Coaching up the blitzer

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I have a couple of fundamentals that I use with my LB's. First is to never cross the heals of your D-Lineman. The last thing I want is you to miss-time the snap and cost us 5 yards. Second if a O-lineman is trying to block you then use a Rip tech to go by. If and back is trying to block you us a Swim tech to get by. Backs always lunge when pass protecting (most never practice it). We work on squeezing the pocket for outside blitzers; I have all of my LB's run the Hoops to work on the lean. Inside blitzers must never try to run someone over or get chest to chest, and that goes for the outside blitzer as well. Keep the QB or ball carrier in site and have control over where you are going. Too many guys go flying in then go flying by and miss a chance for a loss or sack. The hard part for most LB's is teaching pass rush fundamentals when you have enough to cover all ready with LB run / pass reads. I usually have my D-line coach take them for a day or two in the off season or spring and start working them with pass rush.

Tiger One-
It has been my observation here in So Cal that many backs still lunge to take on D-line or LBer's. We have always worked pass pro with our RB's, but from many of the tapes I have watched many don't have a clue one how to pass pro. If they do have a clue ie. not leaning and sitting down and punching into the soft area of the rusher, moving the feet and maintaining position, then I will instruct the D-line or LBers to run the guy over on the first rush and only the first rush. We want him to lean the next time he is blocking so we can swim him. I just have found even our best backs blocking have trouble with the D-line and some LBers.

I'll hit on something noone has mentioned yet, blitzing from the secondary. With corner blitzes and even some safety blitzes that come off the corner, the first thing I teach is the landmark they are aiming for the blitz. If a corner is blitzing, you don't want him running parallel to the line of scrimmage and getting caught up with all the big guys. That's completely counter productive. I teach corners to aim for the outside hip of the deepest back, or if the team is in a split back, the chest of the back to his side. This is about where the QB is going to be on a dropback that he can get to. A corner blitz, for the most part, won't affect a 3 step drop. We're looking at 5 and 7 step drops for corner blitzes. I teach them to try to get some sort of timing for the cadence of the QB and start to walk in late in the cadence. I don't want him to move too early and show it. If it is a 5 or 7 step, the corner's speed will get him there in time, so he doesn't have to be right at the line at the snap of the ball for him to be effective. For the most part, I teach blitzing corners to use a speed rip to get by blockers. I want them to use thier speed and not strength. Strong safeties are mostly the same, but I look at my strong safety as one of the two most important people on my defense (I am in love with a 4-3, by the way). He has to be able to run like a DB and hit, tackle, and have the aggressiveness of a LB. He still gets the outside shoulder landmark if he's coming from the outside. If it's a C gap blitz, then he's aiming for the chest of the deepest back or directly in between split backs. A C gap blitz is a little delayed for my safety, I want the pocket to start to form before he charges in, so he can have a little bit of space to work in. Possibly even have all the blockers tied up or committed so he can have a free charge in the middle of the line. If everyone isn't tied up, it's a rip to the outside to get off a blocker. Free safety blitzes are similar to SS blitzes, seeing as how they come from the same general areas. However, b/c a FS is generally smaller than a SS, I try to have them time thier blitzes a little better. A major key for all secondary blitzes is disguising them. They have the speed to make up for the lack of a head start, and if a QB sees a secondary blitz early, he has time to adjust things. And usually when a QB makes an adjustment on a blitz from the secondary, it hurts a little bit more than from the LBs.