Pass rush technique question

John Levra, who coached football for 44 years, was a defensive line coach for a number of NFL teams. Coaches all over, now refer to this technique he taught, as the "Levra shuffle". I've seen film of Warren Sapp, among others, using this technique.

Here is the basic technique.

First, everything is based off attacking 1/2 of your man (ie: shoulder, elbow, or wrist of o-linemen). So for a 3 technique, he would attack the outside half of his guard.

Second, the main objective to this technique is getting perpendicular to your man.

Here's how it works. The 3 technique (or any other outside shade tech) aligns with his inside foot back and inside hand down.

1. First step is straight upfield with inside foot.

2. On his second step upfield (outside foot), the 3 tech will grab either the OL's outside shoulder, elbow, or hand using his outside arm. When he grabs, he must lock his elbow out, causing separation.

3. Once locked out, the 3 tech will shuffle his feet around his man so he becomes perpendicular to the LOS. Simultaneously, pushing the OL inside with his locked out arm.

4. Once perpendicular, he needs to rip with his inside arm (forming a "T" with both arms when finished) and simultaneously stepping with his inside foot so the foot is behind his OL. This foot should be pointing directly at the QB. (We emphasize the "toe point" daily). One thing I learned last year at a clinic was right before ripping and toe pointing, the 3 tech should really drop his inside shoulder (almost like getting skinny). The coach said to imagine a broom strapped across your shoulders with the brush side on your inside shoulder. You want to try to sweep the broom on the ground when ripping. "Think brooms". That coach, BTW, was Billy Williams. Most of you know him.

5. Once you've ripped, GO! Accelerate into the QB!

This is the base technique we used last year. It was amazing to see the kids pick up on the technique and get excited when they found out it actually works! The fun part is, using this as a base, you can come up with a ton of creative moves off it. The counter moves are amazing as well. Our DT (3 tech) got most of his sacks on counter moves last year.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Or you can instant message me on this board.

Coach W