The Fundamentals of Defensive Line

I would like to start by saying thank you. Thank you to the game of football and the AFCA organization for they both have enriched my life and given me so much. As long as I’m blessed to have a job in this industry, I will be spending the rest of my career trying to pour as much into this game, its coaches, and its players as what has been shared with me. I have grown and learned a tremendous amount over the years because of great coaches and the AFCA convention. I hope that what I’m going to share in this paper will help someone else on their journey and growth. I will be discussing defensive line play in a 4-man front. It will include fundamentals and the teaching process of developing successful play across the defensive line. I will also focus on some finer details and coaching points that I feel are crucial to a great player’s development. It is also important to understand that what I will be sharing about defensive line play is attached to the philosophy of coaching an aggressive and attacking style front. I don’t ever want to coach thoughts or ideas that will take away from a player’s ability to attack or slow them down. 

The starting point for teaching the fundamentals of defensive linemen can be simplified into 3 parts: 

1. Knowledge
2. Fundamentals
3. Effort

Knowledge is first because it’s what allows for fundamentals to be used at their maximum potential and allows the player to make adjustments to get themselves into the best position possible pre-snap. This is usually one of the toughest things for a young defensive lineman to understand. The knowledge we are talking about is gathered pre-snap and provides insight into which fundamentals (what tool in the player’s toolbox) are best fit for that next play.

The first step of knowledge is understanding the situation. When we are talking about the situation, we are referring to what is going on in the game: position of the offense on the field, offensive personnel in the game, time remaining, score of the game, down, and distance. All of these things individually carry little importance; however, when combined with a good week of film study and preparation, you have a wealth of knowledge at your disposal.

The next step of using knowledge is understanding what your assignment is. What is my job? How does my performance and production impact the defense as a unit within this call? To be a sound defensive unit, you need to fully understand how your 1/11 will impact this play. Furthermore, what is your defensive coordinator trying to convey to you? During your week of preparation, it’s important to understand what your defensive coordinator is going to call and when it’s going to be called. For example, what are your run-stopping calls? What are your passing down calls? If the defensive coordinator is calling a two-man twist or game, what is the reason? 

This is where you will combine and utilize the situation, as we discussed above, with your play call. Here is a situation: The offense is on their own 45-yard line, they have 4 wide receivers and 1 back in the game, there is 1:30 remaining until halftime and the down and distance is 3rd down with 10 yards to go. Here is your play call: “Over twist 3”

I would argue the situation provided would be read by the player as a passing situation. The defensive coordinator’s call of a defensive line twist/game and a coverage call for the back end also reads as a passing situation. The player’s evaluation of the situation as passing is confirmed by the defensive coordinator’s play call and this allows for the player to now move forward and possibly alter some fundamentals to put them in the best physical situation possible.

Second are fundamentals, which are comprised of all your daily musts and teachings of body mechanics. Body mechanics, for me, is the way in which a player will derive the force required to execute the movements I’m asking of him. Simply put, how does a player move his body to get from A to B and be successful in the play? Each player is different, so for them to understand the best way to move from A to B is the difference between good and great players. Some of the core fundamentals I talk about are stance, keys, techniques, block recognition, footwork, and pass rush. I describe the fundamentals to the players as tools in their toolbox. It is their job on each play to understand the situation and decide what tool they are going to use to complete the task at hand.

A defensive lineman’s stance is the most vital fundamental because it is what will start every play. Even if a player has full and perfect knowledge, a bad stance can nullify this and lead to failure. Stances are taught to attack forward across the line of scrimmage. In a run environment, we will react to the block the OL gives us. In a passing environment, we will attack the OL with a pass-rush move in mind. Below is a diagram that shows the key teaching points of an attack-read stance.

When teaching a right-handed stance, I begin by telling players to stand with the insteps of their feet just outside/even with their armpits (this will vary for a player based on height, weight and flexibility). Next is to slide their right foot back slightly to create a stagger between the left and right foot. The toes of your right foot should be equal to the instep or heel of the left foot. When all is said and done, you should have a left foot slightly in front of your right. The left leg is called your power leg. The power leg is the leg/foot forward in your stance and is namely responsible for generating the power to move the player’s body forward out of the stance. The right leg is called the transition leg. This is the leg/foot back in your stance and is used to help your body change direction based on what occurs during the play. The third part of the stance is putting your man’s hand or down hand on the ground. This next part is extremely important. The man hand will always be placed just before the line of scrimmage and a player must keep his helmet behind his man hand. This does two things for you, it allows you to crowd the line of scrimmage and, at the same time, keep yourself from being offside. If your helmet is always behind your hand and your hand is behind the line of scrimmage, you won’t ever line up offsides or in the neutral zone. The offhand in your stance is up in front of your face mask and in a ready position to strike.

The attack read stance is the base stance I teach for a run situation. For a passing situation, I will teach an attack stance. In the attack stance, everything is the same, except I will narrow the width of the feet and have the player get his rear higher in his stance and heavy weight on his down hand. I describe the attack stance as more of an Olympic sprinter stance. Having two different stances gives the player a basic tool to help execute the play.

