Your Defense Starts With A Pursuit Drill
It is a rare occurrence when, here at FirstDown PlayBook, we can endorse something in our playbook that fits youth football and the NFL. Today is one of those days. The focus today is on your defense and the absolute value of incorporating a pursuit drill on the very first day of practice.
It would be easy to just say that we are talking to the youth football coaches out there but this is pretty much universal in football.
We will almost guarantee you that all 32 NFL teams and every college football defense worth their salt runs this on the first day of team defense. You should too if you are a Pop Warner coach. High school coaches, this goes without saying. Your overall team conditioning will improve as you incorporate this with your defense. This should not be undervalued.
The Pursuit Drill Should Be Run At All levels Of Football
Pursuit drill is a simple drill. You line up with a QB/Coach and two receivers outside near the boundary. On the snap the QB throws the ball to one of the receivers. The defense takes the proper pursuit angles to the ball full speed.
Your defense and your defensive coaches start on the sideline. The defensive coach calls the defense and your players sprint to the the field to quickly align in the proper defense. Coaches are moving too! Your defense must get lined up quickly and correctly!
Show This To Your Youth Football Commissioner. They Will Thank You.
When the ball is snapped your defense reacts to what the QB does. The QB can throw the ball out to the right or the left sideline. Once that happens your defense is responsible for taking the proper pursuit angles to the ball. If you coach older players you can throw a curl route but for youth football this is the way to go.
Here are three reasons the pursuit drill needs to be on your practice schedule this week when you start practice.
1. The Pursuit Drill Sets The Tempo For Practice
You need to get your players’ motors running early on in practice. Good defense requires a high energy and people flying around. If this drill is done correctly you will have players and coaches getting their blood flowing early on in your practice with this drill. This will inevitably carry over to the rest of your practice. In fact, it is a common occurrence for coaches to run this drill in the middle of practice if that practice starts sluggishly.
2. Teach Pursuit Angles & Team Defense
Teaching angles and pursuit is one of the hardest things to teach in football. Understanding angles is important for every position on football, even the offensive line. Your players are all different with different abilities. This comes into play when you are pursuing the football. A player needs to take the angle that allows that player to cut the ball off.
The pursuit drill forces every defender to “tag off” on the ball carrier. Tag off means exactly what it says. The defenders will tag the ball carrier while allowing them to continue down the sideline. You should teach your defenders to underhand tag with both hands as if they were about to perform a tackle.
3. Teach Effort & Running To The Football
The word “never” is overused in coaching descriptions but trust me on this one. There has never been a good defense that did not give great effort and run to the football. This pursuit drill teaches that.
Alignment and assignment are also critical to being a good defensive football player. Fundamentals and technique will always be essential to helping your players be as good as they can be. However, if there is no effort to the ball? Your players have no chance to be good, much less great.
Of course, the pursuit drill is not the only drill you want to run with your defense. FirstDown PlayBook has a complete football drill section where you can find drills for every position. Check it out. This drill section includes help for offense and defense and of course flag football!
