instincts take over for a player who is timid about tackling.

Angle Tackling Drill
I line up 5 players on the 10 yard line and the running back is in the end zone. The running backs goal is to score by running as fast as possible down the sideline he starts at my whistle. The players on the ten yard line have to try to tackle the running back by using the correct angle. The tacklers go one at a time starting with the closest one to the sidelines were the running back is running.

This drill I learned years ago while playing line backer in high school football. This drill improves their angle tackling by 95%. If the running back scores a touchdown then the tacklers run 2 laps around the football field. If the running back gets tackled then he runs 2 laps, it makes it more challenging.

Technorati Tags: football tackling drills, football, angle tackling

During team time you can teach fundamentals and techniques, but this way you will have seen the opponents offense, defense and special teams several hundred times before game time.  Also, you will be practicing exactly as you play–11 on 11.

During pre-season, continually drill and execute techniques until the players are sick of it.  That way, when the actual football season begins, you’ll have focused on technique and drills about as much as your opponent come game time.

Your advantage is that you will have seen and practiced against your opponent several hundred more times than your opponent will have practiced against your offense, defense and ST.

Technorati Tags: pre-season drills for football, football

Set up two rows of pop up bags (any soft obstacle will do) about 5 yards apart with a bag every 10 yards and staggered.
Get two LBs to run down the parallel rows at the same time passing a football back and forth.
They must make contact in some way with each pop up. This forces them to use their peripheral vision or have their head on a swivel to keep track of the pop ups while focusing on the ball.

It is very helpful in avoiding crack back blocks and such while in pursuit. I have them start at half speed and work up to whatever speed that they can do it at. You can also make it competitive; your players will love it.

Technorati Tags: line backer football drills, football

Simply have two players stand facing each other about 8 yards apart.  They throw the football to each other aiming for 5 spots.  The first three have the players facing each other and the throws are 1. high right, 2. high left and 3. low center…basically at 2 o’clock, 10 o’clock and 6 o’clock.  The player has thumbs together (triangle) for 2 and 10 and pinkies together for 6 o’clock.  With fingers spread and looking the ball in.  They do this for 2-3 minutes and then switch to an over the shoulder catch.  Now the receiver turns their back to the passer, slightly opened up to the shoulder the ball will come over.  The idea is to learn to catch balls thrown over the shoulder (post, corner, up) with pinkies together and fingers spread, looking the ball in. They pass back and forth to one shoulder and switch to the other shoulder so both sides are developed.  This is key…many times receivers have a strong side and a weak side and we want to develop both.

You start slow and as they learn proper hand positioning the drill can go very quickly.   You can get a lot of catches in over a few minutes.

Technorati Tags: football coaching, football

On the offensive side:
1: Running backs (line up behind QB)
2: Inside receivers (usually the smaller faster guys)
3: Wide receivers (usually the bigger guys)

On the defensive side of the ball I have the following
1: Linebackers
2: Linebackers/DB
3: DB

Then I have a line of 3 or 4 quarterbacks.

In order to get a good flow I have the QB’s let their player know what route he would like them to run. That player then lines up and runs the one on one drill against the defender. As the rep is being run the next QB and receiver combo are discussing the route the next receiver will run.

As soon as the current play is complete or incomplete the next group should be ready. The cycle carries on until everyone has a few reps and it keeps everyone involved. You should be able to run 5-6 reps a minute.

Technorati Tags: football practice drills, football

• I have 7 pylons that are within 3 to 4 yards, apart.
• The first pylon would be 3 yards ahead of the O player, D player is back approx 3 yards back from the O player.
• The next pylon would be to the right of the first on a straight line 3 to 4 yards, The next pylon would be up 4 yards from the last plyon.
• The next two are to the left on a straight line then the last in going back to the line of scrimmage.

The object of this football drill for the O player would be to touch the pylon with one hand–running outside the plyon lanes in the direction of the pylon with out getting touched by the D player who starts 3 yards behind the O player. D player must touch with both hands. If anyone runs inside the pylon is given one warning. Start again if it happens the second time that player is eliminated.

O and D player switch positions and the one with the best plus minus ratio goes on to the next round.

It shows the players agility, speed both on defense and offense. Always good to determine diamonds in the ruff.

This football drill brings up morale!

Technorati Tags: football defensive drills, football drill, football

Using a ten yard width perpendicular to the sideline, establish the out of bounds at the ten yard width and the sideline becomes the end zone.

Start with a safety just in front of the goal line and a linebacker in front of the safety.  Next, a fullback and the running back with the line established behind the RB while rotating RB to FB to LB to FS.

The FB and the HB determine run right and left and the drill starts when they are ready.  The football coach needs to make sure they are rotating in a timely fashion and when the play is finished.

Coaching up proper techniques at all levels is key, but the drill helps establish unity on the offensive and defensive side.  This is a fun football drill and it utilizes four athletes at the same time.

Technorati Tags: football tackling drills, football, football drill

Playing Field:Set 4 cones in football field configuration at 30 yards in length and 30 yards wide.

Team: Divide team into equal teams of eight.

Rules:
Offense starts on own five yard line
Offense has 35 seconds to put the football in play.
Delay of game is 3 yard penalty, holding 5 yards and clipping 10 yards.
Team has four plays to score.
On the fourth play they may declare punt and other team starts on own five yard line.

Before long your football players rotate positions on their own.

Everybody is pass eligible.  You may discover you have a hidden gem!

Technorati Tags: youth football drills, football drill, football

Place a basketball between the knees of the player. The player has to shuffle side to side between cones that have been placed 10 yards apart. This all but forces the player to keep feet from crossing. I use this with my offensive lineman in pass protection drills as well.

Here’s a quick drill for your defensive lineman:
When in a 3 point stance, raise the opposite leg (from the hand that is down, i.e. from a right handed stance, the right leg goes up) as high as you can, and when getting off the football, use that lifted leg to drive your momentum forward, while staying low, and throwing the hands–since defensive line is about two things – getting off the ball violently, and using your hands violently.

Most young players will need to go from two hands down, but high school age and older should be able to utilize this football drill effectively.

Technorati Tags: football training drills, football, football drill

Stagger 4 tackling dummy bags 10 yards apart in both width and length (one on the 10 yard line, one on the 20 yard line, another back on the 10 yard line and another on the 20 yard line). From above the pattern between bags should look like /\/ .

A [/tag]football coach[/tag] holds each bag by putting pressure down on top of the bag. Do not hold the bag but use pressure on top of the bag to provide resistance to the player. Players line up in a single file line with the first player head up on the first bag and in a 3-point stance.

The first player explodes out of his stance, knocking the dummy bag to the ground. He then sprints to the 2nd bag and executes a running tackle, taking the bag to the ground. He repeats this running tackle on the 3rd and 4th bags then sprints to the end of the line.

Coaches can move the bags slightly before contact to make the players focus on the bag and adjust their hit to keep their form when tackling.

Coaching emphasis is on players keeping their heads up when making tackle, being in a great breakdown position so that the tackle isn’t made too high, and getting their arms wrapped around the bag as they make the tackle. Most of all, the focus is on aggressive tackling at a high rate of speed.

This football drill helped turn some of our passive kids into hitters last season and some of stronger players became even more aggressive.

Technorati Tags: football tackling drills, football drill