What follows is a SAMPLE from the DRILL MENU for the summer. Most of these drills are, of course, also used in the spring and fall but these are what the guys get for their summer work wherever they are. For anything with a sled, they can configure other inanimate objects if possible or use workout partners to provide resistance.
There are certain areas that we want to focus on in the summer (like the winter) which we don’t get a chance to highlight during the spring and fall. These are complementary to the work they are doing with the summer strength and conditioning program and “normal” football drills but imperative nonetheless for effective defensive line development.
HAND STRENGTH (developing ability to grab CLOTH upon acquiring TARGET)
-Weight on a rope twist up and down.
-Towel tug of wars with a partner.
-Rice bucket grabs.
-Pull-up bar hangs.
OVERALL FLEXIBILITY
-We are hopeful that every defensive lineman will find a way to do YOGA once a week in the summer.
-Whenever possible, we are emphasizing partner stretching.
HIP FLEXIBILITY
-Our strength staff has developed a specific hip flexibility program for our players. SEE HERE: TKH HIP and LOWBACK PROGRAM
FOOT SPEED (not the running fast kind)
-All of the defensive linemen are required to have a jump rope. Standard junior high P.E./Rocky routine with the idea being to do the jump rope exercises between sets of weights.
STANCE and PAD LEVEL = Bear Crawls
-The linear warm-up drills of takeoffs and backpedals need to be done in a four-point bear crawl. The lateral movement development exercises done in the “speed ladders’ need to be done in a four-point bear crawl as well. Ignore exercises that do not translate as necessary.
Standard drills follow our teaching progression:
STANCE
-This is an underdeveloped skill in the summer and is often passed over to get to more “intense” work. We want our guys to be as comfortable in their stance as they are in anything else because great defensive line play is dependent on dominant get off and there is no get off without stance. Therefore, for all of our stance types, EVERYDAY, we want the D-LINE to get in a great stance and then hold it there for at least 30 seconds for as many reps as they have time for.
GET OFF
-For all of our stances and techniques, we will work five-yard get offs. We use a “zero step” get off in which we “jump” out of our stance and lead with our hands. We believe that our hands follow our eyes and feet follow our hands. These can and should be done as often as possible. A critical change-up is to do get-off and redirects with a workout partner. This means within the five yards the workout partner (coach) will give a direction for the player to get flat down the line on a 90 degree angle and burst for five yards.
TARGET + CLOTH
-Eye discipline towards the target is imperative. We teach two targets for our eyes: double trap or single trap. A double trap target should translate to double breastplate hand placement and a single trap target should translate to near breast and near “cuff” (the upper part of the arm where the bicep and tricep go into the shoulder joint and armpit). As you can imagine, simulating these targets can be done in many ways and is most beneficially done with a sled.
In addition, we would like to work on target from both a six-point, two-point, three-point, and four-point stance. If we were to pick just one to do everyday, it would be six-point prone explosions to target with a grip (cloth) and strain. This is the six point drill that everyone and you already do but what we have gone to is emphasizing that we don’t want the hips rolled all the way through to finish on the ground. Rather, instead we want to strain our hand grip (cloth) on target and strain the sled/workout partner/offensive lineman away from us to keep separation.
These are just a few of the things we are emphasizing and drilling in the summer. Hope they are helpful as you progress through this most critical time of the year.