Drill Type:   Pass Rush Drill

Purpose

In this pass rush drill, we simulate ball movement without using the offensive line or each other, instead performing a rush against a short pop-up dummy.   This drill ties everything together: great take-offs, the slap, the rip, the swim, the dip in the hip, and the acceleration to the quarterback.

Set Up

  • Set up pop-up dummies as shown in the diagram below (5th dummy is the quarterback).
  • Position your 4 pass rush players behind the line of dummies.
  • The coach will snap the football.

Execution

  1. The players will take off, use whatever move they happen to be working on against the offensive blocker
  2. When they come off of the blocker, they should accelerate and finish the sack by spreading through and hitting the quarterback.
  3. If a back sees a lineman go inside a tackle or an end, he knows the other one’s going to wrap around. He’s going to sit in there and be ready to block if one of the offensive linemen get picked off.   The only way you can work on this is with the dummies.
  4. On the ball movement, the rusher will have great take-off and as he defeats his man, there will be the back waiting that he’s got to be aware of.
  5. You want your players to be aware that when they come clean in the pass rush, sometimes there’s going to be another blocker. In some situations, it could be another offensive lineman that’s kicked back off the line of scrimmage to help.

Coaching Tips

  • If you had your entire defensive line, you would simulate these blockers, for example, as the one on the right off the line of scrimmage is a right tackle, the next one’s a right guard tight to the line of scrimmage, the left guard tight to the line of scrimmage, and the left tackle set back off the line like they do.