Executing the Rip Technique for Linebackers

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One of the hardest things for high school linebackers to do is defeat a block. After a lot of thought, I have decided to change the way I teach my linebackers to defeat blocks.

That is not an easy thing to do, but the fact is I haven’t seen many linebackers who could actually defeat a block the way I would like.

The Old Way

The way I used to teach block destruction made great sense on paper. We would attack the shoulder of the blocker, usually a Guard or Tackle, if we were on the ball or gap side of the play. In other words, if the linebacker was already on the right side of the blocker, he could attack the half-man.

    1. Step with the inside foot on the crotch of the blocker.
    2. Strike with the inside hand or flipper.
    3. Drive up through the man, exploding the hips.
    4. Step through with the outside hip, rip with the inside arm and leg to get to the hip of the blocker.
    5. Get into a good football position preparing to make the tackle or redirect

Once we got to the hip, he should be beaten.

On paper, it works. It should be perfect. In practice, we have only executed it properly a handful of times. That may be a result of my coaching, but the fact is it wasn’t working.

Rip Through

The way I have seen our players defeat a block is to just rip through it. We’ve always taught the rip technique, particularly on pass rush technique. But I have seen it be more effective in defeating run blocking linemen as well.

  1. Drop the hips and get below the blocker.
  2. Step simultaneously past the blocker’s hip and dip and rip the shoulder. Teach the backers to scrape the ground with their hand and punch the sky. Exaggeration in the teaching is key.
  3. Clear the blocker with the rip and bring the outside foot through.
  4. Get into a good football position and prepare to make the tackle or redirect.

This isn’t revolutionary, I know. Some of you are probably thinking I’m an idiot. That’s okay. I get it.

This is going to cut down on my teaching time for block destruction, and increase our ability to get past a blocker and make a tackle. There was just too much thought and precision in the way I was teaching it before.

On the Wrong Side

If we’re on the wrong side of the blocker, we’ll still rip it. We’ll either have to undercut the blocker or cross face. That will take some teaching. There’s more of a speed game involved there.

What is important is that we don’t run around the blocker, but instead attack him. Even if we attempt to rip across the face of the blocker, and don’t make it, we can still be effective. Getting low and being aggressive on the blocker should force him back into the running lane, at least a little.

After all, he’s got the angle on us anyway, we deserve to lose the battle. We just have to do our best to get back on the right side with what we know.

Making this change will make our backers more aggressive, have less to think about, and increase practice time we can use on tackling and run fits.

For videos of more ideas and drills on teaching Linebackers and more, check out ChiefPigskin.com!

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Aggressive Linebacker Play for Stopping the Inside Zone

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There is a lot of information on using the Defensive Line to shut down the Inside Zone running play. You can also help your Linebackers with some simple changes. Regardless of what front you choose, the Linebackers are going to be expected to make a majority of the tackles.

Our Linebackers are going to read the backs. Reading the Tailback is going to give your backers the best first step. If you are reading the near back (which could be the Fullback in the I or Offset-I formation), the split flow look used by some Inside Zone teams could slow your backer’s first step. He’ll need to pick up the movement of the Offensive Line opposite the steps of the back. The reads of the OL and the backs are never independent of each other.The key is for the Linebackers to be patient with their feet while their eyes recognize the play. Once they recognize the play, however, they need to be extremely fast and aggressive in their attack.If the backers are sitting back and letting linemen work up to them, they will be unable to stop the play. Instead they need to be hitting fast enough to meet the ball carrier in the backfield. The Mike Linebacker in the 4-3 Defense needs to be hammering downfield.This is primarily for playside inside backers. When the recognize flow to their side, they need to hit the open gap immediately, prepared to shed blocks and make a play. Catch the OL on their heels, not the other way around – and NEVER run around blocks!! [Read more...]

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Qualities of a Linebacker

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During the Off-Season, you should be putting plenty of time into player evaluation. It is important to know exactly what qualities and characteristics you value at each position on your team. For our Linebackers, this is the list of characteristics we are looking for in our players.

Aggressiveness: For linebackers it all starts here. If the kid doesn’t want to get in the mix, he can’t help us much. Does he seek contact, or shy away from it? Is he running around blocks rather than taking them on? Bonus points for a nasty streak. At the lower levels (Middle School and Freshman), a guy may have just not had the light come on yet. If he possesses a lot of other tools, keep working with him – it does happen.

Quickness: For inside linebackers, it is more important than speed. Will he feet react quickly when he recognizes a read? Can he fill the hole in a hurry? Quickness is a big key in covering from Tackle to Tackle.

