Coach Teerlinck's pass rush drills
10 drills to help you improve your pass rush skills
John Teerlinck was one of the greatest D-Line coaches of all time. He's coached greats like Dwight Freeney, John Randle and Robert Mathis to hall of fame level status and he's done it by instilling pass rush fundamentals through his library of drills.
In this post, I'll be detailing the exact drills Coach Teerlinck used so you too can improve your skills just like the pros. Let's get into it!
Mat get off
Mat get off teaches leading with head and shoulders and exploding out not up. When executing it, line up with weight forward, get off when the ball moves, take one big step and jump out. You should feel as if you're falling off a cliff.
Regular get off
Once you've executed mat get off, immediately follow up with regular get off. Since mat get off focusses on leading with head and shoulders you should see carry over into regular get off as well. So line up four D-Linemen and have them get off on movement. Remember explode out not up.
Rip counter swim
For this drill, pretend you've already inserted a rip and that your opponent is leaning on you. Then, counter the rip by removing it, throwing the hips and turning the numbers.
Moves of the week (outside)
To execute this drill, first line up the pops up like an O-line. Guards up, tackles deep and the QB at 7 yards. Then, practice any move that you're planning to use this upcoming season. It's best practice one move per week this off-season.
Moves of the week (interior)
This drill is exactly the same as above, but when working the interior you can have two guys go at the same time so you can double the amount of work.
Tight bags
Say if you're in the interior and you slap rip the guard and suddenly the center appears you need to have a move ready.Tight bags is the perfect drill to simulate this situation.
Straight line gauntlet
Practice a singular move multiple times with the straight line gauntlet. You have an opportunity to practice spins, clubs, jab ole's and any other move you'd like to improve with this drill.
4 corners
The 4 corner drill is a close cousin to straight line gauntlet, but with increased difficulty (because of the 90 degree angle).
Full hoop
D-Lineman always rush on an angle so it's critical that you learn to dip, turn and run on a circle. Full hoops simulates this to a T and can be done with just a towel or with a simulated punch.
Cat and mouse
Lastly, throw a little competition into your hoop drills by executing the cat and mouse drill. The mouse can run the hoop anyway he wants and the cat is tasked with catching the mouse.
That's it for this week folks. Thank you all for your continued support and if you have any questions about Coach Teerlinck's drills feel free to reply to this email and I'll help to the best of my ability.
And whenever you are ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:
Learn how to develop top tier pass rushers and a lethal pass rush attack here (1,000+ students)
Learn how to turn your D-Line into a block destruction machine here (1,100+ students)
-Craig