BIG DAWG TRENCH TALK

**The "Netflix" For Defensive Linemen & Coaches - Video-On-Demand Tutorials On Pass Rush, Run Game, Hand Combat, Etc.: www.bigdawgfootball.comKnowing your enemy, provides wisdom on attacking your enemy. It’s hard to defeat someone you don’t know. As a pass rusher, do you know the offensive linemen across from you? Do you know their 3 fundamental objectives? Do you know their strengths, weaknesses or tendencies? In this game, what you don’t know, can beat you. Knowing these things though, can put you a step ahead which might be the step you need to succeed. If you want to know a little bit more about the offensive linemen in front of you and how this can help your game, check out this podcast BIGDAWG! It might be the key to providing you with the extra step you need. Let’s go to work!Want To Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day" For Us To Answer On-Air (Audio Welcome):trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.comFOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA BIG DAWGS!YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/FiveStarLinemenAcademyTwitter: www.twitter.com/fivestarlinemenIG: www.instagram.com/fivestarlinemenFacebook: www.facebook.com/fivestarlinemen

**The "Netflix" For Defensive Linemen & Coaches - Video-On-Demand Tutorials On Pass Rush, Run Game, Hand Combat, Etc.: www.bigdawgfootball.com Hey Big Dawg, don’t you know that you are the corner stone of the defense?! It may start with them, but it ends with you! You play to END GAMES. What are you doing to ensure that you are fulfilling your role as defensive end? Learn how to better prepare yourself and your pre-snap and make plays. Defensive Ends, this one’s for you! Want To Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day" For Us To Answer On-Air (Audio Welcome): trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA BIG DAWGS! YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/FiveStarLinemenAcademy Twitter: www.twitter.com/fivestarlinemen IG: www.instagram.com/fivestarlinemen Facebook: www.facebook.com/fivestarlinemen

**The "Netflix" For Defensive Linemen & Coaches - Video-On-Demand Tutorials On Pass Rush, Run Game, Hand Combat, Etc.: www.bigdawgfootball.com Show me a man that can focus and I’ll show you a man that can fight. Being able to focus during the fight makes all the difference with being precise at the strike! Losing sight at the strike is one of the most common mistakes and most under coached skills at all levels. Not being focused at the set and the strike phase of the pass rush causes inaccuracy and inefficiency. Your hands can’t be precise without eyes that can’t focus. Improve your hand and eye coordination and watch your game progress. Let’s listen in on what BIG DAWG has to say about the importance of being focused in the fight. Let’s talk Trenches! Want To Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day" For Us To Answer On-Air (Audio Welcome): trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA BIG DAWGS! YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/FiveStarLinemenAcademy Twitter: www.twitter.com/fivestarlinemen IG: www.instagram.com/fivestarlinemen Facebook: www.facebook.com/fivestarlinemen

**The "Netflix" For Defensive Linemen & Coaches - Video-On-Demand Tutorials On Pass Rush, Run Game, Hand Combat, Etc.: www.bigdawgfootball.com Want To Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day" For Us To Answer On-Air (Audio Welcome): trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com When you look at your team, do you see uniformity or unity? Or both? There is a difference between unity and uniformity. In football, uniformity can mean that a team looks the same or is one in form. But, it doesn't mean you are a team. Unity means that the team is the same. They have the same objectives and the same goals. They function as a unit. In this episode, we're breaking down the importance of unity vs uniformity and how it leads to success. Alright Big Dawgs, LETS TALK TRENCHES!

The "Netflix" For Defensive Linemen & Coaches - Video Tutorials On Pass Rush, Run Game, Hand Combat, Etc.: www.bigdawgfootball.com Want To Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day" For Us To Answer On-Air (Audio Welcome): trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com Every productive thing in life has an order and so does training a Dawg in the Trenches! The Optimal Defensive Line Training System is a system created to help bring order and priority to properly training defensive linemen to be dynamic and perform optimally at the LOS (Line Of Scrimmage). In this series, let’s dig deep into conversation and discuss what the perfect functional curriculum should be to maximize progress. This episode is all about defensive line hand placement. Alright Big Dawg, LETS TALK TRENCHES! CONNECT WITH US BIG DAWGS TWITTER: www.twitter.com/5StarLATA INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/fivestar_linemen FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/5StarLTA

The "Netflix" For Defensive Linemen & Coaches - Video Tutorials On Pass Rush, Run Game, Hand Combat, Etc.: www.bigdawgfootball.com Want To Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day" For Us To Answer On-Air (Audio Welcome): trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com Every productive thing in life has an order and so does training a Dawg in the Trenches! The Optimal Defensive Line Training System is a system created to help bring order and priority to properly training defensive linemen to be dynamic and perform optimally at the LOS (Line Of Scrimmage). In this series, let’s dig deep into conversation and discuss what the perfect functional curriculum should be to maximize progress. First up, feet mechanics in your stance. Alright Big Dawg, LETS TALK TRENCHES! CONNECT WITH US BIG DAWGS TWITTER: www.twitter.com/5StarLATA INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/fivestar_linemen FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/5StarLTA

The "Netflix" For Defensive Linemen & Coaches - Video Tutorials On Pass Rush, Run Game, Hand Combat, Etc.: www.bigdawgfootball.com Want To Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day" For Us To Answer On-Air (Audio Welcome): trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com CONNECT WITH US BIG DAWGS TWITTER: www.twitter.com/5StarLATA INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/fivestar_linemen FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/5StarLTA

The "Netflix" For Defensive Linemen & Coaches - Video Tutorials On Pass Rush, Run Game, Hand Combat, Etc.: www.bigdawgfootball.com Want To Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day" For Us To Answer On-Air (Audio Welcome): trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com What's Up Big Dawgs?! Do you know that football can activate the "F.I.G.H.T." in your life? Football isn't just a game of x's and o's. There are principles of the game that can be applied to your life. Be a DAWG on the field and off the field! FIGHT! CONNECT WITH US BIG DAWGS TWITTER: www.twitter.com/5StarLATA INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/fivestar_linemen FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/5StarLTA

The "Netflix" For Defensive Linemen & Coaches - Video Tutorials On Pass Rush, Run Game, Hand Combat, Etc.: www.bigdawgfootball.com Want To Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day" For Us To Answer On-Air (Audio Welcome): trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com What's Up Big Dawgs! There are always two places that you can catch me, in the "trenches" and in the "lab". Before I become a Dawg in the trenches, I'm constantly studying film with Coaches and Big Dawgs in the "lab". We're breaking down the importance of being a student of the game. #LetsGoToWork CONNECT WITH US BIG DAWGS TWITTER: www.twitter.com/5StarLATA INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/fivestar_linemen FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/5StarLTA

The "Netflix" For Defensive Linemen & Coaches - Video Tutorials On Pass Rush, Run Game, Hand Combat, Etc.: www.bigdawgfootball.com Want To Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day" For Us To Answer On-Air (Audio Welcome): trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com We're in the trenches breaking down and analyzing our favorite quarterback sack from week 2 of the NFL 2018 season. Want to see these Big Dawg DeMarcus Lawrence in action? Enter into the line of scrimmage by clicking the link below! http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000963311/Demarcus-Lawrence-takes-down-Eli-Manning-for-another-Cowboys-sack CONNECT WITH US BIG DAWGS TWITTER: www.twitter.com/5StarLATA INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/fivestar_linemen FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/5StarLTA

The "Netflix" For Defensive Linemen & Coaches - Video Tutorials On Pass Rush, Run Game, Hand Combat, Etc.: www.bigdawgfootball.com Want To Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day" For Us To Answer On-Air (Audio Welcome): trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com Big Dawg, I was sitting there thinking, right? Thinking about the trenches as I always do. Got my mind on the trenches and the trenches on my mind. You know what I'm saying, and I started thinking about how much defensive line play has changed over the years. I started going all the way back to about maybe 15, 20, 25 years. I started saying to myself, man in some ways not much has changed at all, but in others, gosh it's changed quite a bid. Then, big dawg it hit me like Law and Order. Close enough. When is the last time I've seen a defensive lineman stem. No, not swim. Stem. Oh, so you've never heard of a defensive lineman stemming at the line of scrimmage? Some of my older coaches know what I'm talking about. Episode number 11. Hello? Hello? Has anybody seen my friend stem? Anyone? Tell him Big Dawg's looking for him. Big dawg, I haven't seen a defensive lineman stem at the line of scrimmage for years. You know what, unc? Help me take it back, all the way back, down memory lane. Listen up here young buck. When I played back in the 80s, back when they had the afro, Big Dawg had one. I made sure mine was combed and picked. On the football field, see, we did something called stem. Now, let me school you here, young fellow. You know, I played nose tackle and my defensive line coach used to tell me, "Make sure you stem. You know, move. Don't just stand in one spot young blood. You gotta move around." My D line coach would say, "When you stem (or when you move around), you confuse the offensive linemen." We get in our stance and our D line coach Ray, coach Ray would stand over there with his big old stomach and his gold tooth and a Jerri curl talking about, "Stem! Hey, stem!" That was the cue. You know what I'm saying young blood? It meant move around. If you were lined up on the right shade at the center, you moved to the left shade of the center and right when that ball snapped, you'd be sure to snap back full speed back to the right shade of the center, hitting that A gap. That offensive lineman was always confused. Worked every time. Every single time. Exactly, appreciate that, unc. You're welcome. Oh, man it's too much fun. Have you seen my friend stem? I haven't. I haven't seen a defensive line stem in the trenches for several years. The stem, for me, is a technique that is used to confuse the offensive lineman's blocking scheme. By shifting or stemming your alignment, it confuses that offensive lineman's assignment. Let's talk trenches. Let's say we're in the 43 defense. We've got four down defensive linemen in the trenches. What's that offensive lineman gonna call, "Even! Even! Even!" What does even mean for the most part? It means you have four down defensive linemen. Why is that offensive lineman making that call? Most of the time that indicates to the offensive linemen or to the offensive line what their assignment is for that particular run play. Let's say I'm a defensive tackle and a wide three. Now, I know that my assignment as a defensive tackle is that B gap. That B gap is my responsibility. Most 4-3 defenses is gap defenses. They're our gap control defense. I know my assignment. My assignment is to make sure that nothing comes through that B gap. Lined up in my three technique or a wide three or wide B, and I know that anything that comes through there is mine. I know as a three technique that as soon as that ball snaps, I'm attacking that three and I got anything coming through the B. Let's say I want to stem. I want to confuse that offensive guard a little bit, so I'm gonna stem, shift or I'm going to move my alignment to head up over that guard. As long as I stem my alignment, it might alter the offensive lineman's assignment. Let's say it was a power and the play called for a double team. Being that I was in a three technique or the B gap, the guard and the tackle were gonna double team me and climb to the second level. The second level where the linebackers are. That was the case when I was in my three technique or when I was in my YB, but do you think that changes when I shift or I stemmed my alignment to head up over that guard. Now, the guard is fully covered and that offensive tackle is uncovered. For lots of offensive linemen, when that happens that offensive tackle is just gonna climb to the second level. Yes, now obviously there are a lot of different variables that come into play, but most of the time if that guy's not in that gap, that guard's gonna take that defensive tackle on his own because he's covered and that tackle is gonna climb and try to seal that linebacker. You understand what I'm saying big dawg? Let's replay this real quick. I'm in a B gap. "Even! Even! Even!" That guard and that tackle's assignment is to double team me and clime to the second level. Hopefully, that tackle's gonna climb and that guard's gonna take over or they're just gonna double team me and whichever way the linebacker goes, one of those linemen will come off and pick up that linebacker. Either way, because of my alignment being in the B gap, the initial assignment is to double and climb. Wait a minute. I just stemmed my alignment to now head up over the guard, which is a two technique. Now, we have the offensive line thinking do they still double team or does the offensive tackle climb and that guard has to take me solo? For some offensive linemen, that's confusing, now because now the assignment changes, but that's exactly what the stem technique does. It brings confusion and we know the more any athlete thinks, the slower he plays and the higher probability of that lineman making the wrong choice. Now, remember. I know what my assignment is. I know that, that B gap is mine. I don't have to line up in the B gap to attack the B gap, to hold that B gap down. I know that, that's my gap, so I'm gonna stem my alignment, shift myself and line up head up over that guard, so now I know that, that offensive tackle is gonna climb to the second level and I also know; check me out big dawg, that as soon as that offensive tackle climbs to the second level, there's gonna be the biggest hole in that offensive line. Why? Because the offensive tackle climbed to the second level, leaving a huge hole at the line of scrimmage. Now, as a smart defensive tackle that stemmed his alignment, head up over the guard, what am I gonna do at snap? I'm gonna slam right back in that B gap and right behind that offensive tackle. Tell me this big dawg, do you think that, that offensive guard can keep me from attacking that huge hole that, that offensive tackle just left by climbing to the second level? Go ahead. Think about it. Not a chance. Big dawg, it ain't happening. You know why? Because right when I moved head up over that offensive guard, I just presented to him three scenarios. One, I can hit that guard square on. Bull him in the backfield and create havoc. Two, I can slam inside into the A gap, which now him and that center have to make sure I don't penetrate that gap and make any plays backdoor or three, I possible can slam back into that B gap. The point is, is that he's thinking. He's not sure why I just stemmed my alignment from a three to head up. Big dawg, that's exactly what I want because, now even though he's the offensive player, he's playing defensively. I have just now transitioned to the offensive player. I'm the one that is attacking because I know what I'm gonna do, but he doesn't. As soon as that ball snaps and he's trying to figure out where I'm gonna go, I slant right behind that offensive tackle and then, boom. TFL. Tackle for loss, baby. Was I stronger than him? Not necessarily. Was I quicker than him? Maybe I am, but one thing's for sure, I outsmarted him. I made him think more than he wanted to. While he was thinking, I was playing. The stem technique. Let's look at it a different way. Let's say, again, I line back up in a three technique and again, I know my responsibility on this play is the B gap. We're in a 4-3 defense. I'm to the strongest side, tight end side, strong right and I'm lined up in the B gap as a three technique. Prior to the snap, let's say I stem my alignment. I move or I shift myself. Now, I head up over the tackle. Again, that's gonna confuse the offensive linemen. The offensive tackle was anticipating climbing to the second level. Now, that offensive lineman has to make a quicker judgment and that offensive guard has to be the one to climb to the second level because now, that guard is uncovered and I at least make it appear that the tackle is covered. One again, just because I shifted my alignment or stemmed my alignment, doesn't mean my responsibility changes. My responsibility does not change. I just changed my formation or at least, I changed my location. As soon as that ball snaps, I snap right back into my B gap. I can punch a rip in my gap or I can quickly drop my shoulder and [inaudible 00:14:06] in my gap. Once again, I've caused a huge hole to occur at the line of scrimmage. The stem technique. Now, some coaches may not like the stem because they want the linemen off of the linebackers and if that's your style of defense and you have the big dawgs for that, where you just want them to clog the gaps and not necessarily play that attacking, penetrating style of D line play, then I totally get that. Stemming is not for everybody. You have to have a certain kind of dawg in the trenches to stem. You have to have a dawg that's quick, smart, agile and versatile. He's explosive and he's gonna attack that gap right at snap. Now, this is perfect a lot of times for my undersized linemen. When I have undersized linemen that had trouble facing offensive linemen square on, we'll use the stem technique. He was smart enough and new his responsibility. He knew where he had to be where the ball snapped and I show him the proper technique as to how to get there, depending on the play and at this point, now my smaller defensive lineman use the stem to his advantage to outsmart and to out leverage that offensive lineman to the point of attack. Listen, there are several benefits to the stem technique. Number one, in most cases, it confuses the offensive linemen or it gets them thinking that sometimes that's good enough. Two, it can create one on one match ups at the line of scrimmage and if you know you have that type of dog at the trenches that's more agile and versatile and you know he can beat any offensive lineman to the spot, then applying the stem technique might be the perfect style of play for him. You might be able to get him to be more aggressive at the line of scrimmage. Three, it makes it very difficult to track or trace where that defensive lineman is gonna be. When an offense or an offensive coordinator knows exactly where that defensive lineman is going to be, then obviously it makes it very easy to choose the right offensive play. That defensive lineman is just standing there like a guinea pig waiting to be slaughtered. Why? Because he keeps lining up exactly where that offensive coordinator wants him to line up. That offense knows exactly where you're going to line up by their formation. They got you exactly where they want you and a lot of times, I've seen this over and over again, that you have a strong kid and a great athlete be outsmarted by the offensive coordinator or be outsmarted by the offensive scheme. You've seen it before, big dawg. The fold blocks, offensive linemen taking that guy at an angle. If that defensive lineman wins one on one match ups, then a smart offensive coordinator will make sure that defensive lineman is attacked at an angle. Old blocks, scoot blocks. Anything that will keep that defensive lineman from punching that offensive lineman and squaring him up in the gap, causing traffic. Ain't no fools in the conference. I don't know of any offense that's gonna allow a defensive lineman to just sit there and destroy that offensive line. Eventually, at some point, they're gonna make adjustments in their blocking scheme, right? That's the whole concept of the wing T offense, the counters, the buck sweeps, the traps, the stretches, the elephants on parade, the zone plays. All of those offenses that will force and cause a defensive lineman to work laterally instead of vertically, but what if we could adjust our defensive lineman and not allow them to be so predictable? What if we could teach our defensive lineman, like we used to back in the day, that you know what your assignment is, you shift or stem your alignment, so that we can recreate those one on one match ups and at the snap of the ball, beat that offensive lineman to the point of attack. Beat that offensive lineman to the gap. Cause havoc in the backfield because you cause confusion and win at the line of scrimmage. What I'm trying to say big dawg is that there's so many ways you can win at the line of scrimmage. You don't always have to necessarily square up in your match ups. A lot of time you can teach a defensive line to outsmart the opposition. Remember, the name of the game is to get the guy with the ball down. There are lots of different ways you can do that and I don't think that there's anything wrong with every now and again, stemming your defensive line. Speaking from personal experience, when I played at University of Florida, I could play the five spot, the defensive end spot. I could play the three technique. I could play the one technique. I could play anywhere on that defensive line. Now, my favorite was between the one and the three. I loved me some one and three. I didn't mind playing the five to help my team, but I loved playing the one technique and the three technique. A lot of times, I would deal with guys bigger than me. I would deal with guys that were definitely stronger than I was, but I knew one thing big dawg. I was gonna be smarter, I was gonna be quicker and I was going to out will my opposition. Coach John Thompson. Coach, I love you. If you ever hear this, man, you're my hero and you know that. Coach came in my senior year at University of Florida. We had a new head coach, coach Ron [00:20:04] and coach John Thompson came in and he brought in coach Red Anderson. Fiery Red Anderson. As red as you could get him, that was him. My man had the mustache. He had the bald head and he had the attitude. That was my guy. He was something else. One thing I loved about that defense was the freedom. Say it with me, freedom! Coaches, that's not a bad word. Sometimes, we don't give our dawgs enough freedom. Well, let me tell you something. Coach John Thompson, boy he gave us some freedom. Now, I don't mean that we were undisciplined. We were very discipline. Coach made sure of that, but when I say freedom, he allowed us to do our assignment the best way we knew how, as long as we did our assignment. He sent us on stunts. He allowed us to stem, but we better be where we're supposed to be when that ball snaps. See, this is one of the reasons why we were one of the top defenses in the country. When I say top defenses in the country, I'm talking about top five or top three in some categories. It wasn't just the fact that we were big and strong. A lot of colleges had guys that were big and strong. It wasn't just that we were quick. A lot of schools had guys that were quick, but we had freedom and we were taught and trained how to do our assignment in a different way, so you better believe I took full advantage of that freedom. Every now and again, I would stem my alignment. I would shift or move my location and I knew that as soon as that ball snapped, I was club ripping. I was chop dipping. I was sweep ripping. I was bull pulling right where I was supposed to be. Big dawg, I can't tell you how many plays I made because my defensive coordinator, coach John Thompson and my awesome D line coach, coach Red Anderson (love both of you guys), gave us that freedom to go out there and play football. That way, offenses couldn't just sit there and pick us apart at the line of scrimmage. We didn't line up in the same place over and over again. Like the great John Thompson said, he said, "Rolle, every defense has a weakness, but see the offenses have to find it and if I keep moving my weakness around, they'll never find it." That got me to thinking big dawg. It got me to thinking about myself. Do I have weaknesses? Sure as I'm human. I have lots of weaknesses. Every man has a weakness. Am I right about it? You have to find my weakness, but watch this. Like coach said, if I keep moving or every now and again stemming, what's the chances of you finding my weakness? By the time you find my weakness, it's the fourth quarter and we're up by three touchdowns. Game over already, but I out willed you, I out quicked you, I out leveraged you, I out powered you and I outsmarted you. CONNECT WITH US BIG DAWGS TWITTER: www.twitter.com/5StarLATA INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/fivestar_linemen FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/5StarLTA MAILING LIST: www.fivestarlinemen.com

