Proud aināt even the word. šš½
Week 8 into the season and my guys are already close or passing what they did ALL of last year. Thatās not luck. Thatās early mornings, film, and reps when nobodyās watching.
š„ **Ian: NO.99** Ā· 27.5 TFL, 57 tackles, 6 games. Already past last season. Statementš¤
ā” **Joe: NO.12** Ā· 18 TFL, 6.5 sacks. Passed last year in 7 games.
šØ **Malachi: NO.17** Ā· 6.5 sacks, almost double last year. 4 tackles from passing his whole season.
š¤ **Luke: NO:51** Ā· 11 TFL in 8 games. Last year he had 8. Heās not done.
I tell every one of them: defensive linemen are skill players too. Now the numbers are saying it for me.
Keep stacking, fellas. Weāre just getting started. š ļø
#DLine #Defenseline #highschoolfootball #arizonafootball #progress
The fix is THE SNATCH.
Once youāve locked out and found the ball:
š¹ Grab cloth. Get the jersey or shoulder pad on the side the ball is going.
š¹ Rip down and across. Pull him violently past your hip, toward the ground.
š¹ Step through. Your near leg clears the space he just left.
š¹ Eyes stay on the ball the whole time.
Shedding a block isnāt finished until heās behind you. Donāt just separate. Remove him.
Defensive linemen are skill players too. Hands are your skill. ššæ
Drop a š„ if your D-line coach drills this every week.
#DefensiveLine #DLine #PassRush #HighSchoolFootball #footballtraining
Had a college lineman come through to learn the nose. š
Playing the 0 or 1 isnāt about muscling up with your back. Thatās how you get washed and stood up. It starts with the hips: where you place them, how you sink them, and how you move them to stay square and anchor against double teams.
Then the hands. Every move needs a purpose: strike, control, separate, and keep your hands working *with* your feet, not ahead of them. Violent hands with no hip behind them is just noise.
Big bodies win with technique too. Defensive linemen are skill players. š¦
š Scottsdale, AZ | DM to train
#DLine #NoseTackle #DefensiveLine #collegefootball #PassRush
Push, donāt hop.
Watch a sprinter come out of the blocks. They donāt jump up. They PUSH the ground away, shins angled, pads low, every ounce of force going forward.
Thatās your get-off.
When you hop off the ball, both feet leave the ground and youāre producing zero force. Your pads rise, you float, and you just gave that tackle a free beat to kick, set, and land his hands on your chest.
When you push out like youāre coming out of a track block:
ā Your first step eats ground instead of gaining air
ā Your pad level stays under his
ā You close the cushion before he finishes his set
ā You stay in attack mode and heās stuck reacting
Pass rush is a race to the edge. Nobody wins a race by hopping.
Defensive linemen are skill players too. Train the get-off like it matters, because it does. šÆ
#DetailedDLine #highschoolfootball #PassRush #GetOff #defensiveline
Every D-line coach can draw up a hump move. Not every coach can make it land. š§ š
You can know every pass rush plan, every block destruction technique, every get-off drill in the book. But if the way you teach it doesn't connect with the young man in front of you, that knowledge stays on the whiteboard.
Real coaching is translation. Some players learn by watching. Some need to feel it. Some need the "why" before they'll buy the "how." Your job is to find the language that clicks for EACH guy in your room.
Information doesn't develop players. Communication does. šÆ
Defensive linemen are skill players too, so coach them like it.
#DLine #DefensiveLine #DLineCoach #PassRush #CoachingMatters #FootballCoach #DetailedDLinePerformance
Goal post = your pregame blocker. š
š¹ Hand strikes: wake up your punch and aiming points
š¹ Bend around the upright: the tightest corner youāll ever turn
š¹ Rip and club reps: against something that wonāt give
š¹ Get-off to contact: first step plus first strike
Five minutes, no partner, game-ready hands and hips.
#az #dline #passrush #pregame #highschoolfootball
58-0 on the scoreboard, but thatās not what Iāll remember about tonight.
40 snaps. -1 total yards. š
First time in my coaching career our defense held an opponent to NEGATIVE yards. These kids came in focused, did their jobs, and took care of business every single snap. No shortcuts, just technique, effort, and trust in each other.
Proud doesnāt even cover it. This one belongs to my boys. šŖš¾
#defensewins #DLine #defensivelineman #az #FridayNightLights
Todayās drill: dip, wrap your inside foot around the pole, rotate through the thoracic spine, then walk it through rep by rep. Slow it down, own the angle, then speed it up.
Why it matters:
Thoracic rotation lets you turn the corner without losing your base.
The foot wrap teaches you to stay tight to the edge instead of running wide.
Walk-throughs build the muscle memory that shows up under the lights.
You canāt bend what you never trained to bend.
What day are you getting your pole work in?
#DLine #DefensiveLine #az #fridaynightlights #highschoolfootball
Too many D-tackles win the get-off, then stall out on contact. The real separation happens in the next 0.3 seconds: Second step in the ground, fast. Thatās where your power comes from. No second step, no drive.
Pad level stays low. Rising up after the first step gives your power away.
Hands and hips fire together. Strike, then roll the hips through the blocker, not just into him.
Feet keep working. Short, violent steps. Donāt lean and hope.
Get-off is the ticket in. Power after the first step is how you take over the A-gap.
š Scottsdale, AZ | DM for training
#DLine #DefensiveTackle #PassRush #highschoolfootball #az
I know there is a lot of talk about QBs sliding⦠I slid my whole career & never took a hit like you see now & thatās when hitting was allowed!
I donāt believe itās the sliding thatās the problem, itās the TIMING of the slide! QBs are pushing envelope bc they are more protected & they expect defenders to just assume they arenāt going to keep running⦠bad assumption!
Go down early or just be a running back - the in-between is the problem IMO!
āTheyāre too young to learn technique.ā
The fear: too much information, too soon. Kids canāt process it. Let them just play.
Hereās what Iāve seen after years of coaching this exact age group: itās not the amount of information that overwhelms them ā itās how itās taught.
Defensive linemen are skill players too. Hand placement, pad level, get-off, leverage ā these arenāt āadvancedā concepts you save for college. Theyāre fundamentals. And fundamentals taught early, in age-appropriate reps, build the kind of instinct you canāt install as a junior in high school.
The kids who struggle arenāt overwhelmed by technique. Theyāre overwhelmed by technique dumped on them with no progression, no reps, no patience.
Slow down the delivery. Donāt lower the ceiling.
#DLine #DefensiveLine #youthfootball #az #technique
Drill work ā Game work.
No wasted reps. What we build during the drills in week will show up under the lights on Friday.
This is what ātranslationā looks like ā technique isnāt just for show, itās for Sundays (or in this case, Friday Night Lights).
Keep grinding. The tape doesnāt lie.
#DefensiveLine #DLine #highschoolfootball #az #technique
Drill work ā Game work.
No wasted reps. What we build during the drills in week will show up under the lights on Friday.
This is what ātranslationā looks like ā technique isnāt just for show, itās for Sundays (or in this case, Friday Night Lights).
Keep grinding. The tape doesnāt lie.
#DefensiveLine #DLine #highschoolfootball #az #technique