The Breakdown Drill is one of the best [tag]football practice drills[/tag] to teach the crucial and difficult task of kick coverage. It teaches proper breakdown position and how to work as a unit to successfully pursue, contain, breakdown and stop the opponent’s return man.   It is not suggested that you perform this [tag]football drill[/tag] live, but it can be done on a limited scale.

Set Up:
You will need four cones (two placed along the goal line on the goalposts and one each halfway from the goalposts and the sideline), four lines of players behind each cone, a kicker/punter in the middle of the field (on the goal line), and two return men lined up on the hashmarks at midfield.   One [tag]football coach[/tag] is stationed at the goal line and another is stationed at midfield.

Procedure:
The kicker/punter kicks the [tag]football[/tag] toward midfield and the four coverage men sprint down field on the coach’s command.   The coverage men must sprint down field, pursue, contain, breakdown, and two-hand touch the returner.   The return men must successfully communicate on the return, and then the return man’s goal is to cross the goal line untouched.

Coaching Points:
The coaching points involved in this drill are:

For the coverage men – they must sprint down field, staying in their respective lanes until they get within 10 yards of the return man.   At that point they will begin to breakdown and squeeze in their lanes.     The two outside coverage men are responsible for keeping outside leverage on the returner.   They must all successfully two-hand touch the ball carrier.
For the returners:   One of the returners at midfield is responsible for communicating, “I got it,” or “You take it,” and then successfully fielding the football and securing it before starting straight upfield for at least two steps before making his move to find an opening to score.   The return man must carry the ball across the goal line.
For the kicker/punter:   correct form in punting or kicking off, then the punter/kicker communicates to the coverage men: “deep middle,” “short right,” i.e.

Variations of this drill can be performed by having one of the return men serve as a blocker, or by having one, two, or three of the coverage men stop and drop to the ground at some point on their sprint downfield.   After each turn, the coverage men switch positions and two new return men are used at midfield.