Multiplicity in the DB Room: Drill Work

Written by: Rett Dittfurth & Joshua Alcorn

Abilene Cooper High School

At Abilene Cooper, we are proud of what we have developed in our DB room over the last few years. Since 2016, our defensive backs have had 7 players voted as team captains, a 5A defensive player of the year, 80 interceptions, and multiple athletes go on to play at the college level. We believe one of the main attributes that makes our defensive backs unique is teaching them to play all the defensive back positions on the field. The majority of our individual time is dedicated to drills that ensure the athletes are comfortable playing both corner and safety. Therefore, there is an emphasis on footwork (corner and safety), learning the assignments of multiple positions, and engaging in big picture concepts that apply to our defense as a whole. As a foundation of our program, we take a lot of time utilizing this teaching philosophy with our freshmen and JV teams. Spring ball and summer skill work is a great time to implement this method. It might be a slower learning curve, but in the end, it makes us better as a whole. Over the years, there have been many instances where a Safety has had to go play Corner or vice versa. In this situation, the position is not foreign to the athlete, and he is able to play with confidence because he has done it before. Below are some examples of the drill work we do to incorporate this ideology. There are two types of drills we will focus on in this article to support our philosophy. Footwork (Safety and Corner) and Ball Drills (Emphasis on eyes).

Footwork Drills (Easy / Hard)

Easy Way

We start our DBs in a corner stance (shuffle position). Their eyes are inside towards the ball. The first step is made with their up-field foot (Read Step). After their read step, they will begin their shuffle before T-Stepping and breaking downhill in front of them at a 45-degree angle. This is a simulation for breaks on curls, slants, or digs. We call this break “Easy Way” because they are breaking downhill in front of them.

Variations: These drills can be done on “reaction” by a coach breaking them, secondly by telling them which step / shuffle to break on, or third by having them break on their own.

Hard Way

The DBs will go through the same process as Easy Way, but at the break they will open their hips and break downhill at a 45-degree angle away from the ball without turning their back to the ball. This is a simulation for breaks on comebacks, quick outs, or deep outs. A key point is to gain ground with the downhill foot out of the break (left foot in picture) and eliminate extra steps on the break.

Running or turn and run Easy / Hard

The same Easy Way / Hard Way concept can be used from a running position (or turn and run). In this drill the athletes will open up and run with their eyes inside toward the ball. Then on reaction they will make their easy or hard breaks from the running position and accelerate back downhill at a 45-degree angle. This simulates breaks on deeper routes when the DB is already in the running position, and it applies to situations for both safeties and corners.

4 Cone drill

This drill allows for the DBs to get the same type of downhill break from a safety stance instead of a corner stance. Four cones are set up 3 yards apart in the shape of a square. The DBs will start at the bottom corner of the square in a safety stance. They will then backpedal to the first cone, shuffle to the next cone, transition downhill to the cone right in front of them, backpedal to the cone directly behind them, and finish with a T-Step, accelerating at a 45-degree angle downhill. The DBs would then do the same drill, but this time start in the other corner of the square in order to work a T-Step off the opposite foot. This drill teaches body control, allows the DBs to transition from backpedaling to shuffling, and requires them to T-Step from the backpedal.

Weave Series (Safety and Corner Stance)

This is one of our main drills that we do out of a 4-line start, just like our Easy way / Hard way breaks. We start in a safety stance or shuffle stance and weave inside or outside (to simulate releases from WR), then break downhill or into a turn & run. So much of route reading is seeing and feeling the release of the WR. The athletes will not always shuffle or backpedal in a straight line and this is an opportunity to teach them to react with the necessary weave (out of a backpedal or shuffle) to different releases.

Ball Drills (Emphasis on Eyes)

In Phase, Out of Phase

While we get to practice 1 on 1’s vs. the offense, we still work a lot of techniques with our In Phase and Out of Phase drills during Indy time. We will start behind a WR by a yard (Out of Phase) and have them run with the WR and read the eyes and play the hands on a thrown ball. The coaching point is do not turn your head if you are not “in phase” with the WR. Next, we will start even with the WR (In Phase) and work on maintaining hand placement and knocking the receiver off his path before getting eyes back around for the ball since we are even with the WR. Our guys have a lot of fun and compete in these two drills. Any time you incorporate a ball in a drill, you need to.

Kick Over Top, High Point Drill

Kick Over Top, High Point Drill

Another ball / eyes drill we do is our “Kick Over Top drill.” The drill, (pictured + explanation below) works our safeties eyes transitioning from QB to WR and back to the ball at the end to high point it. Easy to apply to multiple coverages if needed, whether you’re kicking over the top to #1 on a pattern read or playing deep in a zone and being a playmaker etc.

Both of these ball drills force the DB to see the ball late and react to the ball in the air. This simulates the many situations in a game when the DB has to react and make a play even though he does not see the ball thrown.

These are just a few examples of drills that we believe have benefited our athletes and program. They have allowed us to work our DBs in situations for both the corner and safety positions, as well as helping our athletes remain disciplined with their footwork and eyes. If you would like more information on specific drills or how we coach our defensive backs you can contact us at (roy.dittfurth@abileneisd.org) or (joshua.alcorn@abileneisd.org).

Read the entire November 2024 Issue of Texas Coach here: https://issuu.com/thscacoaches/docs/nov24upload?fr=sYmEwNDY1NjgzODI