One of my favorite [tag]football training drills[/tag] is done with a basketball. A little tool I use to train the shuffle – a basketball. This is a basketball football drill that I use frequently.
Place a basketball between the knees of the player. The player has to shuffle side to side between cones that have been placed 10 yards apart. This all but forces the player to keep feet from crossing. I use this with my offensive lineman in pass protection drills as well.
Here’s a quick drill for your defensive lineman:
When in a 3 point stance, raise the opposite leg (from the hand that is down, i.e. from a right handed stance, the right leg goes up) as high as you can, and when getting off the [tag]football[/tag], use that lifted leg to drive your momentum forward, while staying low, and throwing the hands–since defensive line is about two things – getting off the ball violently, and using your hands violently.
Most young players will need to go from two hands down, but high school age and older should be able to utilize this [tag]football drill[/tag] effectively.