The "Netflix" For Defensive Linemen & Coaches - Video Tutorials On Pass Rush, Run Game, Hand Combat, Etc.: www.bigdawgfootball.com Want To Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day" For Us To Answer On-Air (Audio Welcome): trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com We're in the trenches breaking down and analyzing our favorite quarterback sacks from week 1 of the NFL 2018 season. Want to see these Big Dawgs in action? Enter into the line of scrimmage by clicking the links below! #99 DE DeForest Buckner | San Francisco 49ers: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000960017/Every-DeForest-Buckner-sack-vs-Vikings-Week-1 #90 LB T.J. Watt | Pittsburg Steelers: https://youtu.be/WlZMow7wjV0 #55 OLB Dee Ford | Kansas City Chiefs: https://www.chiefs.com/video/dee-ford-bursts-through-line-for-first-sack-of-2018 CONNECT WITH US BIG DAWGS TWITTER: www.twitter.com/5StarLATA INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/fivestar_linemen FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/5StarLTA

The "Netflix" Of Defensive Line Video Tutorials (Drills, Pass Rush Moves, Hand Combat, & Mush More): https://www.bigdawgfootball.com For Exclusive 20% Discount Use Promo Code: PODCAST Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day": trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com So, Big Dawg, imagine this right? So you get in the car and you crank it up. You put your seatbelt on because that's the right thing to do. You read the sign, click it or ticket. You put the car in drive and you get to riding. Riding and looking. Looking and riding. Got your home boys on the side and y'all talking about riding to Oakridge Mall because it's movie night. Y'all just riding, vibing to some music, talking about the game, riding and looking, looking and riding. All of a sudden, you take your hands off the steering wheel because you're trying to show out. You real comfortable with your hands off that steering wheel until all of a sudden, uh-oh spaghetti-o. Unfortunately, this happens way too often. Episode Number 9: Are You Playing Out of Control? Let's think about that analogy for a second. How can we have control of a vehicle without our hands? You can't control anything without your hands. Now, I can mash on the accelerator and make the vehicle go faster. I can mash on the brakes to make the vehicle slow down. But I can't guide that vehicle in the right direction and the way that I want to go without my hands, which ultimately means I do not have control. You must get your hands on to establish control and if you don't, Big Dawg, get your hands on that vehicle sooner than later, a catastrophe's going to happen. In most cases, not having control can lead to chaos. If you've been around football long enough, you'll know that whoever controls the line of scrimmage controls the football game. There goes that word again, control. And whomever cannot control the line of scrimmage, can't control the football game. And if you can't control the football game, a catastrophe is bound to happen over and over and over again. How important is your hand play at the line of scrimmage? And I'm not just talking about one guy. I'm talking about the line as a whole, those dawgs up front. How important is your hand play at the line of scrimmage? It's so important that if you don't get a handle on that steering wheel, you're bound to crash. Catastrophe is right around the corner and you know what good offenses do? They'll find a weakness in the defense. They'll find that lineman who can't establish control, and most of the time that lineman that can't establish control is trying to drive the vehicle without his hands. Is that you, Big Dawg? Is that how you sound in the trenches? Boy, you out there playing out of control. One of the reasons why I chose to talk about this today is because normally during this time of the year, I watch a lot of film. A lot of my Big Dawgs across the country, whether it be NFL or college and high school, they're always sending me film to analyze, so outside of training and consulting, I'm watching a ton of film. And whether it be on the offense or defensive side of the ball, the common denominator for error is the same. If you had to guess what that common error was between defense and offensive line play at the line of scrimmage, what would be your guess? You guessed it. Hand mechanics, man. The common denominator for error on both sides of the ball would be hand placement before contact, hand placement at contact, and hand engagement after contact. And truthfully, when you look at NFL play, it's the same thing. The only difference is is that on that level, the game is a lot faster, which means your hands have to be quicker, which means your hands have to be more precise. So for that reason, I just couldn't pass up this question. I got a question from one of my Big Dawgs. His name just says Laker Fan. I don't know his real name, but shout out to you, Big Dawg. You asked a really good question. It's a question I get a lot and let me read this question. It says, "How do you get a really strong first punch with your arms extended?" Like how do you get in that position is what he's saying? "It often feels like when I get off the ball, my elbows are bent and I end up headbutting the offensive lineman." I've seen that a ton, Big Dawg. You ain't the only one. "Is my upper body weak? I bench press around 315 as a junior." In other words, he's saying, "I don't think my arms a week. Why is it that I can't get that separation that I want, that extension off the ball? Why am I headbutting guys in front of me?" Big Dawg, I see that so much that there's an issue with hand mechanics. There's an issue with the hand mechanics. That's why this was a great question and I have to answer this trench question. Laker Fan, appreciate you. Let's talk trenches. You know when I have conversations with defensive linemen and I discussed with them, what is your goal? What is your objective? I mean, you ready to go. You got your shoulder pads on. You got your cleats on. You probably spatted. When I was in high school, I had to be spatted every game. I spend so much money on tape alone. I know for a fact I spent more money on tape than I did my cleats. Now, that's a shame. I had my cowboy collar, so it looked like I had big traps. I have a pitch-black, limousine-black visor, so you couldn't see my eyes, which wasn't the smartest because we're already playing at nighttime. But you know what? I looked good. And you know what they say. Look good, play good. Well, that ain't always true, but what was my goal? What's your goal, Big Dawg? Coaches, ask your athletes, "Going into this game, what is your goal? What are you trying to accomplish?" Nine times out of 10, despite what they may say out loud, they are going into that game to make tackles and get sacks. They trying to make as many plays as possible. Now, making plays and making tackles is two different things because you might make a play, a great play, but it doesn't mean you made the tackle or the sack. Making the play means that you sacrificed. You served for your team. It means as a defensive end, you set an edge. It means as a nose guard, you commanded a double team allowing the linebacker to be free. Now, you might not have made that tackle or that sack, but because of what you did, somebody else benefited from that. You're a team player, Big Dawg, and those are the guys that go a long way. Now, you may say, "Coach, there ain't nothing wrong where my linemen going to the game wanting to make tackles and sacks." Well, in my opinion, it is something wrong with that if that's their first priority. One of the number one reasons why dawgs in the trenches play out of control is because they're focused on the wrong thing. They want that bone and they want it bad, so what you think they looking at? Come on, coaches. What they looking at? The backfield. As if that Big Dawg is not in the gate, as if they don't have an opposition in front of them, as if that guy in front of them just going to step to the side and let them come on through, as if they don't have to fight for what they want. I'm referencing episode Number 8. If you ain't heard it, Big Dawg, you got to go check it out. They want to make tackles. They want to make sacks. And ain't nothing wrong with that, but that ain't the first priority, Big Dawg. Your first priority is that guy in front of you. Why we not playing with precise hands is because we can't focus our eyes. Let me give you an example. Have you ever looked through a camera and you're trying to take a picture? Now, I ain't talking about these cell phones. I'm talking about a real camera. So here you have a camera in your hand and you looking through the camera, and you trying to take a picture of your dawg and you focus your camera on your dawg. And if it's a really good camera, you can actually focus it to where everything around it is blurry. You know what I'm talking about, Big Dawg. Yeah, I took a little photography back in the day. So, because you're focused on the dawg in this picture, everything else is blurry. But you can also focus on the thing behind the dawg, to where that becomes the focus, and the dawg becomes blurry. Big Dawg, listen to me. Your eyes are an essential part of the game. If you're looking at the wrong thing, you will always respond the wrong way. How precise can you be if you're focused on something five to seven yards away, but you're not focused on what's inches away from you. I mean, right in front of your face, and closing, when the ball snap. You can see crystal clear the running back and the quarterback, but what's blurry is that guy in front of you. Well, of course your hands not gonna land, because your eyes not telling 'em where to go. That's why we call it hand and eye coordination. Your hands are not coordinated without your eyes. If you are focused on something five to seven yards away, your hands are not prepared to attack something that's inches away. Big Dawg, you want the bone so bad. You're not trusting your training. You're not playing with good hands, because you're playing with bad eyes. We don't to fight the good fight. We just want that bone. You focused on the wrong thing, and you out there playing out of control. That's you, Big Dawg? That's how you sound out there in the trenches? It is when you playing with no hands. The second major reason why defensive linemen do not play with good hands in the trenches is because of their stance. Man, I can't tell you how many defensive linemen I've had to adjust their stance so that they can play with good hands. Unfortunately, sometimes, as coaches, we do not spend enough time on their stance. If you don't have a good stance, they'll never have a good start. Having a good stance is like that first button on your button-up shirt. If you match that button right, all the buttons fall in place. But, man, if you get that button wrong, you ain't gonna find out until the end. That's the messed-up part with the stance. Is that it feels good, and it might even look good, but truthfully, sometimes it's not till the end when you check production, that you see if it was actually good or not. And sometimes we look at our dawgs, and we see that they're not producing, but we won't trace it back to the stance. Check the stance, coaches. Big Dawg, check your stance. Now, allow me to re-read this sentence. He says, Laker fan, "It often feels like, when I get off the ball, my elbows bend." Alright. Why do you think your elbows bend when you get off the ball? There are lots of reasons, and without getting too technical, but just a little bit, there are two common reasons why that happens. The most common one is that their stance is too heavy. They are too heavy-handed in their stance. How can you play with quick hands when you got a heavy stance? You have absolutely too much weight on your hands. Your hands might be too far out front of your shoulders. Sometimes, the further your hand is away from your front foot, or what I call your power foot, the more your weight distribution is off. And how can you be powerful if you are unbalanced? So, when you are too heavy on your hands, what's the first thing most D-Linemen do to get off their hands? They end up pushing off their hands. And when they push off their hands, that's what always causes that elbow to bend, or what I call flare. Now, sometimes, that defensive lineman may actually have his hand placed underneath his shoulder, or slightly in front, depends on the lineman. But, where that defensive lineman may go wrong is that, prior to the snap, they'll start leaning forward, and there are two problems with leaning forward in your stance. One major problem is that you just disengaged your hips. You are no longer loaded in your hips. That's a huge problem, because it's your hips that bring hit to your hands. Oh, that came from the Big Dawg Bible. Your hips brings hit to your hands. And when you lean forward in your stance, you just disengaged your hips, and loaded your hands. I'm gonna say that one more time. When you lean forward in your stance, you disengage your hips and load your hands. Do I want to load my hands, or do I want to load my hips? Well, whatever you wanna load is where your weight should be. So when you lean forward in your stance, and you disengage your hips, and you load your hands, once again, your weight distribution is off. Now, you have no hip explosion, no triple extension, out of your stance, and your elbows are bent because you just pushed off your hands. And you're standing trying to get off your hands while that man in front of you is coming at you full speed. And by the time that window closes, you're just getting your hands up in front of your chest. And so what happens? Head to head combat. You ramming your head into that guy in front of you like you a ram, out there about to get a concussion. Back in the day when I played football, you walk around showing people all those marks on your helmet. That was a badge of honor. Look at that blue right there, look at that green. Look at that orange. Boy, I hit him so hard, it left marks on my helmet. I don't know what we was thinking back then, but that was the dumbest thing ever. One, it's not safe, and you asking for a concussion. You thinking you out there balling. But you sound like ... Lord have mercy, give me strength. The third reason why defensive linemen do not play with good hands in the trenches is because their hand mechanics are wrong. When I say hand mechanics, I'm talking about the movement from the ground and onto the chest plate of the offensive lineman. I'm talking about their shoulder joints, elbows, hand positioning, prior to contact. The mechanics of the strike. And sometimes, the problem with that defensive lineman's hand mechanics may not be practice, necessarily. They might be trying to break a muscle memory that they've established in the weight room. Oh, that's a whole nother topic that I'm not gonna into right now. I'm just gonna look on over here, and just focus on the hand mechanics, for now. I ain't gonna get into the weight room. Just mind my business on over here with the hand mechanics. We'll talk about the weight room on another episode. Amen. I ain't gonna touch that right now, man. But that's a big problem. So, what actually is wrong with the hand mechanics, or the pre-contact hand preparation? I'm trying not to get in too much detail with this thing, but it's hard not to. So let me just mention this. Let me go over here and grab my Big Dawg Bible again. Hold on one second. Okay. You wanna hear? Here it go. If you don't like how your hands land, then check how your hands are on the land. Alright, think about that for a second. If you don't like how your hands are landing, check the positioning of your hands on the land. Now, some people think that it doesn't make a difference. But what exactly am I talking about? Are your index and thumb vertical? When you put your hands in the dirt, are your index and thumb on top of each other? Are they vertically aligned? If your index and thumb are vertically aligned, sometimes that means your elbows are out. That could be a problem for some defensive linemen. Your elbows are already out, in your stance, and you don't even realize it. I'm telling you. Think about it. Or, is your index and thumb horizontally aligned? Are they side by side? Most of the time, if your index and thumb are horizontal, it means your elbows are in already. They're already in, in your stance. Why? Because most of the time, your elbow and thumb work together. If your thumb is up, your elbows are in. If your thumbs are in, your elbows are out. Now, most of the time, this statement holds true. But once again, it all depends on the muscle memory you've established in the weight room. If you've ever paid attention to track, and I come from a big track family. My dad's a head track coach and has been for many years. Shout out to Coach Rolle, Hall of Fame down in Miami, Florida. Won six State Championships, which is hard to do down there, when everybody and their mama can run. Mama out there running a 4:340 with her church heels on. I'm telling you, ain't nothing but speed down there, Big Dawg. If you've ever looked at a sprinter in the blocks, he puts his hands, his thumb and index, on the line. Horizontally on the line. Well, why do they do that? Partly because they're not allowed to cross the line. But another reason why they do that is so that their elbows are in already. And when they split, which is a track term, their elbows are in already, once the gun fires. When you're trying to get from one point to another, from point A to point B,you want everything to be in a straight line. Sometimes when you're in your stance, having your index and thumb horizontal, or as close to horizontal as you can get it, puts everything in a straight line. It works your elbows in, and it will keep your elbows from flaring or working outward. Still on the topic of hand mechanics, sometimes we don't play with good hands because our hands pair before they punch. If you ever watch a defense lineman in slow motion, watch their hands. If they're in a three point stance and they have their left hand down and their right hand up, watch closely at how the up hand, which is what I call the striker, waits for the down hand. What are the hands trying to do? The hands like to pair before they punch. It is important that your hands pair before they punch. I'm not saying don't pair your hands before you punch your hands, I'm talking about the run. But the question is, where should they pair? Where should they pair? Should they pair prior to contact, or should they pair at contact? Oh, that's a deep question, big dawg. I'm trying not to get too technical, but I'm trying to help you get better at the same time. Where should they pair? If you're picking your hands up, what are you telling your body to do? To work up to? Sometimes that happens, why? Because our hands command. So, when we pick our hands up and we try to pair them, we're commanding our bodies to raise. While we're working up, that offensive lineman is working out. By the time we pair our hands, and the offensive lineman is closing on us, we get our hands caught before we can strike. Before we can truly punch, and get that extension we're talking about. Our hand mechanics are not right. When I coach this with my big dawgs, when I'm first working with them, we're working on hand mechanics, I try to keep this very simple, and I try to make it very easy for them to understand. You can have helicopter hands, or airplane hands. Now, when I say helicopter hands, what I'm speaking to is the mechanic of coming up and then out. From the turf, the hands come up, then they go out, like a helicopter. They pair, then they punch. But then you have airplane hands. Now, the reason why I call them airplane hands is because an airplane, obviously, does not go straight up and then out. The airplane would take that 45 degree lift, and it will go from the ground and towards somewhat of a 45 degree outward. When you plan with airplane hands, it means that your hands are going from the turf, or the dirt, and they are working their way towards the opposition in front of them. So, big dawg, do you have airplane hands, or helicopter hands? If you're pairing before you punch, you're probably playing with helicopter hands. Aw, dawg, that's not [inaudible 00:25:43], ain't it? I'm gonna say it again. If you're pairing before you punch, you are probably playing with helicopter hands. Most of the time when you're playing with helicopter hands, you don't get the extension you want. If you get the extension you want, you don't have the body leverage you want, because your hands didn't command you to come out your hips. They didn't go out like an airplane, they went up like a helicopter. You didn't go out like an airplane, you stood up, up like a helicopter. If you out there playing like a helicopter, straight up and down, that's probably what you sound like. Big dawg, you out there playing out of control. He who controls the line of scrimmage controls the football game, and you can't control the line of scrimmage without your hands. You will never be able to control the vehicle without your hands. Big dawg, you're right. You not playing with good hands has nothing to do with your upper body strength. Like he said, "I bench press 315 pounds, I did that as a junior, I'm probably a little bit stronger now, my upper body is not weak. Man, I don't think it's weak, right coach? What's going on with me?" Coaches, big dawgs, we have to figure this out, because if we have defensive linemen that can bench press 315 pounds and more, how sad is it that they can't use that 315 pound bench press? Now, normally when you come at your hips the right way, if they're loaded, you're talking about lots of pounds of pressure. But they have all that power, and no play. What good is it to be that strong, yet you can't use it? Well, big dawg, to answer your question, no, you are not weak at all. As I mentioned in a previous episode, in high school, my junior year going to my senior year, I was bench pressing 315 10 times. I was very strong for my age. However, because of the weight room, I actually ended up tearing my pec. When I tore my right pec, still torn, I could not bench the bar. I could not lift just the bar alone, with no weight on it. I was scared, I was devastated, and I didn't think I had any future in football. Why? I just had to get my bench press up. Nothing wrong with getting your bench press up, but if you don't learn how to use your hands, it don't matter how much you bench. If you don't learn how to use your hands, I don't care what you dead lift. If you don't know how to use your hands, your squat does not matter. Your vertical jump means nothing to me, your standing broad jump is just for show, 'cause if you don't know how to use your hands, you going fast nowhere. 'Cause just like that vehicle with that V12 engine, and them fancy tires, that [inaudible 00:28:57] with that nitro boost in it, them NASCAR tires, however you wanna dress that vehicle, big dawg. You've got a powerful vehicle, but you ain't got no hands. My bad, I shouldn't be laughing at that. Let me reread the question, and I'll conclude with those three essential answers. How do you get a really strong first punch with your arms extended? It often feels like, when I get off the ball, my elbows bend, and I end up headbutting offensive linemen. Is my upper body weak? I bench pressed 315 as a junior. The three reasons why we mentioned, why our big dawgs play without hands, and out of control, is one, they are out of focus, they are not focused on the right thing. Your hands can't coordinate what your eyes can't see. If you can't focus on it, you'll never hit it. Number two, you're not having a good start, because you're not in a good stance. You're way too heavy on your hands, or you've unloaded in your hips, and loaded on your hands. Hands are way too heavy, and my big dawgs know light stance makes quick hands. Number three, your hand mechanics are not right. Your hand placement on the land may not be how your hands want to land. You might be pairing before you punch. You might have that disease called helicopter hands. Ugh, you've got them helicopter hands. I'm just messing around with you, big dawg, but go see a doctor. There could be lots more reasons why you having hand problems, big dawg. Or you have a hard time stopping a run, or just playing a run past option, or doing anything. Those are probably your three reasons why you're headbutting the guy in front of you. As strong as you are, man, you're not using it, and you're not playing with your hands. Go back and watch a film, big dawgs out there, coaches. Watch an athletes film, big dawg, watch yourself. See if any of those three essentials apply. I don't want you out there in the trenches sounding like a car wreck because you're playing out of control.

