Pursuit Drills

Pursuit is a critical element of effective defensive play and it can be an eraser for missed tackles vs. superior skill players.  Deuce recently wrote a piece on Pursuit here that is essential reading, especially regarding holding kids accountable on film.  The first chapter of Ron Vanderlin's excellent book, Football's Eagle and Stack Defenses, is entirely devoted to the fundamental skill of defensive pursuit.  He defines pursuit as "an intense, all-out effort that is driven by an insatiable desire to get to the football and to put the ballcarrier on the ground," and says that it is "the essence of a good defensive football team."

Since relentless pursuit is not an innate characteristic, it is easy for football players to decide that they are not needed on a play and to loaf.  Vanderlin reasons then that "you need to emphasize pursuit as a key to your defensive philosophy" in order to properly train this "swarm mentality" into your defenders.  He also says that pursuit and proper angles needs to be coached on every play of practice.

A defense that emphasizes pursuit will take tremendous pride in their effort of all 11 men swarming to the football and will want to hold each another accountable for their effort.  Pursuit will help create an aggressive attitude that demoralizes opposing ballcarriers as they are being chased with nowhere to run and buried on every play by five or six defenders.  This pride, accountability, and aggressiveness leads to a confidence that all great defenses have.

Fritz Shurmur said in Coaching Team Defense that, "Preventing the big play in the running game involves getting great pursuit to the football followed by good tackling when the defense gets there;" and in the passing game, "Each defensive player must be constantly reminded of the importance of breaking or running to the football when it is thrown."

Pursuit drills are not just for getting kids to take correct angles and run full speed, they are also good for other important defensive fundamentals.  Coaches can use pursuit drills for formation recognition, making correct strength calls, and getting players lined up correctly.  Players must work communication during Pursuit Screen and Pursuit Oskie drills; yelling "Pass" as the QB begins his drop back, "Ball" as the ball leaves the QB's hand, and "Oskie" when the Interception is made.  Vanderlinden stresses the coaching points of not blocking below the waist, never blocking behind the football, ball security, running to and staying along the nearest sideline after the Interception, and having the other defenders escort the interceptor to the end zone.

Proper tackling technique is something that always needs to be prioritized, and is done by getting players to break down into a form tackling position as they approach the ballcarrier and then having them tag the ballcarrier with two hands below the waist.  It is important to make sure that defenders are not slowing the ballcarrier down as they tag him or it will defeat the purpose of the drill.  Great pursuit lets you "make your own luck" when it comes to turnovers, since defenses with great pursuit will get more loose balls by having more players near the football.

Force play is another important fundamental that must be emphasized during Pursuit drills. Different coverages may be used to change up who the Force player is for each drill rep. The Force defender will keep his outside arm free and squeeze the ball inside to his Fill players by attacking upfield as close to a 45 degree angle as possible.  Fill players will attack the ball inside-out on the ballcarrier's inside hip and expect the ball to cut back to them.  You could also run a reverse off of the Pursuit Sweep Drill to keep your Contain player honest.  Support players must be ready to replace the Force player if he is cracked or loses outside leverage.  Backside Support players will be the deep cutoff players and their hustle can be the difference in giving up six points.

I have a great example of the value of pursuit from the 2011 season.  Virginia was down 10-7 at FSU with 9:24 left in the 3rd quarter.  FSU WR Bert Reed caught a pass over the middle and turned on the jets for what looked to be a backbreaking TD in this defensive battle. CB Chase Minnifield desperately sprinted (from the top of the video screen) and hawked Reed down at the 1-yard line after a 68-yard gain.  The Virginia defense managed to hold FSU to a FG and one player's relentless pursuit ended up being the difference in a remarkable 14-13 win for the Cavaliers.

Here are pursuit drills with game footage from the "U" to help reinforce to your players why pursuit is important.  Randy Shannon's defenses were outstanding from 2001-2006, being ranked in the top 7 nationally every year but one, and were known for their speed and relentless pursuit.

Wrong-Arm Technique

Good discussion on Coach Huey about the Wrong-Arm technique here.  I'm better with pictures and video than I am with words, so is here is my take on the Wrong-Arm technique.  The Wrong-Arm technique vs. Power is pretty straightforward, and I will get to it later.  The Wrong-Arm technique vs. Counter is not as straightforward and cause for some debate, so I will tackle it first. 

