2 Youth Football Drills to Teach Aggressiveness – Gap Attacker Drill
Here are two youth football drills to teach aggressiveness; the Gap Attacker Drill and the Sumo Circle Wrestling Drill. Plus a few more links to other youth football aggression drills. I’ve been using the Sumo Drill for years and maybe one of my favorite youth football aggression drills.
The Gap Attacker is new youth football drill to me. I was having lunch with my long time coaching buddy of mine; Coach Whit. He was very excited about this new drill from Coach Rhett to get players more aggressive on Defense. It was like Coach Whit found the Holy Grail. He showed me a few videos and explained the drill to me. It looks pretty simple to implement to me and interesting, especially if it works like he describes. We are all looking for “That One Drill” that will turn our players into more aggressive football players.
Since Coach Whit was so excited, in my next practice, I ran a group of 7th graders through the Gap Attacker Drill. They liked it and I saw many possibilities with the drill. So I called Coach Rhett to get more detail about his Aggression Drill. He also was very excited about his Gap Attacker Drill.
Gap Attacker Aggressiveness Drill
Purpose: Teach Aggression for young youth football players both on Offense and Defense. Also teach Defensive Gap Attack and rush along with Offensive blocking against a hard Gap Attacker / Rusher and Mirror Blocking.
Set up: Set up 2 Cones just wider than your two blockers. Then set up another 2 cones just about a yard or two wider than the first two cones. See Diagram. A coach should hold a blocking shield or tackling dummy about 5 to 7 yards away.
Drill Process: Make sure to put equal size, experience and skill players together on the drill to build confidence. You want small on small and big on big etc. One to three coaches can run the drill. You may want to run two pods; 1 for rookies and 1 for experienced players.
The Defender will try to beat the double team block in the first gap. If unable to penetrate, the Defender can then try to spin or run through the outside gaps after trying to defeat the double team in the main gap. Once the Blockers are beat the Defender will run and tackle the bag. Play until whistle blown. Never give up in this youth football drills to teach aggressiveness!
The Blockers will double team the Defender and not allow him through the main gap. If Defender slides to either side, the Blockers will mirror him and not allow him to tackle the bag. No Holding; we want good footwork to get Blocker’s body in front of Defender.
Coaching Points: We do not want players to give up on the drill but play until the whistle. We want Defenders to continue to push through the blockers get in the backfield at all costs and make a tackle. For Offense we want the Blockers not to allow penetration by Defender then mirror them if they try to run outside the main gap. No Holding, we are looking for good footwork from Blockers. Stay on your man, block to the whistle.
Here is a short video of the youth football drills to teach aggressiveness; Gapp Attacker Drill. Sorry about the video quality. Stay tuned for more as I run this drill this Fall 2022.
Youth Football Drills to Teach Aggressiveness
- Gap Attacker Aggression Drill – See above
- Sumo Wrestling Drill – See Below
- Blocking Box Drill
- Tee Time Tackling Drill
- Big Oklahoma Drill
- Tackling / Hitting Gauntlet Drill (Rookies)
Sumo Circle Aggression Drill
The Sumo Circle Drill one of my favorite Youth Football Drills to Teach Aggressiveness. It evolved from the old Bull in the Ring drill which I do not use any more due to safety issues in youth football. This is basically Greco-Roman wrestling with football pads on. The players love it. After about three rounds of this drill on three different days all the players want some. Plus it is FUN!
We usually have three Sumo winners which become Ninjas. The 3 Ninjas then compete for the Samurai Championship. All winners get helmet award stickers.
What are your favorite youth football drills to teach aggressiveness? How did you handle timid players and highly aggressive players? Do you separate players by size and experience in your youth football drills for safety?
Let me know I would love to hear from you. Contact me anytime. I love to talk coaching youth football and new youth football drills to teach aggressiveness.
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Remember, Play for Fun and Winning is Funner!
Good Luck this Season,
Coach Parker
Keller, Texas, DFW, Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas
PS: Stay Safe!!