The "Netflix" Of Defensive Line Video Tutorials (Drills, Pass Rush Moves, Hand Combat, & Mush More): https://www.bigdawgfootball.com Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day": trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com What's up Big Dawg. This is Coach Rolle at Five Star Lineman Academy and we here with another episode of Big Dawg Trench Talk. Big Dawg, I tell you what. It was a excellent weekend this weekend for me. I got a chance to watch my Big Dawgs play in the trenches. Shout out to all my college Big Dawgs that's out there doing your thing, man. Applied the technique we worked on and off season. Truly, I can see it pan out. One down, many more to go. Catch it back by its toe. If he hollers, squeeze it more but you bet not let it go. I'm just playing man. Nice work baby. Man, I'm equally excited for week one NFL football. I got some more Big Dawgs I know for a fact they've been putting that work in. They had an excellent off-season, a fantastic pre-season, and we finally approach the season. I look forward to watching my Big Dawgs play one game, one series, and one play at a time. Big Dawg, you know what? Before we get into the thick of today, I just wanna talk to you for a second. I just wanna share something I've been thinking about and something I've been reflecting on as I've been talking to my Big Dawgs, preparing them mentally, psychologically, for the season and even doing a little reflecting after their first game. As a young man for me, I was around football a lot. My dad was a football coach. He was also a track coach. He played lot of football as well. He was a wide receiver, as well as a running back. He played in the NFL as a receiver. I also have an older brother who played football. He was also a running back. He was also very, very good. Ended up going to Texas A&M. So growing up for me, I watched my older brother play a lot with my dad. I would be on the sidelines with my dad at these high school games and watching the crowd go crazy as my brother scoring these touchdowns and playing good defense. I also watched them play a little college football. And that definitely turned me on to football. I wanted to be like my dad. I wanted to be like my brother as they were successful in the game of football. And here I was, this little boy trying to figure out what I'm looking at. So that turned me on to watching the game of football. I watched football a lot. Because of the way I was developing, wasn't look like I was gonna be a running back and definitely not a wide receiver. I wasn't fast enough, neither did I have the stamina to run that long that many times. Something about that just was not sitting right in my soul. So I kept soul searching. So I'm watching the game more, watching TV, watching college games on TV. And when I say TV, I ain't talking about the flat screen TV. I'm talking about these big old gigantic, big ol' huge box TVs that take up half your room with antennas on 'em. And the knobs where you might be able to get six channels on 'em on a good day and don't let you get a good channel but it's staticky and now you gotta smack it in the right spot a couple times to get some kind of clarity. Shoot. Now I realize how I learned to club. I learned how to use my hands slapping that TV. Bop, bop. Come on TV, I can't see. And don't let the knob fall off. Oh lord, the knob done fell off. How am I supposed to turn the channel? Now I'm stuck watching the same channel and it's staticky and I'm slapping it, clubbing that thing and it still ain't clear. Now I gotta go get the pliers. Now I'm turning the channel with the pliers trying to watch some football. And don't let you miss the game, you gotta wait until the game come on again. I didn't have those boxes where you can set it to record and you just watch it when you get home. Nah, you better be home when it come on because if you get home late and you turn that TV on, bop, bop, it be gone. Game is over and you watching the clock tick zero, zero. You done missed it. You wasn't home. There it go. So I made sure I was home. My friends wanted to go outside and play and we played tackle in the street. We ain't have no football. We got us a Pepsi can, we crushed it, and that was our football. I don't know whether I was crazy, I don't know if I was just crazy or I really loved playing football 'cause there ain't no way I'm gone play tackle football without a football. You playing with a crushed can, more like mob ball. And if you pick that can up, boy, your behind gone be toe up because you gone have 15 thugs, little small little gangsters coming after you, running you through the street. Oh don't worry about the cars. Beep, beep. Just cut off of them. Spin off the hood, you'll be aight. But don't let them gangsters come and hit you. The cars aight. Them 20 little gangsters, these were the thugs, you done picked up the crushed can and here they come full speed getting ready to drive you through the water hydrant. Boy I don't know what I was thinking. Why I came home so many times scratched up from the street, playing mob ball or tackle football in the middle of the street. My goodness. I done came a long way y'all. Me and football have a history. But I loved the game. I knew I wanted to be a football player. "Hey little man, whatchu wanna be when you grow up?" "I wanna play football." I ain't talk much but I knew I wanted to play football. "You wanna be a doctor?" "Nope." "You wanna be a rapper?" "Heck no. Stutter too much for that." "What you wanna be little man?" "I wanna play football." That was me, big chunky little dude with a afro, wanted to play some football. Couldn't be like my dad or my brother but it looks like destiny would have me in the trenches. But it was fun, man, I loved playing football. I didn't mind playing football in the street. Every night again, we'd have the luxury of playing in the grass with a actual football. That was even better. Played [inaudible 00:06:49] football, played D-line, played O-line, with guys three, four years older than me. But you know what? It taught me something. It taught me a lot about character. Taught me a lot about dealing with giants, dealing with people bigger than me, faster than me, stronger than me. Everybody was bigger and faster and stronger than I was. I was 12 years old playing against kids 14 and 15. I had to because when I played, it was by weight. I was heavy. I was heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy. I was too big. I remember one time, I wanted to play so bad and we had to get on the scale before we played a game. The weigh-ins. Big Dawg, I was in my undies man. My underwear. I was in my tighty whities trying to make the weight. And don't act like I was the only one out there doing that. The cheerleaders there looking at me. Big Dawg, I ain't care. I was just hoping they was clean from the back. You know what I'm saying? Your boy was just trying to play man. But you know what? It was fun. It was fun playing the game because you learn. You learn to overcome obstacles. You lean to deal with certain situations. You learn that you actually had to fight for what you wanted, eve if it cost you. You learn that growing up. No, you didn't have the best technique but you knew what you was into was good for you even though it was challenging. You knew that ultimately, this was gonna bring you something. This was gonna teach you something and take you somewhere. I knew that. And there my dad was, watching me. Proud of me. And every time I got knocked down, I looked at 'em in his eyes and he said, "Son, get back up again." And he said all that without opening his mouth. You know what I'm talking about. Yeah one of 'em dads if you even blessed to have a father, or a father figure that look you in the eye a certain way and he done told you a whole paragraph, word for word without opening his mouth. That was my dad man. That man, he played the piano but he did not play PE. He just ain't play. Man it got to a point, Big Dawg, that football changed for me. It began to change. I began to hear on TV how they talk about how big somebody was, how tall he was, how strong he was. I would hear the NFL football analyst talk about his arm length and how big his hands were and how that was the reason why he would bat down balls and shed and throw guys around. And they began to list all the tangibles, all those things that they said made a great defensive lineman: his height, his strength, his speed, his quickness, his arm length, his hand width. All of these things make for a great defensive lineman. So here I am, watching these things, looking at these things on my big old box TV that half the time I can't even see. Wha, wha. That's me, hitting the side of the TV. Be careful. Be careful 'bout that TV. You know what TV stand for? Huh? TV. What does TV stand for. No I'm not insulting your intelligence. I'm just asking you a question. What does TV stand for? Well I learned it stands for television. TV stands for television. Now my next question is what does the TV, or what does the television do? My dad actually told me. He would tell me this and I would not listen to him. He say, "Alright Bubba, stop watching so much TV now. Ain't nothing but a ignorant tool." "What's you say Daddy?" "That ain't nothing but a ignorant tool." "A what?" "A ignorant tool." My dad called it a ignorant tool and you know what? I agree with him for the most part. Television means just what it says. The television tells a vision. It tells you a vision. What vision is the TV telling you? Whatever the vision is, is what we can sometimes deem as truth. What's my point? When I was young and I'm watching the tell-a-vision, the TV tell me a vision, the vision that I was getting was that in order to be a football player, that I had to look like that. The vision was portrayed for me that I had to look like the vision the television was showing me. So I began to look in the mirror and compare the vision to what I actually saw. And it wasn't looking like I matched up to what the television was telling me. So because I didn't match to what the television was telling me, I began to misinterpret what I was seeing in the mirror. And I began to question myself. The game that I have so loved and seen so much of growing up, the game that I used to love to enjoy playing in the street with the crushed can, the Ma Ball, the game that I watched my brother play. The game that if you asked me what I wanted to do, I say play football, began to tell me through the television a vision. Now I'm definitely not against television at all, so I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that the message that I received was wrong. I totally misinterpreted what I was seeing and what I was hearing, the television tell me was also wrong. I would hear on the television a lot about the tangibles, as I mentioned before. But I would never hear about the intangibles. Those things that we can't see, all those things that we can't touch. I wouldn't hear a lot about the attitude of the player. I wouldn't hear a lot about the will of the player. I wouldn't hear a whole lot about how it was really about the motivation and inspiration these athletes had to be great. I wouldn't hear that. But what I did hear was a lot about the tangibles, and that's where I began to compare myself and that's definitely, big dawg, where I went wrong. For episode number eight, we're going to open it up to two of our subscribers, which I really appreciate them asking me a question, a trench question. And the question had a lot to do with what I was just referring to. Shout out to Big Dawg [Kip 00:13:27] and Big Dawg Tyler, I appreciate you all being subscribers, and I definitely wanted to answer this question for you guys because I think it's extremely important. So let me read the questions here. This is Kip's question. I'm big and I'm decently strong, but I'm not that tall. I'm only 5'8" and I play interior D-line as a one technique. How do I increase my productivity against O-lineman that are often taller than me? It's really difficult for me to see around them. I have a good pass rush, but because of my limited ability to see around them, it's hard for me to see the ball handoffs, and stuff and a couple of times has cost me big time during the games. Okay, Kip good question. Now let me read Tyler's question. I'm 6'3", 160 pound, five tech defensive end. My pass rush is decent, but most linemen I play against are much heavier than me, and sometimes I feel unable to move them, especially in the run game. I was wondering if you have any advice/techniques that would help me in those situations. Big dawgs, I think those are valid questions, and I sincerely appreciate you asking them. All right, big dawg, let's talk about it. When I read these questions, the first thing I can think of is, man, that was me. That was me comparing myself, comparing the tangibles, to the guy across from me. That was definitely me. And sometimes I will be bigger than the guys across from me, and because I was bigger than them, or stronger than them, in my mind that meant that I was better than them. But there were a lot of times, especially when I started playing high school and then even in college especially, those guys started to be a lot bigger than I was. Now if my confidence relied on how big I was and how strong I was or how tall I was, then at that point my confidence is gone because I'm not bigger than those guys no more. I'm not stronger than those guys anymore. So therefore, does that mean I'm not better than them because I'm not bigger than them or I'm not taller than them or I'm not stronger than them? I was completely mystifying how I would do in that game because my definition of success was all about my tangibles. It was all about how much bigger I was or stronger I was. It's just interesting to me when I read these questions, one person said I'm big, but I'm short, and the other person said I'm tall, but I'm light. The first part of the sentence was I'm big comma, and the other person said, I'm a 6'3", 160 pounds, five technique. Big dawgs, I completely understand where you're coming from, but as being big dawg, I have to say this, it is not about the size of the dog in the fight, but it will always be about the size of the fight in the dog. Can I tell you a quick story? Real quick, big dawg. I want to tell you a story about Little Willie. They call the dawg Little Will short for Willie. Every day Little Will will walk down the street and he will always get to this gate when he saw this big dog. I mean this dog was big slobbing out the mouth, but Little Will have to have that bone. So as soon as Little Willy saw the gate and he saw that bone, Little Willie get in the gate. Here come Little Will busting through the gate, running full speed to the bone. As soon as Little Will went to bite on that bone ... that big dog, slapped him with his paw. Little Willie ain't like that. So he charged at him again, and that big dog lift up his paw ... stopped Little Willie again, and that big dog went charging at him. Bit him, tussled a little bit and Little Willie ran out the gate. Ran home. There Little Willy was in his gate, beat up and boneless. So the next morning he thought about that bone, and he went back down the street where he knew that bone would be. So Little Willie went right to that gate. The same one he was at yesterday and there it was, that bone. Willy saw that bone, got through that gate, full speed to that bone. Bit that bone, headed for the gate. Here come that big dog ... swatted at Little Willy. [inaudible 00:18:23] bone done came lose. Big Dog beat up on Little Willy. Swatting him, throwing him around, growling at him ... Little Willy ran out the gate, ran as fast as he could back home. There Little Willie was again, beat up and boneless. The next morning Little Willy was thinking about that bone. He went again, and again, and again trying to get that bone, and it seemed like nothing was changing. That big dog kept beating them up and Willie kept running home, beat up and boneless. All those weeks have gone by and Willy was still boneless. But one morning Willy was determined to get that bone. Willy was like, "I gotta get this bone. I ain't gonna stop until I get it." So he goes Willie again walking down the street, think about how he going to get this bone. And there it was, there was the gate, and he looked in that gate, and he saw that bone. And Little Willy came through the gate and he saw the bone and he saw that dog. You know what Willie did? Huh, big dawg? You know what Willy did? Willy charged at the dog. Willy went full speed and he went and attacked that dog, that big dog, and they was going at it, and they was going back and forth swatting at each other. Growling and tussling. See Little Will wasn't little no more, at least not his will. His will had grown, and that big dog was tired. That big dog was tired of Little Willy coming to get that bone every day. Day after day after day as if every time that big dog beat up Little Willy, it meant nothing to him. He kept coming back every single day. Little Willy really wanted that bone, and that big dog realized it. That big dog realize that beating Little Willy up meant nothing to him. He wasn't gonna stop until he got that bone. So the big dog stopped growling. He backed up as if to say, "Man, just take the bone. You want the bone that bad? Just take it. Just stop coming right here in my gate. Take the bone and forever stay away from my gate." You know what Little Willie did? Huh, big dawg? I bet you can't guess what Little Willy did. Little Willie left the bone. He left that bone right there in that gate. And Little Willie walked out the gate and looked at that big dog and said, "I'm leaving the bone here." The big dog in went up like ... "What? After all this time you wanted the bone." "I did, but now I got an excuse to come back and whoop your ..." Little Will was making a mistake. The reason why he was Little Will because his will was little. That's what made them little. Not that he was physically little, but his will was little. All Little Willie wanted was the bone. The bone was the most important thing to him. But see, that was the problem. The bone was more important. But it wasn't a bone that caused Little Willy to grow up. The thing that changed Little Willy, what made Little Willy bigger and stronger was the fight. The fight was doing something to Little Will. The fight was changing him. The fight was causing him to refocus what he really wanted. A lot of times we go into the gate like Little Will focusing on the wrong thing. We're teaching our young men to get the bone, but we're not teaching them to fight as a young man. As a man, the most important thing is to learn how to fight for what you want. If you want it big dawg, fight for it. That big dog might be standing in front of you slobbering at the mouth, slapping you down and around. But I'm going to tell you like my daddy told me without even opening my mouth, big dawg, get up and try again. What you need to win is within. Leave the bone alone and go get that dog. It's about being a man. That's the real vision. You have to be willing to stand up, and squared up in front of any opposition that's keeping you from what you want. Sometimes our focus is wrong, and we all about the stats. I got 10 bones today. I got 12 bones today. We ain't fighting though. Your will, your will, your will has to grow. You got bigger task than that. If the bone is all you want, then that bone you might never get. If there's something that stands in my way, then you're my first task for today. What eventually made me a better player is that I had to tell myself another vision, and that vision was that my will had to grow. I couldn't grow no other way, no tangible way. I am what I am, and after coming home plenty of days beat up and boneless, I finally looked in the mirror and said, "This is who I am, and this is all I need. As long as I have oxygen in my body and blood in my veins, I'm fighting everybody." If you keep standing in front of my way, keeping me from what I have to have, pap pap, come get some. Move, I can't see. You understand what I'm saying Big Dawg? The only way that I could grow and the only thing that was worth growing was my will. I had to out-will the guy in front of me, but it started with not wanting a bone. It started by wanting to be a man and fight, and that's when the fight in me finally grew big and strong. Now my will was grown. See I'm six, one and a half, maybe 6'2" on a good day. It don't even matter. And in college when I finally figured this out across was for me was 6'8", 6'7", and I'm putting my gloves on smiling and I'm telling you, I start bringing all I had every single play. When I start making plays, when I start making tackles, when I started batting balls down, when I started causing fumbles and recovering fumbles. You know what I did Big Dawg? I bet you can't guess what I did. Every time I gave that ball back with a smile on my face. Why? Because now I have an excuse to comeback on this next play and whoop his ... I'm just messing with you Big Dawg. I don't curse, man. My parents did raise me a little differently, nothing against those that do, but my dad ain't play that and he still don't play that. So what am I really saying here Big Dawg? What I'm saying is, if you're 5'8", use that 5'8" to your advantage. Use that to help you establish better leverage. Use that to help you get underneath the chin of that offensive lineman. If you're a taller guy, then use your leap. Be quicker than him. Get on that offensive lineman and get off. If he's heavier than you, most of the time it might mean that you might be a little quicker than him. Use that to your advantage. The problem that I have with the question or at least the mentality behind the question, is seeing heavier as being an advantage, and seeing you being lighter as a disadvantage. Here's what I'm saying. When you begin to look at yourself and look at yourself as a disadvantage, that's the problem, because now somehow I have to convince you that your disadvantage can still get the job done. That is very hard to convince somebody that their disadvantages can still accomplish a goal, or that their disadvantages can still achieve what they will want to achieve. It's almost impossible to convince somebody that is looking at themselves as a disadvantage or believe that they are full of disadvantages that they actually can accomplish their goal. It doesn't matter what technique I tell you to use or what I tell you to do, it's not going to help until you get out of your mind that you are or you have lots of disadvantages. Stop focusing on what you don't have and focus more on what you do have. Big Dawg, you have to change your mentality. The fact that you are lighter than him is the advantage. The fact that you are shorter than the guy in front of you can play to your strength. Progress starts when you start seeing yourself as advantages instead of disadvantages. When you start looking in the mirror and saying that what I have is all I need, then your will, will start to grow and you'll start to see yourself achieve. I want to read you a quote from Bobby Jones. Bobby Jones was a golf player, a very successful golf player. And even though this is golf and not football, what he said is very true and will always be true. He said, "Golf is actually a game that's played on a five inch course, the five inch course that is the distance between your ears." Man, that's a very true statement. The first game that you actually play, the first battle you actually have is in your mind. It's all the doubts, it's all the negatives, it's all the disadvantages. It's all of the visions that the television tells you. All of those things that you think you can't do, you won't. It is. It's such a battle going on in our minds and we get to the point where we don't trust ourselves to play the game. We believe more in our fear than in our faith, and that mentality causes us to not see the truth. And what's the truth Big Dawg? The truth is that I don't have a disadvantage. The truth is the more you believe in yourself, the more you will see. But until you believe you're not seeing anything, you'll never see the truth. You'll never accomplish what you're supposed to accomplish. But I'm telling you Big Dawg, everything you have is all you need. I'm telling you Big Dawg, do me a favor. Go and look at the NFL history books. Even look at some of the rosters right now. You will be surprised at some of the height and weight on some of these guys. Some of these guys are not as heavy as they say. Some of these guys are not as tall as you think. I've seen some 5'11"s out there balling. I've seen some guys in the low 200s out there balling, and yes, I'm talking about guys in the trenches. I'm not talking about safeties or corners. I'm talking about those dawgs in the trenches. Those wills in there. Have you ever seen John Randle's story? Hopefully you know who John Randle is. He just in the hall of fame. One of the best defensive lineman that I've ever seen play the game. There's been a lot of them, but my God, he's one of the best. How tall was John Randle? How much did this man say he was? Did you hear the story? How he had to put chains round his waist just to get a shot, because he couldn't gain the weight? Go look this man up. He was a mad dawg. Watch this man's story, and then go and look at what he accomplished. He's in the hall of fame. He's one of the best to ever do it, but was nowhere near one of the biggest physically to do it. But I tell you what, the size of that fight in that dawg right there, if you listen to his story and you listen to where he came from, and the things that he had to deal with, the size of his will was huge. And if you listen to his story, he talks about going against one of the best offensive lineman in the NFL as he was part of the Minnesota Vikings. He talked about how he went against him every single day. And he figured that if I can beat him, I can beat anybody. And John, not afraid to say it, and he said it. He said he'd get beat by him almost every day, but he just kept coming every single day until finally, finally he beat him. See, that's the mentality we need. It's not about the bone. It's about the fight. Muhammad Ali said it best. "Rumble young man, rumble." Muhammad Ali, the greatest of all time. Rest in peace. You got to be willing to fight. You have to understand all you need for the fight is within you. All you need to be successful in the fight is within you Big Dawg. No, you're not too short. No you're not to light. You're actually tall enough and you're just right. Get in there Big Dawg, get in their and fight. And one day all the crowd's going to be gone. All the thousands of fans, they ain't gonna be there. There ain't going to be no bone to fight for. What now? You fight. Because you're a man, you fight. Well, y'all got to be ready to go back and strap your play. I'm telling you boy, just give me one play. Don't even give me one series. Just give me one play. That's all I need. As always Big Dawg, I appreciate your time man. I appreciate you spending it with me. Thank you so very much for downloading another episode of Big Dawg Trench Talk. I hope you find this very valuable. It is something that I wish that I had heard as I was growing. I definitely needed it. I wish that I heard this when I was in college. But eventually I did and I needed it. And definitely when I played professionally. Playing professionally has its own challenges, but all in all I had to fight my way through. Thank you so much for subscribing. Thank you so much for subscribing to Big Dawg Trench Talk. Thank you for the awesome reviews and the awesome ratings. We really appreciate that. But also thank you so much for visiting www.bigdawgfootball.com. A lot of you have actually visited. I really appreciate that Big Dawg. Thank you. Thank you for joining me in the mission to make a defensive lineman, the best defensive lineman they can be. That is my mission. I don't care how tall you are, I don't care how much you weigh, I don't care how light you are. I don't care how big you are. My goal as a coach and our goal as coaches in the Big Dawg Community is to get you to understand that you have the advantage. That when you look in the mirror, that is all you need and we're going to figure out how to use what you have to your advantage. To me, that's what takes a good coach is to help that young man to see that what he needs, he has. It's not just about taking that 6'7" guy who's already very strong, talented and gifted. He just looks like he was just born to play football, born to make plays. That's great too. But also it takes even more skill as a coach to take that young man, take them for exactly who he is, and take what he has and to help him to dominate that guy in front of him. At bigdawgfootball.com. We have all of the resources and tools you need to help those young men dominate the trenches. To help them be tacticians in the trenches. And we're adding resources all the time. I'm telling you Big Dawg is the best D-line content in the world.I might be a little biased. Go visit and subscribe. On our next episode, we'll dig more into the mechanical side of things. First we had to tackle work the mental side. As they used to always say, 90% of the game is mental. I never understood that until recently. All right Big Dawg, enough talking. It's time to strap up. Stick those cleats in the dirt.