The diagram below shows the Fox DE initially obeying his Block-Down-Step-Down rules vs. the OT.  If he follows his hands, his technique will take him right into the pulling Guard.  How he attacks the Guard is the key to stopping the Counter play.  If he literally obeys his Wrong-Arm rule and attacks the inside shoulder of the pulling Guard with his outside shoulder, he will be pinned easily and the pulling Tackle will not miss a beat coming around for the LB.  The defense has forced the ball to bounce outside, but nothing is being disrupted.  It is important to remember that maximum disruption is the goal and purpose of Wrong-Arming.

We want the DE to not just Wrong-Arm the pulling G, but we want him to work upfield right through the pulling G.  We want him to cause maximum disruption and knock the pulling G into the pulling T and have them both pushed back into the RB.  That is the ideal train wreck scenario, but what is important is that the DE is able to knock the pulling G back into the pulling T's path to disrupt the timing of the play.

 

The DE needs to know that he will not always be able to Wrong-Arm vs. the Counter.  If the pulling G is very tight to the LOS, then the DE will not be able to get much power by coming underneath him.  He will be pinned easily if the pulling G is too tight to the LOS.  If the goal is maximum disruption, then the DE needs to just "blow up" the G as hard and fast as he can and let the LB fit off of him.  The DE may not make the ball bounce outside, but he can box the play in and still disrupt the play by causing the OT to cut up quicker than he wants to.

 

The DE needs to be taught:

1.  To Wrong-Arm and work upfield right through the pulling G if can. 

2.  If he can't Wrong-Arm the pulling G without being easily pinned, then blow him up with as much force as possible. 

 

Either way, the DE must act with violence, cause maximum disruption, and create a train wreck.

 

The video does a great job of showing how to Wrong-Arm vs. Power.  The DE/OLB will attack the inside shoulder of the FB with his outside shoulder in order to cause maximum disruption and cause a train wreck. The first cut-up in the video of Bill Romanowski was provided by OJW, who also talks about the Wrong-Arming technique in his outstanding 4-3 vs. the Flexbone - DT Play and the 4-3 vs. the Flexbone - DE Play articles.

Wrong-Arm from Barry Hoover on Vimeo.

Tony Dungy talks about the importance of mentoring young people here: http://sportsleaderusa.blogspot.com/2011/03/whats-biggest-problem-were-facing-in.html 

RUNCODHIT is beginning a new series on stopping the Power running game with the 4-2-5: http://runcodhit.blogspot.com/2011/03/stopping-power-running-offense-with-4-2.html

The Force

When the Force is used correctly, it can be quite constricting.

The way I really learned the concept of "The Force" was from the book, Coaching Team Defense by Fritz Shurmur.  Matthew Brophy refers to this classic as "the bible of defense," and I would have to agree with him; it really is that good.  The principles in this book are universal to all defensive coaches, no matter what scheme they run.  Coach Shurmur was and still continues to be, thanks to his books and videos, a phenomenal teacher with the ability to explain the most crucial and fundamental concepts of defensive football in the most efficient and easy-to-understand way possible.

This is how Coach Shurmur introduces the concept of Force:

"The defense has to be designed to pressure the offense in order to squeeze or compress it.  This is best accomplished by having the defense reduce the angles by attacking the offense on their side of the line of scrimmage.  For example, in forcing the run at the perimeter it is essential that the player responsible for forcing or keeping the ball inside do his job by defeating blockers on the offensive side of the line of scrimmage as close to a 45-degree angle as possible.  This forces the ball carrier to make a decision to turn up inside quicker than he wants to and also squeezes or compresses the lane available to him to run the ball."

 
Shurmur defines the Force man as, "the defender who is responsible for tackling or making sure the ballcarrier does not get outside of him.  It is his responsibility either to tackle the ballcarrier or to force him to cut back into the pursuit pattern."

Coach Shurmur states that, "assigning specific assignments on outside runs eliminates any chance of ambiguity or doubt on the part of the player," and lists the four parts of outside run defense:

1.   Force - squeezes or compresses the lane for the ballcarrier as he forces the ball back inside to the rest of the defense.

2.  Fill or Cutback - the player responsible for tackling the ballcarrier after the Force man causes him to cut back inside.

3.  Support - the defensive back to the side of the play who is assigned to serve as a backup to the Force man and cover the deep receiver on the halfback run-pass option.  He is a pass-first player with deep coverage responsibility, but he can become the Force player for the defense if the Force player loses outside leverage or if the Force player is cracked.

4.  Contain - the backside defender who is responsible for any reverses or wide cutbacks.  This will be the the player, who either by alignment or stunt, ends up as the widest defender on the line of scrimmage away from the play.

Here is the video:

I will have some new videos and articles from some great guest authors on here very soon.  Stay tuned.