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.

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I always hear football coaches telling kids to get their weight on the balls of their feet, but I have rarely heard the coaches tell how exactly to do that.

I attended coach’s conference and one of the speaker’s presentation was on how to get the weight on the balls of their feet in preparation for movement with no waste.

Have the player get in their stance as required by their position.  It seems to work with all positions.  When they are in their stance have them flex (roll) their knees inward, just a short flex is needed, usually not more than 1/2 inch.  Their weight rolls over to the balls of their feet automatically.  Try it, so easy I was shocked.

This was another football coaching tip for footwork for linemen.

To make sure lineman pick up their feet when making their first step you can place a 2 by 4 (I prefer those Fun noodles you use in the pool–they’re softer) in front or to the side of the players foot.  At the whistle the player’s first step must clear the board.  Set the board so that clearing it amounts to the initial 6″ step most coaches teach.  You can set it for whatever distance.  If the player’s foot bumps the board, he’s not lifting his feet to get the power behind it.  If he steps on the board his step is not long enough.  If the heel of his foot clears the board by too much when it lands, he’s taken too big a step.  You can place the board in front of the foot to practice a drive step forward, at a slant to practice the first step for a down or reach block, or to the side to practice pulling.

Technorati Tags: youth football, football coaching, football coach, football

To help develop your quickness, work on foot speed drills such as jumping rope, doing defensive slides, running sprints, running stadium stairs, and doing cone drills.

Here are some details on the football  drills you can do.
- Jumping rope: start off with a good warmup (30 to 45 seconds of jumping rope at a slow pace). Then do a series of 30 to 45 second repetitions where you jump with both feet, alternate from one foot to the other, and then jump on one foot or the other for the entire repetition.
- Defensive slides: you’ll work on these during practice with your football team, but you can also do these on your own. Start on the baseline at one corner of the court and slide to the middle of the lane, then switch directions and slide back to the sideline, continuing all the way up the court to the opposite baseline.
- Running sprints: go to a track and warm up with a lap or two of easy running. Then go onto the grass of the football field and run a series of sprints. Start off with some shorter sprints (20 to 30 yards), and work your way up to longer sprints (40 to 50 yards).
- Stadium stairs: running stadium stairs is a great way to get in shape and work on your agility. Start off with a good warm up, then run one set of stadium stairs stepping on each step, then one set where you kick your knees up high, one set where you put both feet on each step, one set where you run up stepping on every other step, and finally one set where you jump on each step with two feet.
- Cone drills: cone drills involve putting a cone (or some other object) on the court (or grassy field) and doing various sprint and slide movements from cone to cone. For example, place four cones about 10 yards from each other, with one cone in the center of the four. Slide from the center out to one cone, then back to the center, then out to the next cone and back to the center, continuing until you’ve slid out to each of the cones and back to the middle. Work on increasing your speed out and back to the cones.

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Place a DB in position on each hash mark about 8 yds deep in solid stance and ready to back pedal. At slap of the football have DB’s back pedal and then have the quarterback  to throw ball to one side or the other toward the sideline.

The DB who has the ball coming his way will jump up and tip the ball as high as he can like a set for volleyball.
The other DB breaks when the ball is thrown to get over to the tip.  The football coaching tip is to get the catching DB to jump and go up and get the ball and then have them yell interception or what ever your call out is and run back.

This football drill works well during a competition of your defensive backs and  teaches good break habits.

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At this level, you may experience linemen standing up before making a block. This is a particular problem on run plays but also impairs pass blocking.

We use a football drill to correct this. We have players get in the wrestling position (on all 4s) and then on the snap count, reach forward to hit a blocking pad with their hands while their knees remain stationary.

This drill has worked wonders for our team. The players get used to the feel of making contact in a low position and then in live situations have much greater strength and control over their opponent.

A similar football drill can be used for backs who run straight up. This helps them get used to making low contact with their body when carrying the ball.

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Get two cones and set them 5 yards apart.
Have one offensive lineman and one defensive lineman face each other with about two feet of open space between them.
Line Coach stands behind the offensive linemen facing the defensive linemen.
Line coach blows the whistle and directs the D linemen in any direction within the cones.
O Linemen have to mirror the D Line never allowing the D linemen to get over to one side without being covered.

We also do arm extension drills with our offensive and defensive linemen by making them go to their knees and then hit the sled with their arms.  It forces them to learn to use their arms and keep separation on defensive and punch on offense. By being on their knees they have to use their upper body.

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Ends fire off the line drives through TE and tackles dummy waist high and wraps with both arms.( from right side and left side )

Outside LB blitz and tackles dummy waist high and wraps with both arms. (from right side and left side )

CB Blitz and tackles dummy waist high and wraps with both arms.(from right side and left side )

Try this football coaching tip for linebackers who need to get through the “wash” and make a tackle.  I have several stand up dummies that I place about a yard a part on both sides of the football.

There is a running back who runs to one side or the other and the linebacker must fight his way through the bags, relocate the running back (hopefully he never lost sight), then break down and make the tackle.

I stress good angles and breaking down once you’ve reached the ball carrier.  All too often I see kids fly right by a tackle looking for the big hit instead of securing the tackle.  It’s something we stress every day.

Technorati Tags: football tackling drills, football drill, backfield tackling, football coaching, football

This works great for older kids as well as younger.   Get a 2″x12″ – 8 ft. long.  Place it on the ground longways.  Put a line of kids at one end of the “plank”(defensive linemen) and another line at the other end of the “plank”(offensive linemen).   Make a mark at the middle of the plank with a can of paint.    Have the kids go 1 on 1 blocking the defensive player.  The painted line is the line of scrimmage.

This drill will teach the offensive line to keep a wide stance by staying off of the board. Excellent fundamental football blocking drill.

Another thing we are using is the medicine ball to create drive and lift. Using an appropriate size medicine ball the players squat keeping their hips down, their chest up, and they pick up the ball and drive it straight up from their feet.  They should create enough torque that their feet leave the ground on the lift although you are not teaching them to jump. This builds all the needed muscles needed to make a hit.

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D-line positioned in front of the O-line. I select one O-line to be in the quarterback position. He cannot move or ran away, has to stay in the pocket. That gives the other football players the feeling of the QB and help them understand that they need to keep the pocket as much as they can without quitting.

If an O-lineman let a D-lineman pass through and break the pocket, that O-lineman takes the position of the QB. One by one all O-lineman have to take the QB spot to get the feeling.

Another thing I like to do is scrimmage my offense and defense against each other.  Then I switch it around and let them play opposite teams.

This shows them that the neither the offense or defense is better that the other; and, that both are necessary in order to be successful.  Not to mention, it can get interesting when I let them call their own football plays.

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We play tug of war during football practice but differently than the usual way. We have two harnesses for the parachute system and we have added webbing to make it stronger. The two lineman put on the harnesses and are tied together with a four foot rope between them. Each player gets in a 3 point stance and fires out on the whistle. The player who pulls the other pass the line to gain, which we set at 5 yds in front of each player, wins and moves to the next round.

This teaches the players to stay low and drive forward on an angle to be able to pull the man behind to the line to gain. This football activity has helped our offense to fire down field and knock the opposing lineman off the ball, while helping our defensive front to get into the offenses backfield to attack the ball carriers and blockers.

Technorati Tags: football coaching tips, football drill, lineman, football practice, football