Best-Of-The-Best Practice Drills (24 pages, PDF)

Practice time is the one thing no coach gets more of. Best-Of-The-Best Practice Drills is the digitised edition of the printed Gridiron Strategies Special Coaching Report that collects more than 40 practice drills contributed by high school and college coaches — each one written up with its purpose, its setup, the diagram as it appeared in print, and the coaching points that make it work. It is an article collection, not a playbook: you can lift a single drill into tomorrow's practice plan without changing your offense or defense. All 24 pages carry a searchable text layer, so you can find a drill by position, by name or by the skill you need to fix.

The report opens with a short piece on how to build drills before it shows you any, which is the part most drill books skip: be selective, keep drills simple and organised, name them so they never need re-explaining, and know which of the five drill types you are actually running.

What's inside

• Coaching philosophy — "Critical Tips For Making Your Drills More Effective, Efficient" by Mike Emendorfer, Head Football Coach, University of Wisconsin–Platteville: keeping drills efficient, building a secondary movement into every drill, preparing every detail off the field, and the five types of drill (fundamental, reaction, conditioning, toughening and fun) with the purpose of each.
• Secondary and defensive backs — the "Color Drill" for linebackers and DBs who drop without reading the backfield (Rob Senor, Shaker Heights High School, Ohio); the "Hammer" drill teaching the oskie-or-hammer decision when the ball is in the air (James Cheatham, Stilwell High School, Okla.); a jam-and-control drill for DEs, LBs, CBs and safeties against receivers at the line (Ronald Bagala, Ascension Catholic Middle School, La.); backpedal-and-break to an aiming point (Charlie Weatherbie, Head Football Coach, University of Louisiana–Monroe); and a deep-ball drill that shows DBs how much ground they can make up while the ball is in the air (Kevin Kopecky, St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Kan.).
• Quarterbacks and the passing game — a bi-level linebacker read off a full-speed five-step drop (Washington University–St. Louis); the Platform Drill, sliding away from rush and rebuilding the throwing platform before the throw (Todd Berry, Offensive Coordinator, University of Louisiana–Monroe); and a pre-practice Spot-Passing Drill that gets centers, QBs, receivers, tight ends and backs snaps, drops and route spots at the same time (Jeff Shutter, Quarterbacks Coach, Franklin and Marshall College).
• Option football — the Hand-And-Pitch drill for the ride-and-give path, the mesh point and the pitch relationship (Coach Price, Galena High School, Kan.); the Track-And-Pitch drill, built to work two quarterbacks at once on mesh and pitch (Duncan Shackelford, Chugiak High School); the Combo-Option drill for pitches that hit the ground (Kim Nelson, Washington High School, Sioux Falls, S.D.); and a Waggle drill against a live end and a signalled outside linebacker (Waldwick High School, N.J.).
• Running backs — the "Tools" drill, where the defender's angle dictates spin, forearm shiver or stiff arm (Lee Weber, Plainville High School, Kan.); a five-part Wing-T combination regimen built off the 32/38, the belly/dive and the sweep (Mike Aruanno, MOT Cavaliers, Del.); and a five-drill high-and-tight ball-security circuit — high step, backpedal, spin-to-the-hand, same-hand/same-foot and drag (Darren Willis, Heide Trask High School, N.C.).
• Offensive line and blocking — the Rice Drill, first two steps on every block called, with a full technique list from stance and splits to combos, pulling, zone/scoop and "million steps" (Mike Malkowskie, C.E. King High School, Texas); a dip-and-rip chop drill to the second level using two bags and a landing mat (Mike Newton, Hughes Springs High School, Texas); the "Swamper Special", an eight-second sled drive followed by a 20-yard downfield block (Dave Lawrence, Mattawan High School, Mich.); and 7-man sled work including the Race For Time, the Distance Drill and the Doughnut Drill (Leon Feliciano, Tomales High School, Calif.).
• Defensive line and linebackers — the "2-Step Reaction Drill" for flat pursuit, angled backside pursuit and disciplined pass-rush lanes (John Jensen, Merritt Island Christian High School, Fla.); Four-Corner Challenge footwork squares and a six-part 45-degree hip-and-drop series for LBs (Marqus Butler, Eisenhower High School, Lawton, Okla.); the Keep-Your-Key blitz drill for linebackers who over-run the play (Chad Stadem, Howard High School, S.D.); a hip-to-hip gang-tackle and strip drill (Jo Jo Reyes, Roosevelt High School, Fresno, Calif.); the Tiger Drill, run defense with LB flow, corner force and 1-on-1 drive blocking in one period; plus two tackling drills — an all-phases game-combat drill (Joe Rossi, Riverview High School, Oakmont, Pa.) and a cone course finishing in a form tackle (Mark King, Lincoln Southwest High School, Neb.).
• Special teams — the Kicking-Game Circle Drill, five skill stations that cover the whole kicking game in ten minutes a day, with break-down coverage technique spelled out and teaching checklists for deep snapping, punting, kickoffs, extra-point kicking and holding, catching and returning, protecting the punter and blocking kicks (Jim Bailey, Thomas Jefferson High School, San Antonio, Texas); the Texas Drill, a warm-up that became a full special-teams period on thirds of the field (Mike Gifford, Faith West Academy, Katy, Texas); and a 5-on-5 kickoff-return lane and blocking drill for August (Randy Thompson, Buckeye Trail High School, Ohio).
• Wide receivers — three pass-catching drills, One-Hand, Good Hands and Bad Ball (Norm Killion, Head Coach, Racine St. Catherine's High School, Wis.); a three-cone sprint-catch-cut drill for landmarks and hard cuts (Brian Kidd, Notre Dame High School, Riverside, Calif.); and a receiver-blocking period covering explosion off the ball, blocking angles inside and outside, crack-block head placement, and coaching points for the bubble screen and the cavalier screen.
• Team, tackling and conditioning drills — a blaster drill that puts a receiver, lineman, back and QB through on every rep (Michael Statom, Collinwood High School, Tenn.); a block–tackle–recover-the-fumble rotation for conditioning and skills (Jim Deuble, North Shore Country Day School, Ill.); an open-field blocking and tackling box (Craig Hill, Wayland Academy, Beaver Dam, Wis.); the "TD Drill" for red-zone blocking, ball-carrier technique and open-field tackling (Johnny Mallett, Galena High School, Kan.); a passing-game rotation that keeps three or four QBs and every receiver working; a guard-read drill that forces LBs and DBs to read the offensive guard instead of the ball (Todd Kosel, Edgeley High School, N.D.); a Scoop-And-Score turnover warm-up; and a 4-on-4 goal-line competition, first team to five points (Aaron Gingery, Shasta High School, Redding, Calif.).

Who it is for

Head coaches and coordinators building a practice plan, and position coaches who need a specific fix — linebackers who do not read their keys, receivers who drop the bad ball, running backs who carry it low and loose, a special-teams unit that never gets enough field time. Most of the drills come from high school programs and are written for high school equipment and roster sizes, with several from the college level; middle school and youth staffs will find plenty that transfers. Nothing here is scheme-specific: the drills work behind any offense or defense, and several are explicitly written to be run with as few as one to four players or scaled up to the whole squad.

This is a faithful digital edition of the printed Special Coaching Report — 24 pages, all original articles, bylines and diagrams, delivered as a single PDF with a searchable text layer. There is no video component.