Advanced Football Drills

No football practice would be complete without a variety of drills that both condition athletes and sharpen their skills. However, there is no catch-all drill for every player, as certain positions on the field require different drills that serve to enhance that player's performance in a given position. Advanced drills come into play in several positions, including quarterback, running back, wide receiver and defensive positions.

  1. Defensive Drills

    • Grid Iron Publications provides several different drills designed just for defensive players. One such drill is the inside drill, in which defensive players reach their positions before the center touches the ball.The crucifix drill is a drill that focuses on getting up after hitting the ground and repositioning for a tackle. Both the ball carrier and tackler start out on the ground, roll over quickly and get to their feet. The tackler approaches the ball carrier and then tries to reach them before they get past the goal line.

    Quarterback Drills

    • Football Plays and Drills provides several advanced techniques that quarterbacks can practice once they have the basics of their position down. The first is the wrong foot drill, which teaches quarterbacks to throw off their less dominant foot when scrambling. The drill reduces the awkwardness of throwing off the less dominant foot and emphasizes proper hip rotation. The website also provides "throwing on the run" drills. One such drill is the circle drill, in which two quarterbacks run in a circle while passing the ball back and forth. Coaches then give the signal to reverse so as to repeat the drill in the opposite direction. This drill also helps with hip rotation but helps the quarterback focus on leading the receiver with the ball.

    Wide Reciever Drills

    • Coach Denie Marie provides several advanced drills for wide receivers. The first is the bag attack drill in which fellow players hit the receiver with bags at the end of their route in order to provide a distraction. The five yard turn drill involves the receiver catching the ball over their left or right shoulder while facing up field. The drill helps receivers locate the ball with only their eyes and hands.

    Running Back Drills

    • Coach Michael H.E. Roth provides several drills for running backs that involve ball security and getting the most yards out of runs.The ball security drill helps train running backs to maintain good balance and ball security. During the run, a coach or teammate attempts to knock the ball out from behind them. Roth explains that this drill helps running backs learn proper ball positioning from different angles. Roth's sideline running drill helps backs master running up sidelines to gain those valuable extra yards. During this drill, a running back runs up the sideline as fellow players with shields line up three yards from the sideline and deliver high and low blows to the running back. This drill helps running backs become accustomed to receiving hits on all parts of the body while staying in bounds as long as possible during their runs.