Run a Safer, Game-Shaped Tackling Period

Run these six football tackling drills as a 25-minute progression from Air to controlled, game-shaped work. The sequence teaches the whole play—track, preserve leverage, prepare, connect with the shoulder, clamp and finish—without takedowns or a line of defenders simply taking turns delivering collisions.

USA Football organizes tackling around five phases: track, prepare, connect, accelerate and finish. It recommends progressing from no contact toward game simulation rather than beginning with live action (USA Football).

Choose the first breakdown you see and your contact ceiling; the tool identifies where to start.

Set The Contact Level Before Practice

You need four cones per station, two hand shields or stand-up bags, and footballs. Use groups of four to six players, pairing athletes by size and readiness rather than simply by position.

Put the contact level beside every drill on the practice script:

• Air: No opposition or contact.
• Bags: Contact against a soft surface.
• Control: Assigned speed, a predetermined winner, above-the-waist contact and both players staying on their feet.
• Thud: Competitive contact, above the waist, with players staying up and a quick whistle.

Those distinctions follow USA Football’s Levels of Contact. Count every contact repetition under the limits established by your school, conference and state association.

Before adding resistance, verify properly fitted equipment, a clear surface and compliance with all medical restrictions and return-to-play decisions. Stop a repetition when a player initiates contact with the helmet, loses body control or exceeds the called tempo.

NFHS high school guidance stresses that responsibility for legal contact belongs to the player initiating it. It directs coaches to eliminate targeting and avoidable forceful contact (NFHS).

Use the same five coaching words throughout the period:

1. Track: Close space while protecting assigned leverage.
2. Near: Key the runner’s near hip and put the near foot forward.
3. Shoulder: Connect with the near shoulder, never the helmet.
4. Clamp: Secure the runner with both arms.
5. Drive: Keep the feet active until the whistle.

The Six Drills Fill 25 Minutes

1. Near-Hip Mirror Builds The Approach

Time: 3 minutes
Contact: Air

Make a 5-by-5-yard box. Place a runner and defender 3 yards apart. The runner holds a ball and works laterally between the side cones without crossing the defender’s line.

On the whistle, the runner moves laterally for three seconds. The defender closes under control and maintains the assigned inside-out or outside-in relationship to the runner’s near hip. Run two reps from each side, then switch roles.

The defender’s near shoulder should remain aligned with the near hip. The feet must keep gaining ground rather than stopping for an extended “breakdown.” USA Football identifies the near hip as a stable tracking target and pairs the near foot with the near shoulder (USA Football).

Correct three common errors:

• Defender crosses the runner’s face: Widen the entry angle and restore the called leverage.
• Defender lunges: Shorten the final steps; do not tell the player to stop moving.
• Defender watches the shoulders: Return the visual key to the near hip.

2. Near-Foot Shoulder Fit Establishes Position

Time: 4 minutes
Contact: Bags

Have a partner hold a shield. The defender begins 2 yards away and slightly offset so one shoulder is naturally near the target.

The defender takes two controlled steps, puts the near foot inside the target’s cylinder, connects the near shoulder to the shield and clamps with both arms. Freeze the fit for one second. Perform three reps per shoulder.

Near foot and near shoulder should arrive together. The head stays up and out of contact. The knees and hips remain flexed without the torso folding at the waist.

If the feet stop outside the cylinder, move the starting point closer. If the defender reaches with the head or arms first, reduce the speed and reset. Do not progress a faulty fit by asking for a harder strike.

3. Fit, Clamp And Two-Step Drive Adds A Finish

Time: 4 minutes
Contact: Bags

Keep the shield pairing. Start the defender fitted with the shoulder on the shield, head out of contact and both arms clamped.

On “drive,” the defender takes two short steps while the holder provides moderate resistance. End the rep before posture deteriorates. Complete four reps, alternating the contact shoulder.

The hips should rise through contact, the clamp should stay tight and both feet should continue working. USA Football’s thigh-and-drive progression places the shoulder on the thigh-board area and uses active feet through the runner (USA Football).

Use these corrections:

• Long first step: Tell the defender, “Win two inches twice,” not “drive harder.”
• Arms slide down: Reset the clamp before adding resistance.
• Chest collapses: Remove resistance and rebuild the fit.

4. Two-Yard Angle Tackle Connects Tracking To Contact

Time: 5 minutes
Contact: Control; stay up

Create a 3-yard-wide lane. The runner starts 2 yards upfield and 1 yard inside the defender. Predetermine the defender as the winner. The runner travels at half to three-quarter speed.

The runner takes a straight or slightly widening path. The defender tracks the near hip, connects near foot and near shoulder, clamps and drives for two steps. The strike point is the runner’s near pec, with the defender’s head out of contact.

A quick whistle ends the rep with both players upright. Run two reps from each side, then exchange roles.

Contact should occur across the runner’s path rather than behind the runner. The helmet must never become the strike surface. A shoulder arriving behind the hip signals a tracking problem, not a need for more collision speed. Widen the defender’s starting angle and repeat at Control tempo.

5. Leverage Alley Tests The Declared Side

Time: 4 minutes
Contact: Control; stay up

Build a 4-by-6-yard alley. Declare the defender’s leverage before each rep: “inside-out” or “outside-in.” Give the runner one cut but no spin or stiff-arm. Predetermine the defender as the winner.

The defender closes without surrendering the declared side, gathers under control and makes a shoulder-to-near-pec fit with the head out of contact. Whistle on a secure clamp. Run four reps per defender, changing the leverage call.

Grade the approach before the fit. A clean shoulder connection cannot repair leverage that already opened the escape lane.

If the defender becomes square too early and loses the leverage side, place a cone on the hip line the defender must maintain. If the defender overruns the cut, reduce the runner’s space and speed.

6. Open-Field Decision Tackle Tests The Full Skill

Time: 5 minutes
Contact: Thud; stay up with a quick whistle

Create a 6-by-8-yard box. The runner starts 6 yards from the defender and may attack either exit cone. Pair athletes appropriately and cap each defender at three reps.

The runner chooses a side. The defender tracks, gathers without stopping, maintains leverage and secures an above-the-waist shoulder-and-clamp fit with the head out of contact. Whistle immediately once the defender has control. Allow no dragging, twisting or takedown.

Award one point for each observable win:

• leverage preserved;
• near foot and shoulder connected;
• head stayed out of contact;
• two-arm clamp secured;
• feet remained active until the whistle.

Require four of five points twice before increasing space or speed at a later practice.

NFHS coaching guidance recommends balancing contact and non-contact work so players can develop tracking and leverage before applying them at speed. It groups tackling work into teaching, tracking, bag and small-space competitive drills (NFHS). The final drill should test technique already taught, not introduce it.

Grade The Period In Under Two Minutes

Record three numbers for each defender: leverage wins, shoulder fits and secure clamps. When possible, video the final drill from behind the defender. That angle shows the approach path and whether the head enters the contact path.

Let the first breakdown determine the next practice:

• If the group misses on tracking, return to Near-Hip Mirror.
• If tracking is sound but contact posture fails, return to the bag fits.
• If tracking and posture are sound, change the runner’s entry angle before adding speed or contact.

Position coaches can carry the same leverage language into pursuit, run fits and defensive back drill periods. That keeps tackling technique connected to the defender’s assignment rather than isolating it in a circuit.