The "Netflix" For Defensive Linemen & Coaches - Video Tutorials On Pass Rush, Run Game, Hand Combat, Etc.: www.bigdawgfootball.com Want To Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day" For Us To Answer On-Air (Audio Welcome): trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com What's Up Big Dawgs?! In this Big Dawg Breakdown, we're breaking down and analyzing some of our top quarterback sacks from the 2018 NFL pre-season games. DT #94 Fletcher Cox | Steelers vs. Eagles: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000946135/Fletcher-Cox-starts-Eagles-preseason-with-sack LB #59 Lorenzo Carter | Patriots vs. Eagles: https://www.giants.com/video/lorenzo-carter-sacks-qb-danny-etling DT #73 Maurice Hurst Jr. | Raiders vs. Rams: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000949115/Maurice-Hurst-shows-power-on-first-preseason-sack DE #94 Randy Gregory | Cardinals vs. Cowboys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enE-PM_63O8 CONNECT WITH US BIG DAWGS TWITTER: www.twitter.com/5StarLATA INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/fivestar_linemen FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/5StarLTA

The "Netflix" Of Defensive Line Video Tutorials (Drills, Pass Rush Moves, Hand Combat, & Mush More): https://www.bigdawgfootball.com Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day": trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com I used to hear a pastor say, “Only if I knew then what I know now, ha!” That's what I'm saying. If I would have known then what I know now, Big Dawg, they would have been in more trouble than what they already was in. I'm telling you. So, one of the most common questions I get, I get this question all the time, and the question is, Coach, what is the best pass rush move I can do? What is that pass rush move that's going to guarantee me a sack coach? What's that move? Coach, I need that secret sauce. I need to crack the code. What is it coach? I know you know it. What's that pass rush move that's going to get me where I want to go? Sack City, what is it? Well Big Dawg I got your answer, but I'm just warning you, this answer is going to be a little unorthodox. It's not going to be your traditional answer. It may not be what you want to hear. But if you want hear, here it go. What if the answer is not just in that pass rush move itself? In other words, there's more to it than just the move. There is an element that we are missing when we focus so much on what move to do and how to do the move but we give no attention to where. We talk a lot about what move to do. We even go into depths as to how to do the move, which is important, but we are missing the where. Okay, hear me out. The problem is not just in your pass rush move, but it is also in the fact that you don't move before your pass rush. Big Dawg listen to me. You keep doing the same move from the same spot over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. I think there's a deeper metaphor than that? Yeah episode six; be proactive in your pre-snap. Pastor hit it for me one time. I'm just telling the truth. Big Dawg, you can't keep doing the same move from the same spot. You out there looking like a broken record, broken record, broken record. What I'm saying is, you're too predictable Big Dawg. That offensive lineman knows exactly what you're going to do because you keep doing it from the same spot. Let's flip sides for a second. Let's say you're the offensive lineman. Matter fact, let's say you're the offensive guard and you're a three technique. Let me help you out with something. Most of the time a good offensive lineman knows your assignment because he sees your alignment. A good offensive lineman knows the importance of foot leverage. He wants to try to get that knee, his knee, in your crouch as soon as possible. Most linemen will say, “I'm just trying to cover him up.” Or, “I'm trying to get on top of his line.” Well how does a good offensive lineman know what your line is? In other words, how does a good offensive lineman know where you're going to go? How does he know that? Well he knows that because he’s looking at your alignment. He's looking at your alignment, your line. Where you're lined up most of the time is the line you're going to take. If you're lined up in a tight three, if that is your alignment, then that's the line you are going to travel. So if I'm an offensive guard, and it's an example, I can look at your alignment and I can tell what line you're going to rush on, predictable. Let's take it a step further. If you have your man hand stance down, again, what would a good offensive guard know you're going to do? Well most of the time if you have been taught the proper me mechanics, you are going to step with your back foot and you are going to step to your hand. So, if I see that you are in a tight three with your man hand stance down, as an offensive guard I know you're going to step to your hand. So therefore, if I'm an offensive guard, I know your line because I'm looking at your alignment. So if I can just get on top of your line and get in front of your hand, I'll know that I'm going to cover you up because you're going to step in front of your hand. I know that. I'm a good offensive lineman. Come on, think and flip sides with me for a second. My daddy used to always tell me, “Son, if you want to keep from being robbed, think like a thief.” Well Big Dawg, if you want to keep from being blocked, think like an offensive lineman. Think with me for a second. Think, think, think! I have had coaches come to me and say, “Coach, when I'm training my defensive lineman, I teach them to put that same hand down every time. And my defensive ends every time they rush off the edge in the two-point stance, I'll have them put the same foot up.” Okay. Well if they have the same foot up, most the time they're going to take the same step. And if they're in the same stance, most of the time they're going to take the same step. At what point do we ever adjust our alignment or our stance? Hold on one second Big Dawg, let me go and get my Big Dawg Bible. Where is it? Hold on one second. Give me a second. Okay, I always have it near and dear. Let me open up to a couple proverbs I would love to read to you. Appreciate the time. Let me see. Here we go, right here. “Oh you faithful pass rusher, heads up, you must change the rhythm of your rush.” You have to change the rhythm of your rush. Change the rhythm of your rush. In other words, because you keep the same alignment and doing the same move, every time you take two steps that offensive lineman is in front of you. Or every time you take one step, that offensive lineman is in front of you. He's got you covered. Why does he know you so well? Because you keep doing the same thing, probably the same move over and over again. You are predictable. At what point are you going to change the rhythm? If an offensive lineman is getting used to punching you in two kicks and you keep giving him that same rhythm, every two kicks he is punching you, kick, kick, punch, kick, kick, punch, change the rhythm. How do I change the rhythm? How do I change the place of the fight? Maybe you should move over. The pass rush move may require for you to move. Just move. Move a little bit. What if you didn't line up in a tight three? What if you widened out a little bit in a wide three? What if you moved to a four I, what if you just moved? Change your alignment. When you change your alignment, you've just changed your line. Do you think that offensive lineman did not notice that you changed your alignment and you just changed your line? It means you're on a different path. Is he going to punch you in two kicks? No, because you just widened your alignment. Now, he’s not sure all of a sudden how many kicks he has to take to make contact. He's not necessarily sure where the point of attack is going to be. He's like, well he’s going to get tight to the fight but where is that going to be? Is that going to be in three kicks, is that going to be in one kick or two kicks? I don't know because he just changed his alignment. Change the rhythm of your rush. Change the rhythm of your rush. You have to move. You have to be proactive in your pre-snap on your pass rush. You have to be proactive in the pre-snap on your pass rush by simply moving your alignment or what we used to call back in the day, stem a little bit. It's going to throw that offensive lineman off. I don't care how good he is, you just messed with him mentally because you just adjusted your stance. Now, you might do the same move but that same move is not going to be the same move or have the same effect because you just changed your alignment. Psychologically, you're messing with him a little bit because he’s thinking, “Oh, he’s going to do a different move.” And you might do a different move, your choice, but just know once you've moved a little bit and adjusted your alignment and altered your line, you just changed the rhythm of your rush. Now you're not predictable because he is not going to punch you in two kicks, he’s not necessarily sure how this is going to go. And the fact that he’s thinking about it because you just shifted a little bit, brings a little confusion and maybe a little fear. Some offensive linemen have gotten so used to the rhythm that even though you've moved your alignment, he’s going to be used to let his hands go in two kicks. But guess what Big Dawg? You're not going to be there in two kicks. Why is that? Because you just widened your stance. You changed your alignment. You just changed the rhythm of your rush but muscle memory is telling him two kicks, punch, two kicks, punch. Well this time, two kicks, release your hands, he’s reaching for you, ta, ta, hand combat, he goes to quarterback. You heard me. Two kicks, release those hands, ta, ta, hand combat, he goes to quarterback. What are you saying Big Dawg? I'm glad you asked. What I'm saying is, is that sometimes the move is not the problem. Sometimes the problem is that you didn't move. Here's another proverb I want to read to you from the Big Dawg Bible of course. And it reads, “Oh football player, you want change but you won't change a thing.” But where I'm from Big Dawg, that's called insanity. You know what I'm saying? Insanity as in, you keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over again but you expect something different to happen. What's wrong with you Big Dawg? If you don't change anything there will never be change. The only way to change is through change. You are not going to get the change you want if you're not willing to change. Unfortunately, I work with so many defensive lineman that when I first get them, they are afraid of change. They are scared that the change isn't going to work. So I ask them, “Okay, so you're telling me you don't think that this is going to work? In your mind it is not going to work. There is no chance of this working. Question for you, have you actually tried it?” They'll say, “No.” And my answer will be, “So you're telling me that it's not going to work and you haven't tried it.” Coaches how many of our athletes have said to themselves, “That's not going to work.” Yet they have not even tried it. They didn't even try to change. You're trying to figure out, “Gosh, what am I doing wrong as a coach.” You aren't doing nothing wrong as a coach. They won't change. Why? Because they are afraid of change. They are afraid that if they change it's not going to work. Well the only thing that beats a fail is a try. You haven't even tried it. You haven't tried it yet Big Dawg. How do you know it's not going to work? Either way, you have to be willing to change. You have to change the rhythm of your rush. You cannot be predictable. You will be surprised how much an inch will change your life. I know that may sound dramatic, but I'm telling you, an inch to the right will change your life. An inch to the left, an inch off the line of scrimmage will change everything. The mere fact that you're changing can bring you success because it's not necessarily where you are, it's the fact that you're moving. You can't be tracked or you can't be traced. I have a perfect example for you. I'm playing college football at the University of Florida. They had me at nose tackle at the time. That was around 2000, yeah, my bad. Sorry. I'm not telling you how old I am. But anyways, so I'm playing nose tackle and I'm doing really good, right? I'm tearing this in the up. I'm doing my hands, I'm cashing the hands, sweeping, quick swimming, all that stuff. I'm doing my thing Big Dawg. You should have saw me out there in that blue and orange at University of Florida. If you're not a Gator, you're Gator bait. You know what I'm saying? Are Florida boys out there? So anyways, but something started happening that I didn't like, right? So the center is tearing me up. He locking me down. I'm sitting there like, “Whoa, wait a minute, what's going on?” The moves that I was just doing on camp, all of a sudden they're not working no more. I'm like, “This guy got better or did I get worse?” I'm sitting there with my head in my hands trying to figure out what's going on. I am puzzled Big Dawg, I don't know what's happening. But I was doing the same moves over and over and over again. Now I mixed it up but I was in the same spot as I was doing the same moves, right? I wasn't necessarily moving as much as I could have been. So, this thing starts really bothering me. I mean I was sitting there depressed. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, ‘Man, I may not get as much playing time because of all of a sudden I'm not winning my one-on-ones, right? What's going on?” So, I go in the film room and I'm sitting there in the film room by myself. You understand? I'm sitting there by myself. I don't want nobody there around me. I just got my clicker in my hand and I'm sitting in film by myself. All you college athletes out there with them iPads, you all are spoiled, man. You all are spoiled. I didn't have no iPad. I had a clicker. I had that clicker and I was in that film room watching film, the way it should be done not an iPad. I'm messing with you all man, that's pretty cool. But I'm sitting there watching film and as I'm watching film I'm like, “Man, what is this?” I'm rewinding it, I'm rewinding it, pausing it, rewinding it, pausing it, rewinding it, and I'm like, “Man, what's going on?” So, as I'm watching it, something came over me and I began to … I paused it and when I paused it, I looked at what the center was doing. Well come to find out, I was so close to him and I was exploding off the ball that eventually he found my rhythm. He knew what was going on. He knew that when the ball snapped in one kick for him, and two of my steps, I would run right into his hands. I kept running right into his hands and I did not realize that he started to identify my rhythm. I didn't catch that. I'm like, “Okay, I think I know what it is. He's snapping and throwing his hands out there and me being dumb, I'm running right into his hands and he’s just grabbing cloth.” So I said, “You know what? I think I know what I'm going to do.” And it came over me. I said, “You know what? I'm going to back up an inch. I'm going to back up an inch see what happens because I think if I back up just a little bit …” I know sometimes we say crowd the ball, crowd the ball, crowd the ball. Yeah, it's good sometimes but you got to change. Change the rhythm of your rush, change your alignment. So all right. Next day I got my game plan. My game plan is I'm going to make it look like the same thing, that I'm in the same alignment, but instead of me widening out, I'm going to actually back up just a little bit. So I try it. Here we go. I couldn't wait for one-on-one boy. It was the big payback. You know what I'm saying? I couldn't wait to get him back Jack. But here it is, one-on-one and I lined up, and I just slid back an inch, maybe two, just back a little bit and the ball snapped. I still took my same steps but I was in a different alignment, backed off the ball a little bit. This time, he snapped the ball, his hands was out there and I saw him this time, he was in there floating. Guess what I did? Ta, ta, ta, hand combat, go get that quarterback. That's exactly what happened. His hand was out there floating because he was used to that rhythm and all he was doing is throwing his hands out there and silly me, right, I was running right into his hands. Not this time. I figured out that an inch, that inch changed my life. As soon as I did that, then I started to actually move my alignment a little bit. I started moving it, differentiating my position where he couldn't track or trace me. He couldn't tell what the rhythm of my rush was. It was at that point I realized that I got revelational knowledge that I have to change, that if I want change I have to change. The only way to change is through change. I had to change the rhythm of my rush. I needed to be proactive in my pre-snap of my pass rush. Are you getting what I'm saying? It wasn't the pass rush move that was causing me to lose. I was winning with that pass rush move. It was the fact that I wasn't moving before my pass rush move. I wasn't being proactive. I wasn't adjusting my alignment. Have you all ever seen Any Given Sunday, that movie, 1999 came out, 1999 with Al Pacino? If you've seen that movie you probably already know what I'm getting ready to talk about. Probably one of my favorite quotes or football movies of all time. Al Pacino, the head coach, and you got all these football players in a locker room and right now they're losing, right? So Al Pacino makes this awesome speech and he says something like this. “Life's this game of inches, so is football.” And all of a sudden you see Al Pacino pointing at Jamie Foxx and Jamie Foxx has got that eye, the tiger in his eyes, or at least he’s trying to have that eye of the tiger and then he says, “Because in either game, life or football, the margin of error is so small.” Here it come right here Big Dawg, my favorite line, “The inches we need are everywhere around us.” Wait, hold on. Say that one more time Al Pacino. “The inches we need are everywhere around us.” What are you talking about? “Inches.” Where are they Al Pacino? “Everywhere around us.” Everywhere? “Everywhere.” Man, that's a true statement man. What we need to succeed is right there. We are inches away sometimes from success. Literally inches away. If we would just back up a little bit, if we would just move over a little bit, if we could just simply change it will bring forth change. Think about what I'm saying. The inches of success that we have are everywhere. We have to learn to use everywhere, not just this spot or that spot or this stance or that stance. If I'm doing something that's going to cause me to be predictable, then I'm not doing the right thing. If you ever read any books on war, one of the elements of war is surprise. Got you. You thought I was going to be there, but I'm not. Pop, pop, pop, hand combat, got you quarterback. What does it take to be successful in your pass rush? You have to be willing to sacrifice an inch to gain an inch. Think about that for a second. Coaches and athletes. As a coach, have you ever seen your athlete an inch away or a step away from the quarterback? Athletes, my Big Dawgs, have you ever been a step away, a reach away, inches away from swatting at that ball when that quarterback is throwing that ball on the high L and there you was inches away from making a play. You was inches away from making the play. Well we could have gained that inch when we moved an inch. Maybe by moving an inch we would have gained an inch to make that play. This is what I'm saying every time I say we have to teach our Big Dawgs to be tacticians in the trenches. Tacticians, what is your tactic? It's not just the weapon you're using, it's not just knowing how to use the weapon. But what is your tactic? It's not only about what move to do and it's not only about how to do the move. It's also matters where. Where should I start this time? How can I change the rhythm of this rush where I am not predictable? Your answer is an inch away or an inch to. Football is truly a game of inches. So, let me give you another practical scenario. There is so much to this, but let me give you another example. Let's go back to my three technique because I gave you an example on it previously. Let's say, again, you're lined up in tight three. You should know what that guard is thinking. You should know that if you're a tight three in a man hand stance, that guard should know where you're going to step and you know that he knows that. You're a step ahead of him. You want him to know that. You want him to get used to that rhythm. So now we want to change. We want to change our alignment. So now let's say we move ourselves couple inches over and actually line up in a four I. When I say four I I'm speaking to the inside shoulder of the tackle, right on that tackle's toe. Now you got to keep in mind that that tackle has a defensive end or an outside backer. If that offensive lineman, is not fanning, that offensive tackle has to take that defensive end. So whatever that offensive tackle has lined up, he has to move off that spot. He got to pick his poison. If he stays there, that defensive end is going to bend a corner on him. But if he moves, you have this space now that you can work vertical to. Now the offensive guard is trying his best to cover you up. But guess what Big Dawg? You too far. You too quick. You ate too much turf. You beat him to the point of attack. Now all of a sudden he’s reaching for you because he did not get on top of your line. And why did he not get on top of your line? Because you changed your alignment. You are smart. You made a good choice. You adjusted your alignment, which completely changed your projectory, your pass rush route. Now all of a sudden you're out of reach. Pop, pop, pop, hand combat, got your quarterback. These are the kind of things I mean when I say you have to be a tactician in the trenches. What is your tactic? What is your tactic that goes along with your attack? Every attack has to have a tactic. Be a tactician in the trenches. Don't just focus so much on what move to do and how to do the move, but also pinpoint where to do it. Do I quick swim from a tight three, do I quick swim from a four I as I rush to guard, do I put my man hand down or my gap hand down, do I back up off the line of scrimmage an inch, or do I crowd the line of scrimmage? See now you're being smart. Now you're being a tactician. Now you're playing chess in the trenches. You got him thinking and any time you get an offensive alignment thinking, he is playing slow while you playing quick. And in the trenches you know we need every edge we can get. We need every advantage we can find. Play with his mind while you're on your grind. You see? You're not just attacking his body. You don't have to keep lining up in a tight three and bullying him over and over and over and over and over again. You don't have to do that Big Dawg. Yes, play hard, be aggressive, play with good leverage, out will the man in front of you, be hungrier than him, it's two pieces of meat and one dog, who going to eat? Yes all that whole is true. But why can't I be smarter than you? Why can't I use my mind to get inside? Sometimes you got to give a little to gain a lot. Come on, think with me Big Dawg, think! Let me repeat the question again now that we've had this discussion, coach, what's the best pass rush move I can do? What's that pass rush that's going to get me to the quarterback? What's my answer? Big Dawg, be proactive in the pre-snap. Do the move that works with you but be proactive in your pre-snap before the pass rush. That can sometimes be just as effective as the move itself. Be proactive, move an inch, move back, adjust your alignment and now your alignment is not predictable. Change the rhythm of your rush. Don't allow him to get into a rhythm and get into a perfect set every time you rush to quarterback. My answer, stop doing the same move from the same spot over and over and over again. If you won't change, Big Dawg, you got to change. The only way to change is through change. Be proactive in your pre-snap. Big Dawg, coaches, I promise you when you learn how to skillfully adjust your positioning on the line of scrimmage, it's going to make all the difference in the world. I'm telling you, I always go back to the time where I was having trouble at nose tackle. Though I was down in the dumps but I was getting blocked, I was so grateful for that experience because I had learned a valuable lesson. And that is change brought me brought change, and I learned that I can't be afraid of change. I can't be afraid to fail so therefore refuse to change. Well Big Dawg, I want you to know something, have you ever thought of walking as falling. Walking is falling forward. The problem is, is that as you were trying to walk you were failing so much that you figured it out. You said, “You know what? I'm tired of falling forward and landing on my face. So you know what I'm going to do this time? The next time I lean forward I'm actually going to stick my leg in front of me. Let's try this. I'm going to lean forward and I'm going to stick my leg in front of me. I'm going to do something different. I'm going to change. I'm going to fall forward and stick my leg in front of me. Oh, I caught myself. I'm going to fall forward again and stick my other leg in front of me. Wow, I caught myself. Look what I'm doing, I'm walking.” Walking is falling, you just learn not how to fall as you fall forward as you walk. Sometimes falling is exactly what we need. So hopefully falling will bring change because eventually Big Dawg, we all get tired of falling. So the champion in me says I'm tired of losing, you know what? I'm going to do something different. I'm going to change. Big Dawg, don't be afraid of change because change, good change will change your life. Pastor one more time for me. You know I'm just telling the truth. Hey Big Dawg, I know we got better today. That's what it's all about. Good is not good when better is expected. Your progress is our success and we're succeeding because you're proceeding and that's what it's all about for us over here at Big Dawg Football. As always, thank you for your time because it is valuable and we appreciate you spending these few minutes with us. I sincerely appreciate you spending these minutes with me Big Dawg talking trenches like two wise men under a tree. Finally found something good to eat trying to teach and train these young men to keep them off the street. Go Big Dawg. Go be the king you was meant to be. Thank you for subscribing BIG DAWG TRENCH TALK and also type in www.bigdawgfootball.com. It is the Mecca of D-Line content. The best in the world you'll ever find. I know I might be a little bonkers. If you want visual aid of all the things that we were talking about today, being proactive in your pre-snap, adjusting your alignment, different hand combat techniques and drills you could do because you go to have that hand combat when you're going to change the rhythm of your rush, ta, ta, ta, hand combat, got your quarterback, well Big Dawg, we got that over at Bigdawgfootball.com. Pay me a visit. Subscribe and join me on the mission of making our Big Dawg the best defense alignment they could be. All right Big Dawg enough talking. You already know what time it is. It's time to strap up, put your cleaves in the dirt and let's go to work.