Other major fundamentals are keys. The key is used to help the player get off the ball either the quickest or most efficiently. There are two keys: a man key and a ball key. A man key is used in a run environment and requires the defensive lineman’s eyes to be on the inside knee of the OL they are covering. The man key will allow them to do two things: 1. recognize the block they’re receiving and 2. conversely and appropriately react with their transition leg. A ball key is the fastest way for a defensive lineman to get off the ball. It is used for two reasons: 1. a pass rush environment or 2. when the lineman knows he has a pre-determined step (i.e. a movement or stunt).

The last fundamental I will discuss is technique. Your technique as a defensive lineman is where you align pre-snap on an offensive lineman. The player has some room to make minor changes based on their evaluation of the situation. For example, in an over front where the 3 technique is away from the running back, and he has read the situation as a run environment with the possibility of the run coming to him, he has the ability to get slightly looser or wider on the outside shoulder of the guard. This is to combat the chances that the OG is going to reach him. A strong forward get-off/attack out of his stance coupled with a wider pre-snap alignment will make it easier for the DT to maintain control of his B gap.

As a result of teaching an aggressive and attacking defensive front, an offense will attempt to use this against you by attacking with screens and draws. As I stated at the beginning, I DO NOT want to slow down my defensive lineman’s aggression or attacking style to fight this offensive adjustment. So, part of my fundamental teachings and daily musts are reactions to screens and draws. The reaction I am looking for is a retrace and chase of the OL they had covered pre-snap. There are two drills that I use for this. When setting up these drills it’s important to understand that aggressive/attacking get-offs are still required. Don’t allow players to “cheat” the drill by taking a lesser get-off because they know they might get a screen or draw. Also, always make sure to have a key for every drill you do. For these drills, I will use a ball key to simulate a pass-rush environment. I also like to study the upcoming opponent and understand how the OL is taught to block on screens and draws. I will teach the scout players providing a look at these techniques to best replicate what the DL will see in a game.

Drill #1: Rush/React

For the first drill, I will have a center with a ball that will simulate a snap – this is the ball key. I will then have one scout offensive lineman and one live defensive lineman (OG with DT, OT with DE). The OL will be given one of three calls: a true pass set, a screen, or a draw. The DL will be given a pass rush call from the sideline. On the snap of the ball, I am looking for the reaction of the DL. First and foremost, is he getting off the ball with the purpose of an attacking pass rush? Secondly, how does he react? If it is a true pass set, did he work a pass rush move? On the screen or draw, where were his eyes? I do not want him looking at the QB or RB, he should throw his head around and get eyes on OL retracing the OL path. I like this drill because it is quick and easy to set up, thus allowing a lot of fast reps. I also encourage using another defensive lineman to serve as the scout OL. The best way for a defensive lineman to learn OL mannerisms is to do/feel them for themselves!

Drill #2: Full Line Pass/Screenffiraw

This drill will work with the entire DL. A scout center or coach will simulate a snap for a ball key and a coach will also be at the QB position with a ball in hand. There will be step-over bags set up to represent an entire OL. The situation and defensive call will represent a pass-rush situation. The purpose of this drill is to work the reaction of the entire defensive line. The DL will get one of three plays: a dropback pass, a screen, or a draw. On a dropback pass, I am looking for hard get-offs resulting in a pass rush. The DE and DT to the face of the QB (the front side) will react when the QB takes his hand off the ball by stopping their rush and jumping vertically straight up in the air. This is an important coaching point. Being vertical allows for a better angle to attack if the QB pulls it down to run. On the back side (the DT and DE to the back of the QB), the DT needs to have a rush lane that is pushing the front of the QB, and the DE should be attacking the back shoulder/throwing arm of the QB. On-screen and draw, I am looking for the DL to retrace steps and work back to where the OL had been (looks just like the Rush/React drill). The QB mannerism reflects the screen or draw. A continuous drop for the screen and a flash to hand off look for the draw.

The third and final part of the fundamentals of defensive line play is effort. Giving great effort is between the player and himself. However, as a coach, it’s my job to put him in challenging situations and environments in practice where giving great effort is required. This is finishing drills fully and completely. Turning and running to the ball, even if the play is past him. Great things happen guys get to the football, encouraging this and showing great examples of it from practice and game film is vital.

In conclusion, I hope I have provided some insight into how I teach smart/aware defensive linemen that are aggressive and attacking. I believe one of the most important parts of coaching is having an understanding and a relationship with your players. Not every player is going to perceive your words and ideas the same. Taking time to understand how each player in your room learns and spending time to adapt to their needs will produce incredible results in the long run. In my opinion, my job as a coach is to serve the young men in my room. I do this by being prepared and honest. My players know they can trust me, that I care about them ( on and off the field), and that I’m committed to their team’s success. I’d like to leave you with a quote that has stuck with me over the years, “If serving is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you.” Thank you for the opportunity to share some of the fundamentals of great defensive line play.