Need advice on playing high school DE?

Question

Can any of you please give me advice, tips, good techniques. Drills

4-3 technique

Answer 1

www.nflhs.com and go to the tips section for defensive end.  It's all answered.

Answer 2

its good to be fast playing DE, Im not an expert at DE, but there job is to contain, which means stop anything that runs to the side. At least thats whats they do at my school. You can also sack the QB on passing plays. And remember speed is very important for a DE getting past the O-line

Answer 3

Most coaches would advise doing strength drills to get through the line, but personally I prefer speed and agility drills.  The most important thing to remember while getting through the offensive line is to be faster than them, not necessarily stronger.  They have a preset image of what they're going to do on the next play, and if you can confuse them while running around them, or faking one direction while taking another, you will always have the upper hand on the line.  Some drills that would help you with learning these techniques could be ladder drills, dot drills, and a lot of lower body conditioning.  I suggest searching on Youtube to learn the correct form of the spin move, the rip, and the slingshot, which are all very helpful on getting by the offender.

Good luck in your season.

Answer 4

The trick to beating a tackle in passing situations is getting him to move off his blocking platform, and diminish the value of his biggest asset - his bulk and weight. By the nature of the positions, the tackle is typically going to outweigh the DE, and the DE is going to be faster than the Tackle.  Use his biggest advantage against him (body weight) and your biggest advantage (speed) by moving him one way and breaking hard the other, which the majority of the time is going to his outside shoulder and "turning the corner" on the big guy.  The longer you take to do this, the more likely you'll not get to, or put pressure on the QB, so you have to explode out of your stance (key practice item), you have to rock him at arms length and not let him get to your core or your pads (explosive contact - key practice item), but do so by leveraging past him (key practice item) and accelerating off your contact with him to turn the corner with speed toward the quarterback - NOT absorb your energy and get tied up with the OT.  About the time he's getting used to your pattern, and starts to anticipate you're going outside, then he is ready to be ripped that direction, and you go inside. This is classic use of leverage to accelerate your momentum TOWARD the quarterback.  The windmill can be used (applying hard contact up/under arm) to get him off of you and "pull" you toward the QB, and the spin move is a great third counter after you've misdirected him a couple of times. Get in close contact, 180 at top speed with your back toward the OT, and as you come around the 180, WHIP your arm around and behind him to lever off of him with your arm and catapult past him, accelerating off the contact.  If needed, follow-up with your outside hand to cuff his shoulder UP, and get a second push off of him.  All of the great DEs are so fast with their feet that even when tied up by the OT, they continue to speed rush around him and wear him out.  Remember one key advantage - he doesn't know for certain where the quarterback IS, and you do, so occassionally you can fake him into thinking the QB has moved, get separation, and move back the other way. This requires top physical condition so the big payoffs can develop in the second half when the OT is sucking air.  If you get tied up, and try to outfight him, he will wear YOU out with his size.  Make HIM do the work the entire game.  Even if he's fast enough to stick with you to the outside, this still creates a lane for an OL or DB blitz to the QB.  

If you can consistently beat the tackle, you can win, because the tackle, particularly the weak side tackle, is the "money" player on most offensive lines.  As he goes, so goes the game.