The "Netflix" Of Defensive Line Video Tutorials: www.bigdawgfootball.com Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day": trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com Work, work. let's work. We're in the trenches, breakin' down the defensive line from technique and fundamentals to NFL and college football analysis. You're listening to Big Dawg Trench Talk. Work, work, work. Whassup Big Dawg? This is Coach Rolle and welcome to another episode of Big Dawg Trench Talk. Thank you for subscribing to Big Dawg Trench Talk, where you know your progress is our success. I do this for one reason and one reason only, and that is to make sure that as coaches and as players, that we are the best dawgs in the trenches that we can be. The topic that we're going to discuss today is very important to me. I've experienced this as a coach, as well as a player. As a player, there were times when I sat in the film room and I watched film, trying to figure out why was I not playing to the best of my ability. There were times as a coach that I would watch my athletes, my dawgs, and I would try to reason and figure out why are they not playing to their fullest potential? Well, I think I know the problem. Episode number five. I found the problem, Big Dawg. You satisfied. Now, let's talk trenches. I have taught linemen, all kinds of different tricks and schemes and how to be proactive in your pre-snap and that's another podcast, when we'll talk about being proactive in your pre-snap. There are different things that I have discussed with my linemen and I've done all kinds of drills to have the mass of those skills, because we know, as coaches, and as players, we know that drills develop skills. Why do we do drills? Because they develop skills. That's why we do drills. They develop skills. The proper drill will establish and develop the necessary skill. It's important that you have the right drill for the necessary skill. But, I've done that. I've done all of that. And yet still I've worked with young men that were not productive in the trenches and I was as creative as I could be. So here I am as a coach, trying to figure out, "Gosh, how do I get my linemen to be run stoppers? To be, persistent and determined, to make a play or make a tackle" and I realized that I was fighting against something that was almost impossible to win against. To me, this is a curse word, this is a bad word, this is an enemy of mine and I realize that I saw it in the nature, or I saw it in the mentality of the guys I was trying to train. And I realized that this thing was in them and it was preventing me from progressing them and I recognized it as an enemy and as a villain. To me, it's a bad word, its an evil thing that was keeping me from progressing them or keeping them from progressing, and that was satisfied. The word satisfied. I'll give an example. Watching these young men play, this was a long time ago, a long, long time ago, but I always think about this. I watch these young men play and I know they had loads of potential to be great and to do great and look good in the preseason, great summer training, thought they were well, thought they were developed and ready to go. First game came, first game was not what I expected. I didn't like that. I didn't like how they performed, so we took it up a notch, you know, more drills, quicker, faster, harder, again, again, again. Trying to make it muscle memory. And it was. So, second game came, same thing. It was not productive. This is what I did coach, hear me out. So, we circled up and I took them behind the goal post and I needed to have a conversation with them. I needed to stop what I was doing because evidently what I was doing wasn't helping. Something was wrong. So, here we are, behind the goal post and I had them circle and I stand in the middle. And when I do that, I'm looking in their eyes, I'm looking in their eyes and I'm trying to identify their mentalities and their will. You know, dawg means driven attitude wills greatness. That's the acronym, D A W G. I didn't see it. I didn't see the will. I didn't see the hunger, so I'm sitting there lookin' at 'em and I looked in everyone in their eyes and I said, "Oh, I see, you're satisfied. You're satisfied with your production. You're satisfied with being a football player. You're satisfied that you have a jersey on and you get a chance to play in front of people. You're satisfied that you're not being productive. You're okay with that." I told 'em, I said, "Where I'm from and you look at the guy's eyes across from you or when you look at your teammates' eyes, you see hunger, you see thirst. You're looking at a young man, or a man, that has a desire to eat. It's almost like you have two dogs and one piece of meat and somebody gotta eat and I ain't eaten in three months. And whey you look at that guy, your teammate, from where I'm from, that's what you see, you see hunger, you see thirst, you see a man that's not going to take failure as an option, that's what you see. You see, like their eyes are on fire, what they call the eye of the tiger. You see it. And they in hunt mode. that's what you see. That's how it is where I'm from and the guys around you are ready to do whatever it takes to eat. It's huntin' season. And that's how you it's time to play some football, 'cause something clicks on the inside of 'em, when you look at 'em and you know its time to go to work. These guys have actually had knots in their stomach and these were knots of hunger pain and these guys wanted a way out and these guys wanted more for themselves. They didn't want to be the statistic. They wanted to do more with their lives and they knew that football was that way. The didn't have a choice. They didn't give themselves a choice. Their will told them to out will the guy in front of them. No, they didn't have the technique. They didn't have a lot of great coaching, but one thing they did have was the will to win, they had that. So, I'm looking at my athletes and as I'm looking at them, you just see this conviction that begins to rise in them. They're convicted because I called 'em out. I actually was trying to call them out, I wanted to call them out. I wanted to call out satisfaction and at that moment they had to make a decision as to what they were going to do. But, I told 'em I wasn't satisfied with the fact that you just playin' football. If that's your goal, was to just be a football player and not accomplish anything, left me know so that I can lower my expectation or lead the team or not coach you as a D-line coach, cause you can do that all by yourself. If I'm gonna be your coach, you gonna be one of the best to do it. Let me know what your goal is, cause without a goal, you don't have no go. You got no purpose and no drive without a goal. What's your goal? What are you trying to accomplish? Are you satisfied with being blocked, with not making plays, with not making tackles? I think I've found the problem. Big Dawg, you satisfied. And there isn't any coach in the world that can feed somebody who's satisfied. I can't feed you if you full. Question is, what are you full on? What's your meal look like? I get to wear a jersey, I get to play football, I'm popular cause I play football, it's cool cause I finally made it to college football, so I'm good. No, you're not good! What else do you want out of this? Even sometimes you see NFL guys that have arrived and that's it. They're satisfied, because their eyes light up when they see their checks and the drive is gone. Because their goal was to get there, but not do anything once they've arrived there. Satisfaction is the enemy of a progressor. Satisfaction is the enemy, it is the constant feud with progress. It's hard to progress when you're satisfied. You can't eat if you're full. I looked at 'em and that's what I saw. I was disgusted by it and I told 'em. I told 'em the truth and they were convicted because that's exactly what it was. And at that moment, I realized that there was not a drill, a skill, wisdom, coaching points that I could give these young men to get better, cause I kept running into a wall called satisfied. It was a very interesting conversation I had, and nobody had anything to say. The next week I watched these young men play. I trained 'em, did different drills, things that I saw they could tighten up on and do better. Well, coach, Big Dawg, let me tell you, the next game we played, it was a different group of guys. The way that they came off the ball, the way that they used their hands, the way that they played flat on the line of scrimmage, and pursuit was great. They were just persistent in what they did, determined in what they did. You saw a different dawg. You saw a different animal out there playing within those four quarters. It was different. Because I had broken through a wall. So we had a conversation when I met with them again that Monday and actually, no, it was two weeks after that game. They started picking things up and they started making a lot of progress in their game and I went back and said, "You know, you guys are playing great right now. Technique is great, you know, you're doing really good with your hands, your feet placement where it needs to be. I made some adjustments depending on the athlete, made some different things that I was now tweaking to make them that much better individually. Fast forward to Thursday walk through, a young man came to me, a couple of them came to me and said, "Coach you remember that conversation we had over there behind the goal post?" I'd kind of forgotten about it and I said, "Oh yeah, okay yeah, I remember when we was talking about you guys being hungry." He said, "Coach we'll never forget that." He said, 'When you told us that we weren't hungry enough, that's when it clicked. You were right. We were satisfied and we didn't want to play the game just to be playing the game. We realized to you it meant more than to us and it needed to mean that much more and we did a self-check. We even met afterward and said, 'You know what, coach is right. What are we doing this for? What's the purpose of why we're doing this?' And ever since then, our goal was for you to not to have that conversation with us again. That's our goal. Our goal, after that day, we talked about it, was for you to never, ever tell us that again. That we were satisfied." And, they had an excellent year. They did some fantastic things that season. I was proud of what they accomplished as a unit. But, it took for me as a coach to look them in the eyes and identify that villain, satisfy. As a dawg, you're never satisfied, never satisfied. Always looking to get better, always looking to progress. Another Big Dawg proverb from the Big Dawg bible that I always live by is this. Date perfection, but marry progress. Date perfection, but marry progress. And to me that means, that I know what it means to be perfect, but I'm committed to getting better. I'm committed, I'm married to progress. Progress is something that I will do every day. Good is not good when better is expected. I learned that from a very wise coach. Good is not good when better is expected. Absolutely. That is good, but its not good anymore, because I'm not satisfied with what I just called good. How can I make good better? Absolutely. That's what makes a lineman better. Truthfully, when you talk about stopping the run, if you can't get past a lineman being satisfied, its gonna be hard to coach that young man. It's hard to feed somebody who's not hungry. It's hard to feed somebody who's full. How can you teach a man that doesn't want why you're trying to teach him? Can't be greater than he is, so sir. So for me, when it comes to stopping a run, there are a lot of things that are essential and very important on the technical side that we'll certainly get into in more detail. I just wanted to let you know that the bigger problem that I've had to deal with is the attitude, is the desire and the will. Where I'm from, I've had people stand in front of me and prevent me from trying to go where I want to go. You understand? See, now you askin' for a fight, right? I'm goin' straight and you stand in front of me and prevent me from going straight. There's a reason why I'm trying to go straight, I'm going straight because there's something I have to do or there's something I have to retrieve and it requires for me to go straight. And for a man, and I've had this happen, where a guy steps in front of me and he's trying to keep me from going straight, that's a problem. And so politely ask, "Excuse me, can you move out the of way?" Or I'll try to walk around and then they refuse to move and they are still in front of you because they want to try to control you. That's not a good situation. Now, I don't know if you've ever been in a fight before and I was definitely not the person to go looking for them, but the one thing that I didn't like ever was when somebody tried to control me and step in front of me and keep me from going where I need to go or where I want to go or where I'm suppose to go. I have a problem with that. And so I tell my defensive line, "You are trying to go straight and there's a person in front of you that is trying to control you and keep you from going where you want to go. If you want to take this this situation and put it into a real life scenario... Let's say you're, and I tell 'em coaches, you know, Big Dawg, let's say you are married and your wife and children are over there and you are going to to go with them and somebody gets in front of you, preventing you from going to them. Listen, there is nobody and nothing in the world that would keep me from uniting with my family. There's nothing you can put between me and my house that will keep me from going to my house. You will wish you had never attempted to do such a thing. Why? Because of my love for my family. And I mentioned this to another athlete. I said, "Man, listen, I know you love your daughters, right? And let's say your daughters are over there and as you're walking to go with your children, I step in front of you, preventing you from going forward. Are you okay with that?" All of the sudden, the mentality changed. No, I'm not going to let you step in front of me and keep you from being with my children, or your brother or father, or whomever you love, whatever it is. The principal and the concept the same. How can you allow a man in front of you to keep you from going where you want to go? Take that mentality and apply it to football. There's something on the other side of the line of scrimmage that you need, that you want, that you've gotta have. And this guy in front of you has the audacity to stand in front of you, to let you know that he's going to stop you from getting where you want to go. There is nobody, if I can envision my family on the other side of that line of scrimmage, that's going to stop me from going where I need to go. You gonna wish you had never stepped in front of me and tried to stop me and control me to keep where I need to go, where I want to go. Change your mentality. Their mentality has to change. It's not okay that I keep getting stopped. It's not okay that that man in front of me is controlling me, that's not okay and neither will I keep allowing this to happen. So, whatever I have to do to make sure this does not happen, you do what yo have to do. That's where it starts. That's where progress starts, when you're not satisfied, and when you're not satisfied, that's where you'll begin to see progress. Sometimes progress happens in the absence of satisfaction. Remove satisfaction and maybe you'll see progress. You're not going to stop me from going forward. I'm not gonna let anybody stop me from progressing. I'm committed to that. Try it. Good luck. That's my mentality, a driven attitude will always will greatness. As a coach, I'm asking my athletes, "Are you satisfied with that?" Something precious is on the other side of the line of scrimmage and he keeps stopping you from getting it, what are you gonna do? Are you okay with that? I wouldn't be. Make a decision and make it quick. What are you gonna do? It takes a special kind of person to play in the trenches. That's why I call it the trenches. I love history and you look at World War I, where we begin to see trenches in play. Trenches wasn't nothing to be messed with. Hats off to all my veterans and every man and woman that has ever served this country. Trenches are things I've read about. Trenches, never been in one, are things that blow my mind. The things that these men and women have had to deal with in the trenches. But, in the trenches you've gotta be a special kind of person to not only survive it, but to accomplish and get what you went there for. If you in the trenches, you have a mission in the trenches. That's something you want to retrieve and it takes a special kind of person that would not be denied, that would not be stopped. You can drill and drill and drill, every single day and you can teach them the best techniques and everything you could be saying could be right on point, but your enemy is satisfaction. Are they satisfied with not getting better? Are they satisfied with not being great? If that's the case, stop what you're doing and ask them, "What do yo want out of this?" Call 'em out! Call that sin we call satisfaction out. If we gonna strap up and line up, then we gonna link up and eat up. That's what dawgs do. We hunt and we eat. As a coach, I challenge you look at your athletes in the eyes and as a player, I challenge you to look at your dawg next to you and when you look at 'em, don't say nothin'. His eyes should tell you everything and your eyes should tell him everything he needs to know and that should be one thing and one thing only, that it's time to go to work. Woo, Big Dawg, don't get me started, man. Sometimes, we take for granted. If only I could go back in time and play one more rep, one more series, man I'd play it like it was my last. Coaches, don't let these young men take these reps for granted and players, don't play with the attitude that there's always another rep. They only thing that's certain is the present and even that is a gift, that's why we call it the present, because the present is a present, its a gift. Maximize your gift, take advantage of every moment you have and every time you put your hands in the dirt, every chance you get, you go to work, and if you satisfied, go sit down! Let that hungry man over there plow the ground. Hey you! Go eat up Big Dawg! Go eat! As always Big Dawg, I appreciate your time, because I know its valuable. Thank you for subscribing and listening to another episode of Big Dawg Trench Talk. I would also like to thank you for those that have been visiting bigdawgfootball.com. Several coaches all across the world have been benefiting greatly from the plethora of content that we have on bigdawgfootball.com. We've been receiving several testimonials of athletes and coaches watching their big dawgs get better and do great things in the trenches. We appreciate you joining Big Dawg Football's mission, which is to make coaches and athletes the very best they can be. Remember, it takes a village to raise one. Let's keep growing the Big Dawg Football community in assuring that our young men are tacticians in the trenches. All right, Big Dawg, enough talking. Look 'em in the eyes, see if he hungry, strap up, and line up, and together we'll eat up! Stick those cleats in the dirt and let's go to work!

