Its been a couple of weeks since winning the Fall 2011 KYA Sophomore Super Bowl and our end of season team party. I’ve had some time to reflect on the Fall season and some of the things I learned this youth football season. The number one thing I learned this season is make sure you…
I rewatched a linebacker video with Coach Paterno and his linebacker’s coach Coach Sandusky. Coach Sandusky goes over several tackling drills but one I really like is the tackling gauntlet. It teaches the tackler to wrap up and continue to drive his feet through the ball carrier. So many times, youth players stop driving their…
One of my favorite youth football drills is the Big Oklahoma Drill or the Big OK. This drill is second only to the SUMO drill that I run if we win a game. I first heard about the Big OK drill from Coach O in Denver Colorado at a Coaches Seminar. This drill gets everyone…
I am reading Coach George Allen’s Handbook of Winning Football. Coach George Allen was one of the winningest NFL coaches on the Rams and Redskins in the 60′ and 70’s. I watched his teams many times give my home team Dallas Cowboys fits on Thanksgiving. I was surprised this morning reading Coach Allen’s defensive line chapter and…
This season I have been using this Angle Tackling drill for my youth football team at almost every practice, especially for Outside Linebackers, Defensive Ends, Corner Backs, Free Safeties and Inside Linebackers. The drill is also great for tail backs to practice the sweep and cut back sweeps, and the RBs use of speed and…
I use the Contain Pod drill to teach our defensive ends not to crash. This football drills simulates game situations. The Contain Pod Defensive Youth Football Drill is a great pee wee football drill to train your defensive ends and outside linebackers how to play contain responsibilities. I also incorporate the inside linebackers and other…
Today we used the Sprint Tackling Drill from AFCA’s Defensive Football Drills book. This is a great open field tackling drill. The ball carrier is about 5 yards behind the bags and the tackler in red is 10 yards behind the middle bag. The defender attacks the middle bag and then must get under control before…
Linebackers and Defensive Backs can read the keys of offensive linemen to learn the direction of the play. 1. Offensive linemen blocking down field means the play is a run. 2. Offensive linemen pulling in one direction generally means play is in direction of pull. 3. Offensive linemen drop stepping and setting up to block…
So here is my youth football defensive strategy plan for 2010 1. Stop the run, interrupt the pass. 2. Attack the Offense with Multiple looks 3. Dictate game flow 4. Scout scout scout 5. Equalize strength 6. Communicate and say again. My defensive team will be called the Wolf Pack this season. Wolves communicate, hunt…