Speed: This is the ability to pursue to the football, and to play from sideline to sideline. Its not necessary to run a 4.5 to be a good backer. But it doesn’t hurt.
Explosiveness: The explosion needs to come from his legs, his hips, and his hands. In terms of tackling, he needs to be able to square a guy up, explode into him, and drive him back. He has to be under control – a few lucky, out of control kill-shots doesn’t indicate explosiveness. It may indicate craziness, which isn’t a bad thing, but not the same. Same thing with destroying a blocker, except that we add in the hands…

Uses his Hands: For defensive linemen and linebackers this seems to be one of the toughest things. Guys want to throw their shoulder into every oncoming object they see. But can he use his hands to control a blocker? If you see a kid scraping across from the backside, looking like he’s feeling his way past the blockers with his hands, then he’s got it. If he can lock out a blocker, read the play, and come off to the ball side, then he’s got it. This is a hard skill to teach, so its good to find kids that already do it.

Change of Direction: If a player can see the play going the other way, put his foot in the ground and follow it, he’s got good change of direction. Again, this is a hard skill to teach (but it can be taught), so its nice to find kids that do it well already. A lot of this skill involves proper footwork, so if a kid hasn’t been taught proper footwork he may not be there yet. It is a good indicator of natural athleticism though. Kids who don’t bend well in their legs don’t generally change directions well – and probably aren’t very explosive either.

Coachable: Does the player take coaching well? There are guys who are very raw, and then you tell them one thing and they fix it quickly. So you add another thing, and they make that correction too. Some guys have to have it beaten into their head because they cannot see how what they’re doing is different from what you’re saying. It could be arrogance, but in general it is usually just not being aware of what their body is doing. Some players take it personally offensive when they receive criticism, and they don’t want to change. A coachable player is going to show more improvement, faster.

Intangibles: Is this guy a playmaker? Does he tend to be in the right place at the right time? All of the evaluations and technique and skill don’t matter if the guy out on the field isn’t making plays. Pay attention to results. I remember a back-up linebacker I played with in college – every time he stepped on the field, it seemed like he came up with a pick or a big play of some sort. It always confused me why someone had to get hurt in order for this guy to get on the field and get the ball back for the offense. I’m not a strong believer in “luck” determining the outcome of a football game, so this guy had something that everyone else didn’t.

This is a short list of some qualities. I think they’ll be pretty similar for the Defensive Line, with a few changes in the descriptions. I would probably add a 1 to 5 rating system so that we can get a total score on kids for evaluation. What are your thoughts?

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Stopping the Play Action

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I hope you aren’t looking for the solution, because I don’t have it. I’m looking for more help than I’m offering here. The play action passing game has got to be the hardest thing for Linebackers to learn to handle. As a result, we’ve dealt with the seams being pretty open at times.

Stop the Run FirstSo you work on making your guys aggressive on the run – after all, our goal is always to stop the run first. Give up 300 yards passing, and you probably are still in the hunt for the win. Give up 300 yards rushing, and that usually isn’t the case. But after a while, your linebackers are just hammering – they’re filling up the gaps on the first step by the back. And pretty soon, someone up in the box is seeing it – and boom, you get hit with a play action pass. A Tight End goes curling up on the seam for 10 yards. The safety makes the tackle, but he’s not going to stop that pass very often. How can you stop it?If the QB and the back give a weak fake, my guys can usually pick up the play action pretty quickly – still a half step behind where they’d be with no play action, but they’re getting there. Its not wide open. But on a good fake, they’re up at the line and its just pitch & catch for the QB. Usually, someone’s getting yelled at for it – the best is when no one else sees the play action, and just wants to know where the hell the backer was!The High Hat [Read more...]

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Pistol Offense and Linebacker Reads

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Looking into the Linebacker reads versus the Pistol Offense and the issue of the Quarterback shielding the tailback. Now, the first answer is if you just read Guards, you don’t care what the backfield looks like. And it is true that most of the time, the Guards don’t lie. But for some players that’s tough, and I think it takes away from some of the natural instinct to just “chase ball!” We start slowing kids down with too much thinking. Not saying one way is better, but my current thinking is that reading the backfield is the way to go.So here’s the deal – you want to primary key the Tailback versus the Pistol. Its a running formation, he gets the ball a lot, he should tell us what’s happening. But we can’t see the guy until he’s stepping into the mesh. The quickness of the snap & turn by the QB on an Inside Zone give makes it tough, and the fact that we have zero indication of which way this thing is going until the back pops out from behind that Pistol Quarterback isn’t helping. They could be lined up with 12 personnel (1 back, 2 TEs), motion a flanker across and we don’t know if he’s going to lead up on the stretch or kick out on the backside end of the Inside Zone. Tough stuff.The answer? First thing that I came up with the simplest answer you can imagine – rep it. If you’re going to have to pick this guy up after he’s hiding behind “Mr. 6′ 5″ Laser Rocket Arm” then start doing it on Monday. As many reps as possible, have a back to read popping out from behind a dummy QB, a bag, a door – find something. Make it even tougher than it will be in a game. Get a big back-up lineman to take snaps and hand them off during run periods!We have to train our guy’s eyes. Once they’re used to picking up that guy after the snap, they become comfortable again and we’re back to playing fast. And speed can defeat any offense! [Read more...]

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