The "Netflix" of Defensive Line Video Tutorials For Big Dawgs & Coaches: www.bigdawgfootball.com Submit a "Trench Question Of The Day: trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com So, you know our objective is to make sure that as a coach we help you to be the best coach you can be, and as a Dawg we help you to be the best defensive lineman in the trenches that you can be. So we have our trench questions and the trench questions have been flying in and we have another one that we definitely have to address. This is a question I get a lot from coaches as well as players when it comes to playing against the run-pass option offense. Special shout out to Coach James Marzano, that's my dog call, and the Argonaut Football Program in Jacksonville, California. Okay, here's the question: what's the most efficient way to teach the defensive line to play the run, but also be able to quickly react to rush the passer? That's a excellent question and I'm ready to dive into it. Episode number four. I tack into run-pass option offense. Okay, now let's talk trenches. Let's identify the challenge. The challenge here is that you're dealing with an offense, you're dealing with a smart offensive coordinator and an offense that's doing a good job of trying to be balanced offensively and yet keep you unbalance defensively. I mean, we all know the name of the game is to find the football and tackle to guy with the football. Great offensive schemes will use that to their advantage. So let's say, for example, I'm an offensive coordinator and I'm running the ball, I'm hitting the a-gaps, I'm hitting the b-gaps I'm running the ball and eventually your defensive line is going to play to that. Why? Because I'm sending the ball up the a-gap. I'm sending the ball up the b-gap. That's where I'm sending that ball. I'm running my stretches, I'm running my zones, I'm running my dive. I'm running powers, bucks. I'm running and I'm sending the ball, I'm kind of dangling that carrot and making that defensive line find that carrot. I'm using the ball to my advantage. And so eventually what's the defensive lineman going to do? The defensive line is going to begin to cheat. Or, they're going to being to adapt themselves to make sure that they begin to play to what they've been getting the last, you know, four or five plays. So, eventually the defensive line is going to play to the tendency. So, if an offense starts to establish the run and they're dangling that carrot in those gaps that defensive line is going to play to the tendency. They're going to start playing mostly run. And once that offensive coordinator and the offense begins to identify that they now are controlling the football game they're controlling the line of scrimmage and moving the sticks. They're either going to continue to keep running that ball, but at that moment when they feel that they've gotten the defense off balance and playing the tendency they'll come back with a pass or a play action. See, this is the challenge, right. How do we teach our Dawgs in the trenches to know when to rush the passer and to know when to play the run. To teach them to play the run, to stop the run because if you can't stop the run you can't have no fun. But yet when you attack the run and now you recognize that it's pass, as they're asking how do we teach our guys to quickly rush the passer when your steps and you were prepped for a run play? Okay. The first thing that I would address are my pre-snap keys. Pre-snap. What are some keys you can identify in your pre-snap? Now, are these pre-snap keys going to tell me exactly what the offense is trying to do? Sometimes yeah they are. Based on your film study, based on what you've seen you know what to look for. But as a coach training your Dawgs in the trenches it's going to sometimes help them and train them to be able to read their pre-snap keys. But is it going to be accurate 100% of the time? Probably not. What we are trying to train our Dawgs to do is to make a hypothesis. Hypothesis. When I say hypothesis I'm saying make a educated guess. What do you think, based on your pre-snap keys, might happen? Now when I talk to my Dawgs, my do-lineman, I don't say hypothesis. I'll say alert. You ever seen that dog who was sitting there eating out of his bowl and he's eating his food minding his business and all of sudden he hears a noise. Or he senses something and you'll see his ears go up. He'll stop what he's doing and his ears will go up because he's on alert, or he's identifying somethings up. So instead of saying hypothesis I'll say alert. Your pre-snap keys, what alerted you? Alert, alert, alert. In your mind you should be thinking alert. I see something, I sense something and I have a hunch that this may happen. So, what are those alerts? What are those pre-snap keys that we can teach our Dawgs that'll help them make a great hypothesis or give them a great hunch as to what may happen? Number one, down and distance. Look at the down and distance. Is it 1st and 10 on their side of the football field? Is it 1st and 10 on our side of the football field? Are we in the middle of the football field 1st and 10? Is it 2nd and eight? Is it 3rd and two? Is it 3rd and 15? Now, again, a lot of time this may give us a great indication as to what's going to happen. Alert. 3rd and 15 on their side of the football field, on their side of the 50 they might pass the ball. Now, again, that depends on film study. But based on this particular team and their tendency 3rd and 15 on their side of the 50 may indicate a waggle. A play action. Something along those lines. So, down and distance could be a excellent pre-snap key. Number two, personnel. What's their personnel. Looking at this offensive teams personnel or their formation what do they do in certain personnel? When I say personnel I'm referring to how many backs, how many tight ends? Are they coming out in a 22 personnel? Two backs, one tight ends. 21 personnel, two backs, one tight end. 12, one back, two tight ends. 11, one back, one tight end. 10, empty. So on and so forth. What's their personnel? In looking at their personnel a lot of times that will give us great indicators as to what's going on if we pay attention to our pre-snap keys, right. A simple one, an easy one is empty. It's empty. It's five out, five receivers are out and there's nobody in that back field to help block. The quarterback is by himself, his shotgun is empty. Empty, empty, empty. Alert, alert, alert. Let's rush the passer, let's get after him. Okay. They don't have a full protection, it's just the offensive line and I'm one-on-one with that guy in front of me. Let's go eat, let's go have some fun. It's empty. He home alone. He back there by himself. It's time to go to work. Empty. 20 personnel. You got two backs back there and a shotgun. They probably back there to help pass block. Pass protection. So what do you do? Still may pass the ball, again depending on down and distance and depending on their formation, where they're lined up. Once you beat that offensive lineman you know you going to have a running back sitting there waiting on you. 21 personnel. Two backs, one tight end, I-formation. Most the time you get I-formation, especially depending on that down and distance to confirm you're going to get a run play. Most I-formations my hypothesis would be alert run it's I-formation. I can't go wrong guessing it's a run play with an I-formation. So, again, watching film and looking at their offense knowing what they do in certain personnel groups would be great indicators to our Dawgs as to what they might do depending on what personnel they come out in. Pre-snap key number time, key players. Who are their key players? Who are those guys that make plays for them? Who are they? Is it number 22, the running back? And every time number 22 is in and it's I-formation what are they going to do? They going to run the ball. What about number 80? Big time receiver, leading the team in receptions and yards after catch. Of course they're going to give it to him. If he's in the game and it's 3rd and 15 and he's out there wideout and the balls in the hash and he's to the wide side of the field one-on-one with your cornerback you know what time it is. It's time to get after the quarterback. You know what they going to do. Key guys. So a lot of times watching film you'll know that offenses will have tendencies and there are certain guys that they're going to go to to make plays for them. They're going to be a certain guy they want the ball in their hands when they need somebody to make a big play. We've seen those guys on film. We've seen those big time running backs, those big backs that run North and South. We've seen those backslash receivers that attack the edges on the jet sweeps. We've seen those quarterbacks that were triple threats and those running backs that'll come in the game and all of a sudden the offense switch to a wildcat. Key players. So for my coaches that wanted those pre-snap keys, those indicators, those alerts that should get our Dawgs ears up and on alert. But coach, Big Dawg, I got to be honest I've coached some guys that just wasn't that smart. And there was no way I was going to ask them to go through a list of things to look for in their pre-snap keys. Now, I've taught certain guys that was that smart. I've taught guys that would actually look at those things. Smart kids, smart young men that was able to look at the indicators, look at the pre-snap keys and make great choices prior to the play. I have coached those guys. But I've also coached those guys that could not do that or for them the game was happening so fast for them that they didn't have the chance to do that accurately. So I'm with you that, that's not my initial approach. Yes I do teach those things, read your pre-snap keys. Look at your pre-snap keys and they will indicate to you what they are going to do. They will indicate to you what they are going to do. I do teach that, I do go over that. But, I don't spend a lot of time on it. Before I get into what I really want to talk about, what I've been itching to talk about, I want to ask you a question first. Here's my question. Is it possible for a defensive lineman to attack an offensive lineman, and the offensive lineman never get where he wants to go, or never do what he was trying to do? Is that possible? Let me ask that again. Is it possible for a defense lineman to attack an offensive lineman, and the offensive lineman never get to where he was trying to go, or never do what he was trying to do? Is that a thing? Does that happen, or can that happen? Now, this is a very interesting question to me. I've had conversations. I've done consultations with colleges, junior colleges. I've had these kind of conversations. The reason why I'm bringing this up is because, when I played, I was taught to read your keys. Read your keys. I was taught to look at the L of the offensive lineman's shoulder pad, look at the V of the neck, or sometimes I'll teach read the letter. When I say read the letter, I'm talking about priests now. When I was taught to read the keys, I was taught to read the keys. Post now. So in other words, when that ball snaps, wherever the V of the neck turns is where I go. So, I'm waiting the read the V of the neck, or some coaches teach read the hat, whatever it might be. Wherever the hat goes, wherever the V of the neck goes, that's where I now go. So, I'm reading in my post now. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I'm asking is there a better way? Is there a better way to teach our defensive linemen how to attack that guy, in front of him? Now, yes. I understand we're still talking about how to deal with that run pass option offense. I'm going to answer that. Actually, I'm answering it, right now. Is part of the problem that we're teaching them to wait for a read? "I can't go anywhere, until I wait for a read. I'm gonna wait, until I get the read I'm looking for." Once I get that read, I now have to decide what to do, now that I've read. For some of my Big Dawgs I think that's too much. For some of them, they can't handle that kind of brain functioning. Some of our Big Dawgs can't make that decision quick enough. They have a hard time processing what's going on quickly, and then making that decision. So, we look at our Big Dawgs in the trenches and we're thinking, "What's taking you so long to make a decision?" When you make the decision, it's not the right one sometimes. Well, maybe the problem is that we're asking them to read. Maybe it's taking them too long to read, and react. To read, think about it, make a choice, and respond to what they're reading. Maybe, they're taking too long, and we're thinking, "Gosh. My guys are playing a little bit slow." A lot of times, when you think too much, and you have to read too much that takes too much time to do. What if we could take the reading out of it? What if we can take the reading out of the post-snap and put it in the pre-snap? So, in other words, "Yes. I want you to read the keys." "What keys?" "Your pre-keys. Read your pre-s." Read your pre-s. Look at all of the pre-snap things. If you wanna look at anything, look at the down, and distance. Look at the personnel. Identify the key player. Where is he, right? That should take you seconds to do. That we training our dogs to say, "Look at these things." They should take you seconds to do. "Look at the guy in front of you. Identify the guy, in front of you. Identify your POA." We know that mean point of attack. After that Jack, that's all you're doing. You playing football. Once you put your hands in the dirt, it's time to go to work. There ain't no more reading. We attacking now, at this point. What if we could teach our defensive linemen to not read post-snap, but keep the reading in the pre-snap? Think about that for a second. I'm gonna just sit here. I want you to think about it. Are we asking them to read at the wrong time? Is the fact that we're teaching them to read their keys. Is the indicator, or the reasoning behind why they're not reacting the way we want them to? You may say, "Yes. You may say, "No." I'm willing to bet. That you're basing that off of the player. You're thinking about the players you have, and you're saying, "Well, Johnny over here, does a good job of reading his keys, responds very well, but over here, David, over here, doesn't do as good of a job as Johnny, over there, when it comes to reading the keys." Well, they're not the same player. We have to understand that there are different levels of learners. There's a different level of functioning thinking, where one person may take a lot longer to make a decision, because their brain processes differently. So, do we train them to do the same thing and equip them to play the same way? That's not fair. That guy may take too long to read and react. So, how about we take the reading away from them or shift it to the pre-snap? Okay. So, then what am I saying? I'm glad you asked. Let me reach over here and grab my Big Dawg bible. Here it is. Here we go. Playing the re-pass option. The proverb reads, "Read your pre-s, but always attack your keys." That was good. So, I'm gonna say that one more time. "Read your pre-s, but always attack your keys." Should we teach our defensive linemen to read, then attack, or attack, then read? Well, in my opinion, according to the Big Dawg bible, we should teach our defensive linemen to attack, then read. Read. Your pre-s, but attack your keys. So, why do I say that? What's the distance between an offensive lineman, and a defensive lineman? In most cases, it's about a yard away, give or take a little bit less, or a little bit more. How quickly does that distance close, when the ball snap? That small window, that real small space closes in a hurry, when that ball snaps. So, how much reading, do I want my defensive linemen to do, when the ball snaps? Do I want him to be able to read to see, if it's a run, or see if it's a pass, or to see what kind of run it is? Do our Dawg have that much time to see exactly what's going on, and to make a decision? I can hear some of my high school coaches say, "Well coach, we have our sidelines yell run or pass." Though for some systems it may work for you, but when it comes to the development of that Dawg, we're not developing them to make the right decision, to train their instinct to make the choice, in that situation, and to properly teach their mechanics, and train their muscle memory to make the right choice, given the situation. Read your Pre-s, but attack your keys. I want to give you an analogy, and I want you to think about something, coaches, Big Dawgs, for a second. I love to ask this question. If you were to put your hand on a stove, what's gonna tell you first that the stove is hot? Your eyes, or the sensory in your hands? So, let me ask you, one more time. What's gonna tell you quicker that stove is hot? Is it gonna be your eyes, or is it going to be your hands? What's gonna tell you that the stove is hot? What's your answer? I want you to think about it, for a second. Your hands, or your eyes, which one? What's your answer, Big Dawg? I'll tell you my answer. It's going to be your hands. Now, the reason why it's gonna be your hands is because, if your eyes knew it was hot, you wouldn't have put your hand there, in the first place. That's my answer. What am I saying? Sometimes, when we train our defensive linemen to look at too many things, and sometimes we're not training them to look at too many things, they're just looking at too many things. So, they can't tell whether it's hot, or not. They can't tell. They can't tell, if the stove is on, or is off. Sometimes, they don't know what to look at, because they're trying to find that carrot, and the offensive coordinator has been dangling that carrot ,A B and C, and they're not sure what's going on. So, right now, the offense has done a good job of making sure that defensive line is not balanced. Yes. If your eyes are everywhere, you're probably not balanced. So, they're doing a good job of that. So, they can't tell, with their eyes, what's going