2 Minute Drill - Shuffle alley press with steve specht

USA Football presents two-minute drill welcome the two-minute drill for this week's episode we're going to continue our work with USA football's master trainers and go to the field the talk linebacker play great hi i'm Steve Specht i'm the head football coach at Cincinnati Saint Xavier High School and today we're going to talk a little bit about linebacker play specifically a drill we like to start the day with shuffle alley Press the purpose behind the drill is the teach a linebacker to maintain backside leverage on the ball carrier at all times the worst thing we can do is overextend ourselves get over top a ball carrying give up cutback lane so that's what this drill is gonna teach us was going to start with two to our players were going to take one side will be the linebacker he's are always gonna maintain half-man backside leverage on the ball carrier so we're going to put him five yards apart and we're gonna ask the ball carrier to change speeds is here on straight down the line now as he jogs the defender is gonna shuffle show us how you're gonna shuffle maintaining backside leverage until the running back picks up speed now we'll go to his alley when we're on the alley he has to maintain shoulder square as much as possible we want to be a two-way go player but we still have to pick up our speed to maintain that backside leverage that's why we're will run the alley right maintain backside leverage not a sprint again change speed shift gears change speed to force him to go from shuffle alley back to shuffle that's on you set that good good alley alley shuffle shuffle alley good good job good job the next step in the progression is going for the linebacker to press the ball carrier when the ball carrier runs to him again key point backside leverage if um our defender gets over the top again gives up to cut back we have a problem so we'll go shuffle alley maybe shuffle again when the ball carrier comes forward will press him inside out maintaining that backside leverage and we'll get into a hit position getting ready to shoot and rip on attack sat hut shuffle shuffle shuffle there's your alley there's your alley shuffle shuffle Press boom right there good good that's exactly what we want to see out of this drill again shuffle alley Press great way to start the day with your linebackers that can help get them loose but it also teaches them leverage and attack points shuffle alley Press is a great drill and is one of the staples of my work as a linebacker at Penn State if you have a question on a fundamental you'd like us to address next week post it on our Facebook wall or tweet us at USA for fall remember to use the hash tag two-minute drill