Let's Speak Technique: Larry Johnson DL Drills

Larry Johnson Sr. has long been recognized not only as one of B1G and one of the best scouts in the country, but also one of the best DL coaches. When he joined Penn St. in 1996. joined, he worked primarily as a DE and special team coach before making slight changes to the role of full IL coach from 2000 to 2013. PSU continued a successful IL, they failed to retain Johnson in his team with the appointment. Franklin and Larry Johnson joined the Buckeyes in 2014. Sometimes the rich get richer. Ohio State had undisputed talent on the list of disabled people in 2014, but its performance at the beginning of the year did not match its talent level. But B1G may not have a team that has improved over the years and like Johnson's defensive line in the playoffs. In this article, we will look at some of the DL exercises that Larry Johnson brought to PSU and how they make his defensive lines so effective.

We always want to start with the basics, that is, to make the technique to start the posture correct and perfect. I think it's important for players to be able to play on the ground with both hands, so you both work. Instructors will learn different standing positions depending on the floor, distance and location. The change comes from the weight of your hands (between 1/3 and 1/2) and the position of your feet relative to the base and each other. The more you are, the more you want to keep your feet under you and set off less; It is a position of energy that keeps you balanced and strong. The farther you go from the edge and the more emphasis you place on the crowd of pedestrians, the more weight you can carry forward and the more you can keep your puck in a sort of running position.

The forearm is the opposite arm of the foreleg; You want to extend it to the front so that the eyes are about 6 inches in front and just below your shoulders. Straight back with buttocks up, knees well bent to generate power. Keep your free hand relaxed and in a working position on the slam so that you can immediately clap and hit the blocker.

Then you can go to "Home". It is also a construction process. We start with a "6 point posture" (both legs, both knees and both hands down). When the ball breaks, you can shoot in front and outside. Then continue with "1 Leg Balance Start". The first three steps are the most important step for any linebacker. By starting balanced, you can get out of your position nicely and focus on that first step to the ground as you go. This tendency to focus at this early stage continues when the 1-step mat blast is low. Then start exercising your eyes and feet. The legs must be quick to respond, the eyes must find the target. So they are working on "fun exercises". These deflection exercises can go in several directions: running right, running left, drawing, fading, passing, guarding, etc.

This first video then goes to the exercise bag. These exercises improve foot movement, but they also focus on getting your feet back on the ground so you can maintain strength during a game. Your legs need to be fast because they need to be able to move To do this, you need to work forward and build strength, but if your feet do not touch the ground, your feet are small and you run out of energy.

Part II continues with the pocket exercise. These exercises will help players to play in space and understand the speed and timing of tricks, tilting and other DL movements. Continue with the parachute bag drill, which focuses on the ability to bend the buttocks during this footwork exercise. If you are deep and can move your legs well, you can position yourself well as a linebacker. All of these exercises are aimed at making these boys better athletes; Technology will help you. So now we have started in a position to achieve success and we are working on our feet to put ourselves in a position where we can be successful when the game starts.

Part III begins with mastery exercises. Tackling exercises must be done for each position. For DL, many of these tasks are close, so that should be the focus of construction. Find goals, wear your helmet and follow your coping strategies . Finally, start fast ball with QB jamming tackle tactics.

We can now focus more on the strategy so that we can start in the right position and move well enough to move to the position to apply our strategy. It starts with an explosion exercise that starts at your knees and focuses on the explosion above and below, by going a bag with both hands, driving energy into your thighs and a player. You move slowly forward to your position, starting with a position where you are basically "diving", through a two-stage bump and lever, to start your three-point position and finish your explosive strategy. These are some of the most important exercises for any DL that need to be done regularly and regularly.

Once we can break into and control a blocker, we can concentrate on dodging the blocker. The easiest way to do this in control is pool movement and tear movement. We continue to focus on "lock" drills that focus on the initial blast and extension to lock the blocker so you can control it. These exercises focus on hand use. How to hit, how to get out of the screen, how to hold and control the screen. All of this allows the defender to hold or win his man, control the blockers and then get rid of the blockers and then create drama.

And then you start combining everything from a game situation: block and row, block and break and so on. You can then work out how to handle cut blocks and how to browse online and do other tricks. But it's about the basics. Once all the basics are off the player, you can focus more on position-specific strategies (DE exercises and DT exercises). This means winning against certain blocks (expansion blocks, ram blocks, double teams, traps, etc .; how to identify specific keys,

Finally, we see fast-paced exercises that focus on rough hands, space play, diving in the shoulders, and more.

Here are more business exercises for those interested.