on, but what can indicate, or what can figure out, if the stove is hot or not, if it's a pass or not. Come on. Talk to me. What is it? If you put that hand on the stove, and that stove is hot, you're gonna pull that hand off. If the stove's not hot, you're gonna keep your hand on. Well, what's was going to tell you without looking at it what's going on? Sometimes, you can't trust your eyes. The offense hopes that you're looking with your eyes. Sometime, the offense hopes that you're playing with your eyes. They are hoping that you're watching the game, and not playing the game. I tell my defensive linemen, "Stop watching the game, and play the game. You're watching the game. You're standing straight up, like a statue, and you're trying to find the ball. Even if you see the ball, you can't get to the ball. Even if you see the quarterback is dropping back, you can get to him, Jack. So, it don't matter what you see. It's about what you can feel. Is it hot? I don't know. Let me put my hand on it. Ah. It is hot. Is it on? I don't know. Let me see. Let me put my hand on it. No. It ain't on, 'cause it ain't hot." What am I saying? Is it a pass. I don't know. Let me put my hands on it. "Oh. It is a pass. Let me get after the quarterback." Is it a pass? I don't know. Let me put my hands on it. "Oh. You almost got me, here, with a screen." Stick my cleats in the dirt. Let's look for work. Did you hear a common denominator? Put your hands on it. Put your hands on them. Put your hands on them. Attack him. Attack him. Attack your keys. Don't read your keys. Attack your keys. When you attack your keys and you put your hands on it, you know exactly what's going on. As a matter of fact, you might stop him from doing what he was trying to do. If he was trying to reach you, he couldn't reach you because you put your hands on him and you kept him from out-leveraging you to the position from reaching you. They tried to pull along you, and the center was supposed to come down but you got off the ball so fast trying to attack the guard in front of you that you knocked the guard off, and causes sending a miss on a down block. He tried to pass block you, but you got your hands on him so quick that he was able to bull, pull, bullshit, slingshot. He was able to work right off once you got on. Let's reread the question. What's the most efficient way to teach our defensive linemen to play the run, but be able to quickly react to rush the passer. The error in that question is the word react. Let's not teach our defensive linemen to react, let's teach them to proact. React can mean be reactive, we don't want them to be reactive. We want our dog to be proactive, that means that we are on the attack. We attack first, let the offensive line react. We attack. Let them react and we will attack. Every time the ball snaps, we don't react, we attack. That's what we have to teach our Dawgs to do. They are Dawgs, they attack. That's in their nature to attack, not react. You understand what I'm saying Big Dawg? So my thoughts are going back to the Proverbs from the Big Dawg Bible, read your [inaudible 00:26:00] and attack your keys. If we attack our keys, we are being proactive in our trench activity. We're determining how the plays going to go and where it's going to go, and if it's going to be successful or not, that's for up to the side depending on how we proact our activity once that ball snaps. Attack, see that's the beauty of attacking. You can't unbalance an attacking defensive linemen. You can't get on a defensive lineman to be off-balance if all they do is attack. It's a run, they attack him, as a past they attack in any way. It doesn't matter what you do. When you train your Dawgs to be proactive and attack, not react but attack. It does not matter what that all for the line is trying to do. Does not matter what the offense the coordinator is dangling, doesn't matter. I have a job and my job is that once the boss snaps I don't react, I attack. I'm being proactive and this is my plea. I think that philosophy, that psychology is extremely important and I'm confident that that's going to make a world of a difference. To attack first and re second gives our Dawgs the green light to be aggressive off the ball, to have that flat back at contact which brings great impact. Flat back at contact brings great impact, and we're giving them the license to be aggressive, to be proactive. Not reactive, but attack. Remember our Dawgs do not react, they attack. Alpha, attack first is what we're doing. The moment we get our hands on and we attack, and we punch, and strike off the ball, then we'll know what they're doing or what they're trying to do. Then we'll feel when things are happening, we'll know if it's a pass or a run, we'll know when it's a double-team, we'll feel that. We'll know if it's a stretch, we'll know when we're trying to get reach, we'll feel that. Once we attack, we'll feel that. Once we attack, we'll feel that and we're trying to train our Dawgs to feel, not watch, not look, not find. No more watching the game, we have to play the game because now in our reading, as we teach them to read and the post snap, now they're reading too much. Eyes in the backfield peeking inside, peeking over the shoulder, all those different things as opposed to allowing our hands, and a century and our hand to tell our brain what's going on. That's going to be always quicker than our eyes trying to decipher, our minds trying to decipher through our eyes what we're looking at. Is it hot or is it not? Get your hands on it and it'll tell you if it's hot or if it's not. Let's take this even further. Now the question is how? If I'm going to teach my Dawgs to attack coach, how do I do it? Now let me explain myself. I'm not saying that they such as hit the gap. Some defensive coordinators teach their guys to attack the gap, or hit the gap. If that works for you fine, but that's not necessarily what I'm saying. I'm saying to attack the guy in front of them, that's what we're attacking. If I'm in a three technique, then I'm attacking the outside shoulder of the guard, I'm attacking that. If I'm in a four I, for me that's inside shoulder of the tackle, I'm attacking that. If I'm in a four as head up, I'm attacking the tackle head up over the tackle, and so on and so forth. I'm talking about punching plates, I'm talking about gaining control. I'm talking about re-establishing the line of scrimmage, because he who controlled the line of scrimmage, controls the football game. Attacking the line of scrimmage by attacking the guy in front of me, that's what I'm talking about when I say attack. Now how do we attack? We attack with two hands. When we're not sure whether it's going to be a run or a pass, we're attacking with two hands. We are striking cloth and we work off, we strike cloth and we work off. That's the safest and the smartest thing to do, and it puts our defensive lineman in a better position to deal with the run or the pass. Whether it's run or pass, when they strike with both their hands two by two. In episode three, we talked about two by two and two by one. In this case, dealing with this run or the past, the smartest thing, the best thing to do is to strike that guy in front of you with two. Hey Big Dawg, not sure what to do? Strike that guy in front of you with two. That's in the Big Dawg Bible as well. If you don't know what to do, striker with two. If you don't know what to do, strike him with two. When we teach our Dawgs to strike that guy in front of us, to attack and to strike him with two hands, there is a plethora of options. We can now train ideal with the linemen and Big Dawg. There's the plethora of options that you can use. Remember you've trained your animal and coaches, we've trained our defensive lineman to do certain moves based on what they feel. What they feel with their hands does that all for the linemen giving him high hands, top hands, wide hands, or low hands. Well when we get our hands on that guy and we don't know what to do, we strike him with our two. Once we strike him with the two, then we feel our way through right off the bag. We don't know what to do, we strike him with our two and we feel our way through. That's what I'm referencing when I say attack, then read. Once we teach our Dawgs as coaches to strike him with two and feel his way through, that's when the art of rushing or the art of the game happens. Trench warfare at it's finest. When you strike him with two and you feel your way through, your feet will know what to do. Let me say that again Big Dawg. If you don't know what to do, strike him with two. Feel your way through and your feet would know what to do. Boy that's the truth. When you teach a defensive lineman to be more on the attack side instead of the react side, but be proactive in their attack and you're training the muscle memory, and you're training their senses to make choices on the go, you've got to do some real Dawgs in the trenches. I'm talking about the mad junkyard Dawgs. Them stingy ones, the ones that don't let nothing get past them, talking about those. That's what you got in the trenches when you teach them to play the game, and not watch the game. They told Big Dawg as we talked about now what moves we can do when we strike with two. What are the moves now we can do once we strike with two. That's on another episode. As always Big Dawg, I appreciate your time. I know time is precious and I appreciate that you shared it with me, like two wise men under the tree hoping to teach these young man how to work the turf and stay out of the street. Big Dawg Trench Talk, I know we got better today. Good it's not good, when better is expected. Thank you again for subscribing to our podcast, Big Dawg Trench Talk. Remember if you have a question, feel free to email me at trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com. That's trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com. Send me an email Big Dawg, and let's talk trenches. Remember, your progress is our success. When you got some time and the trenches is on your mind, make sure you head over to bigdawgfootball.com and subscribe to the grind. It is the Netflix of D-line content. Whatever you're looking for, we got it. 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The "Netflix" of Defensive Line: www.bigdawgfootball.com Question or On-Air Topics: trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com At Big Dawg Football, we're all about making you a tactician in the trenches. Your progress is our success. On this episode of Big Dawg Trench Talk, we're going to open it up for trench question. This question comes from Big Dawg Christian Foltin. He asked a great question that a lot of nose tackles actually wrestle with. The question is, "what are the best pass rush moves for a nose tackle in a 3-4 defense?". All right, Big Dawg Foltin, great question. Now, let's talk trenches. So, 3-4 defense. So, we're looking at three big dawgs in the trenches. You got your nose, who's in a zero technique. You have your defensive ends, that might be in a 4, which is head up over the tackle. Or they actually might be in a 5, which is outside shoulder of the offensive tackle. Depending on the Defensive Coordinator, he may line those guys up in a 4 or 5. Either way, you only have three defensive linemen and you have five offensive linemen. Now, it's supposed to be advantage offensive linemen, five against three. Three defensive linemen should never beat five offensive linemen. However, if you have three dawgs at d-line, those three dawgs will get to that quarterback and that's a fact Jack. So, let's look specifically at what Christian asks. He's saying, nose tackle. How can a nose tackle be successful in a situation he's in? Well, what is he talking about? Right now, the challenge for a nose tackle in a 3-4 defense, assuming that the guards are uncovered, assuming that there's no blitz coming from the linebackers, assuming that there is no defensive end that's slanting or long sticking inside, assuming that those ends are rushing outside and that nose tackle has a two way go. Assuming that, there is a challenge. There is a challenge because you have a center and you have two guards there. You have potentially three guys blocking you. You are being tripled team and the job of those guards is to make sure that you do not as a nose tackle, actually rush up that "A" gap. They have to close that off. There is no way that those guards and that center would ever or should ever allow a nose tackle to rush up the "A" gap. If anything, they'll close off the "A" and force that nose tackle towards the "B". The problem with that is that now if you're dealing with a quarterback that doesn't mind pulling that ball down and taking off, you're giving him a huge lane. So, as a nose guard taking the "B" gap like that, it's definitely not recommended unless again, there's a defensive end that's long sticking to the "A" or a linebacker actually rushing the opposite "A" or "B" gap. But, let's assume there's none of that. Defensive ends not coming inside, linebackers not blitzing of the opposite "A" or "B". It's just you Big Dawg, it's you. You're in the zero technique and you got three hogs, well I call them hogs. You have three offensive linemen sitting there waiting on you to take either side and whichever way you go, you're getting triple team. That's the challenge for a nose tackle in a 3-4 defense on a pass rush. Well, here we go, Big Dawg. Here's your answer. There's always an answer. Always. Let me pull out my Big Dawg Bible and I'm going to turn to a chapter I call, The Art of Rushing for Nose Tackles. And, the proverb reads, "In the trenches, you don't get space. You create space." When the guards take away your space, take the center's place. Let me say it for you again Big Dawg, in case you ain't catch it. When the guards take away your space, take the center's place. What you talking about Big Dawg? Glad you asked. Let's flip sides for a second. The offensive guard's job is to make sure that he lends a helping hand. He's got to lend a helping hand to a center. So, while he's punching and stepping to close off that "A" gap, he's punching with his inside arm and he's looking for work. He's looking to see if there is a backer or there's a defensive end coming across threatening his "B" gap. That's what he's doing. So, he's going to close off that "A" gap while he looks towards the "B". And if that nose tackle is threatening that "A" gap, he's going to put both hands on him and shut him down. That's his job. So, potentially what you have is, you have three guys closing off the "A" gap and forcing you to work laterally as opposed to working vertically. That's their job. You have three guys sitting there and they have taken away your "A". They have taken away your "A" and they're forcing you, potentially passing you on to each other, making sure you don't penetrate the "A". They're taken away the "A", that's the job of the guard. So, the gaps are tight and you can't see no sunlight. What do you do? This reminds me of a movie that I watched. One of my favorite movies of all time, hands down, is Rocky. All the Rocky series. I've watched every single one of them, like more than 10 times a piece, I'm telling you. I've seen them over and over again. I love them. Everyone of them. Rocky 4 is definitely one of my favorite out of all of them. So, if you're not a Rocky fan or you just haven't seen any of the Rocky movies, then you don't know which one I'm talking about. So let me explain. Rocky 4 is where Rocky fights Drago. Drago is a beast, okay. He's a Russian boxer and he is very strong and very powerful. Big Dawg, he was a monster. I'm telling you. So round one, ding ding. Here we go, Drago on Rocky, like white on rice. I mean Rocky can't go nowhere, ain't no peace in the ring. Every throw Drago throwing is landing like heat missiles, they landing. Drago throwing a jab,landing. Hook. Uppercut. Hook. Jab. Landing. Like all of them, all of them landing. So, I'm sitting there watching like, oh my God. I guess Rocky 4 is when Rocky finally gonna die because that's what it looked like Big Dawg. It looked like Rocky was going down, but he kept getting back up. Ding. Bell rings, round one is over. Rocky goes back to his corner. So, his coach says, "all right, what's happening out there?" And Rocky says, "he's winning! I see three of them out there." So, Paulie's behind him and he says, "hit the one in the middle." And his coach, Tony says, "right, hit the one in the middle." Big Dawg, that scene is classic and this question reminds me of that scene, you a nose tackle and a 3-4 defense. You actually have three guys you got to deal with. You know what my answer is, hit the one in the middle. Remember in the trenches, you don't get space. You have to create space. You have to make space for yourself. When the guards attempt to take your space away, hit the one in the middle. Attack the center and take his place. A nose tackle in a 3-4 defense has to be able to create space. Creating space as a nose tackle is one of the most important elements to the art of rushing the passer. So, what do I specifically mean when I say take the center's place? Well, you can't go left and you can't go right? What you want to do is hit the one in the middle. You want to now attack that center and you want to put them on a different level. Now, putting him on a different level can mean a numerous amount of things. What's going to make it difficult for you to work right or left, is that you're working into the guards. The center and the guards are on the same level. What I mean by that is, they are hip to hip. Now, they might sponge set. In other words, they may form a horseshoe around the quarterback to absorb anything that's coming. So, that guard might be slightly behind, slightly behind that center, but that's by design. They're forming a horseshoe around the quarterback, yet they are hip to hip connected. Now, attacking the center, hitting the one in the middle, how does that help? It helps because you have now driven a center back and you place the center on a different level than the guard. Now, remember I said earlier that guard is going to sit in there and lend a helping hand. He's going to close off that "A" gap, punch with his inside hand to make sure that you stay as a nose tackle in front of that center. Well, that helping hand doesn't matter because I'm going to attack that center. I'm going to actually hit the one in the middle. I'm going to put him on a different level. When I attacked the center and I put that center on a different level than the guards, I just replaced the center where the center was standing. Where the center was actually located at the line of scrimmage, I replaced him because I knocked him back and I sat him down. That's why it is so important that you have a great stance and a great start and that you shock and sit that center down. Once you shock and sit that center down and you attack the one in the middle, wherever that center was is where you now are. Why? Because the guards have taken away your space. Well, if the guards take away your space, then you take the center's place. You now shock and sit that center down. So, in shocking and sitting that center down, you've now driven the center pass the guards hip. Now, you have created a crease by shocking and sitting that center down. You have created space or you've created a crease for yourself. So, Big Dawg, visually imagine what I'm saying. Imagine yourself or your athlete, your nose tackle explodes off that ball and he shocks that center and knocks him back. So, imagine a center's toes is on the guard's heel. Now, because they're not hip to hip, you have that space to work. Primarily Big Dawg, that's what you're trying to do. You've got to create a crease. You got to make space for yourself to work. So, first things first, hit the one in the middle and create space. Now that you've got them where you want them, be ready to shock and shed or shock and snatch. By you sheding the center, it's creating more space for yourself to work the opposite "A". So, you get off the ball, you shock him, you sit him down or knock him back, and you shed him right or left. Now, when I say shed, what I'm referring to is that you're actually now playing half a man. Though, you're head up as a nose tackle in a zero and you attack that center, you hit the one in the middle. Once you've driven him back as far as you need to go, whereas now hopefully he's behind the hips of the guards, now look to shed him right or left. So, if you shed him to your defensive right, you're knocking him into that left guard and creating even more space for yourself when it's time to work to your left defensive left. So again, you shock them, you shed them, and you work that gap you just created for yourself. That's you now creating space. Okay, coach, what if he's strong? It's a strong center and I'm having a hard time knocking that center back to even create that space or put that center on a different level. Well Big Dawg, that's a great point because driving a center back is not the only way you can put the center on a different level than the guards. You can also snatch that center forward, that will cause you to now put that center on a different level. No, the center's not behind the heels of the guard, but now the center is in front of the guards because he's top heavy. A lot of times when those center don't want to be moved, they're probably top heavy. Which means that they don't have good posture. Their shoulders are above the hips are slightly in front, but they're top heavy. I mean their backs flat and leaning on you pretty heavy. Perfect opportunity as a nose tackle to feel that through your hands and snatch him forward. When you snatch him forward, you would just put the center on a different level. The center's shoulders and the guard's shoulders are not close in proximity. They are not even close to touch it. You just put now the center on a different level. Once again, he's not behind the guard. You just snatched him in front of the guards. That's another way of putting that center on a different level, but you've got to be smart Big Dawg. The first thing you have to do is attack. You've got to get your hands on the center and your hands, for you now once you hit the one in the middle, have to operate like these "usbs". And, I always tell my Big Dogs, get your hands plugged in like they're "usbs". Because at that point, Big Dog, you can now retrieve information. You can't retrieve information if you don't have your hands plugged in and if your hands not plugged in, you don't know what's going on. You can't do absolutely anything, if you have your hands not on that offensive linemen, on that center. So, first things first, move with the ball, not on the ball. Move with the ball, explode out of your stance, hit the one in the middle. Once you hit the one in the middle and your hands are plugged in like "usbs", you can get a sense and a feel information as to what's going on. If you sat him down real well and you've driven him back, keep driving them back, shed him and work the gap. But, if you get off that ball, you move with the ball, you shock them, get your hands on like usbs, and man he's pretty stubborn. He's top heavy and you feel that in your hand. Snatch him! Shock, snatch over! Pat him on the back, tell him good job. So what's my point? My point is, is that you can attack that center and put them on a different level behind the guards and find work. Or, you can attack that center and put him on a different level in front of the guards. Well, you also can find work. There's always an answer. There's an answer to every question. You just have to work for it and find that answer. All right, Big Dog, so you might be thinking, "okay coach, so is shocking and snatching or shocking and shedding the only way I can pass rush in a 3-4 defense?" Absolutely not. We just getting started. Let's look specifically now at the actual hand mechanics of the pass rush move. As a nose tackle and a zero technique, you can work here two by two or two by one. When I say two by two or two by one, I'm referring to the hand mechanics of pass rush moves. So, let's look at a two by two. A two by two is kinda what I just mentioned before, which was that shock and snatch or shocking and shed. Snatching and shedding are pass rush moves. They are escapes. So, if you punch the center with two hands, you're going to shock him with two hands or you're going to snatch him with two hands. That's what I call two by two. Now, when I say two by one or two to one, which you'll see @ bigdogfootball.com with my passwords moves, two by one means I'm going to shock you with two hands and I'm going to take one hand off so I can work the center's hand off and escape. Now, here's where it gets a little bit more detail. Let's talk about the two to one or the two by one. If I'm a nose tackle and I tagged that center and I set him back like I would like to and put them on a different level with two hands and I take that hand off, now coach, which hand should I take off? Okay, let's say you're a nose tackle and you want to work to the right, defensive right. You have an option, you can take your right hand off. Now, if you're working to your defensive right and you take your right hand off, now your left hand stays on. That left hand is still collapsing that center. You're still collapsing the pocket with the center, with what I call the pusher or your pusher arm. So, I'm two to one, my right hand comes off, my left hand still on because it's still pushing, why I call it the pusher. And so, my right hand, I'm going to now work my hand and work that center's hand off of me. So, you've pretty much turned the pass rush into a long arm, two hands to one. You kept your inside hand on because you're going right. You use your left hand and now you're long arming that center towards the quarterback. You are not collapsing the pocket. What are you doing with your right hand? Well, it depends and this is where hand leverage comes into place. What's your hand leverage? Is your outside hand under that center's left hand? Is your outside hand on top of that center's hand? Is your outside hand inside of that centers arm because he's trying to grab your shoulder pad? Where is his hands? That's where you have to feel where you are. That's where the beauty of rushing comes in and now you're being a tactician in the trenches. So, two to one: left hand stays on, right hand comes off, the center's hands under yours. Boom. Quick swim off. Why quick swim? Because a quick swim requires for you to go down. If you have the hand leverage to go down, which means your hands above his hands,work down. Two to one, inside hand stays on, outside hand comes off, but his hands are above your hands. His hands are on the top of your shoulder pad. What do I do? Now we forklift or we "T" lift. Two to one, inside hand stays on, outside hand comes off. But, coach, now his hands are actually inside of my hands. They're hot and inside, what do I do? You "C" swat or "T" swat? Knock his hands inside and work the edge. Let's say you attack the center and the center has grabbed your outside shoulder pad and your hands are inside of his, but his hands are outside of yours. What do we do now? Well, we can wheel out or we can snake through. When you've shocked and set that center down or driven him back, collapsed the pocket, and created space for yourself (now as a tactician in the trenches) you have to feel where his hands are and work. Identifying hand leverage is going to tell you exactly what you need to do. It's not something you look for, but it's something you feel. So, if the center's hands are low, what should you do? You can chop down. You can "T" chop down. You can quick swim down. Why? Because your hands are higher than he's. If the center's hands are higher than yours and your hands are under his hands, what can you do? You forklift and you "T" up. One of those two will get you out of that situation. If the center's hands are inside of your hands and they're on your chest plate, what do you do? You can swat. "T" swat. "C" swat. Knock his hands inside and work the edge. If the center's hands are outside of yours, you can wheel out or you can snake out. You can even punch out or punch and drop to that side. Big Dawg, there is always an answer, always an answer. You just have to be willing to work for it and grind to it. Now, all of those pass rush moves were all two to one or two by one pass rush moves. But, specifically it was the two by one where we kept our inside arm off and that pass rush move turned into a long arm rush. Now, let's talk about the two by one or the two to one pass rush move, where we keep our outside arm on and take our inside arm off. This is what I call the quick release. So, let's go with the same example. I shocked the center as a nose tackle. I sat him down, I drove him back, and I want to work to my defensive right? So, as opposed to me taking off my right arm, I'm going to keep my right arm on. I'm going to take my inside arm off. Now, why would I want to keep my right arm on if I'm going right? Great question, because I want to stack his feet. I want to get him to stack. If I can get his feet to stack, I got a sack. Now, what do I mean by stack? Well, if the center's feet are on top of each other (and I don't mean that literally. I'm not saying that he stepped on his own foot), what I'm saying is that his feet are vertical. That his feet are facing the sideline. He has completely opened his hip or what I call open his "gate". His feet are stacked. When you get his feet to stack or you get him to drop that back foot. You have just created space for yourself. The center and the guard are no longer foot to foot. You kept your outside arm on and you caused his feet to stack or you caused him to drop that foot and open that gate. But, if that gate's open, I'm sure going through it. But, ain't nobody opened it for me. I had to open it myself. You can do that Big Dawg. You can do that with the quick release. You can do that if you keep that outside arm on, lock him out, play low and long, because we know low and long equals strong. Make him drop that foot because you're attacking, right? He drops that left foot and now you got what you wanted. He's opened the gate. His foot has stacked. Now go get your sack. Bring that inside arm now because remember you took that inside arm off. You kept your outside arm on, but you took your inside arm off because you are now ready to rip and run or chop and drop. Now, keep this in mind. None of this works if you are not playing with good leverage. What I call, laser down. Now, what I mean by laser down is, I always like to use this example, if there was a laser in the middle of your chest and you're standing straight up, straight up and down, that laser will be pointing straight out. Why? Because you're standing straight up. But, when I say laser down, what I mean is I want that chest down. I want that chest down towards the ground. I want your flat back at contact because that brings great impact. Flat back at contact, brings great impact. Now, if he can't see it, the center can't strike it. So, laser down. Take away surface, take away any chance that center can have with controlling you. When I teach my offensive linemen as well, I teach them to punch plates. I teach them to block with their feet, but control with their hands. But as a nose tackle, if you don't give them surface, their hands won't land. And if their hands won't land, then they'll never have control. So, laser down, Big Dawg. Chest down, don't give them surface to control. Always play on your 45 drive. So, keep that in mind. All of these things will work if you're playing with great leverage. So, in this discussion, if you choose to hit the one in the middle, this is the best way to go. The two by two or the two by one. If you two by two, you can shock and snatch or shock and shed. If you decided to go two by one, you can keep the outside arm on, shock him with two, press him with one, quick release. And we can also go two by one, keeping the inside arm on, transitioning quickly into a long arm rush. Shock him with two, keep collapsing with the inside arm and, work off with the outside arm, and the move will vary based on your hand leverage. If you decide to hit the one in the middle, one of those will work. I guarantee it. Now, if you go and work on these moves, you'd have plenty in yards to know to deal with that center and those guards in that 3-4 defense. Now, I can hear somebody asking me coach, which one out of all of those moves is the best? Honestly, Big Dawg that depends on you. You might just be that power rusher. You might not want to go two to one. You might not like the idea of taking a hand off. And if you're a powerful guy with a great get off, you move with the ball, not on the ball. You move with the ball. I probably wouldn't recommend you take a hand off. I say you bull them, collapse the pocket. I say bull them, shed them. I say Bull him, snatch him. I'd probably say, Big Dog, you're powerful work your two by two. If you're a nose tackle with moderate strength, average, not very powerful, but you have really good hands. Well, I'll tell you Big Dawg, try your two by one. Turn that pass rush in to a long arm and work outside arm and get off of me. That's what I would tell you. Some may say, coach, I'm not strong at all, what do I do? Well Big Dawg, you better have the hands of a skilled surgeon, skilled and precise. You can't two by two or two by one, you will be what I call a finesse rusher. When I get a finesse rusher at nose tackle, I'm teaching him to attack the elbows and below. We don't put our hands on the offensive linemen because if we could put hands on him, he could put hands on us and you may not be strong enough to get off. Again, I'm talking to my finesse rushers. The beauty behind all of this is to find your match. Find your weapon, what weapon works well with you? What weapon works well with you and for you? That's the beauty of all of it. Do I have to know how to do 35 moves? No, you do not. You just have to find those three moves that you feel will work for you in this situation. In this 3-4 defense being that nose tackle, you have to work the one that works for you and with you. That's the beauty of it. Find your match, find your weapon. What three moves should you develop? Go back and listen to Episode 2, where we talk about the "go-to", the setup, and the counter. I think it'll help you know. I'm not sure if you caught this, but if you are listening, I think you heard me say if you choose to hit the one in the middle. Well, coach what you mean if I choose to hit the one in the middle, is not the only one I can hit? You probably know the answer to that. The answer is no. The center is not the only guy that you can hit. Now, I absolutely recommend hitting the center first. I agree that you have to hit the one in the middle first, maybe second, and maybe third, but I don't know about fourth and fifth and sixth and seventh. Big Dawg, you getting predictable, and ninth, and so on and so forth. Big Dawg, you ain't fooling nobody. Remember, we're training you to be tacticians in the trenches. One of the key elements of war is surprise. That means change the rhythm of your rush. Change your course. Don't allow him to predict what you're going to do by doing the same thing over and over and over again. Eventually you hitting the one in the middle, ain't gonna work. So again, to answer your question, do I always have to hit the one in the middle? No, please don't always hit the one in the middle. Should I start off by hitting the one in the middle? Absolutely. Start off by hitting the one in the middle and once you hit the one in the middle, change your P.O.A, change your point of attack. Well, how do I do that? Great question Big Dawg. Attack the guard. Have you been listening to anything I've been saying? Let me go back to my Big Dog Bible and it reads again, "In the trenches, you don't get space. You create space." Big Dawg, I'm just messing with you. I know you're listening, but this rush I'm talking about, it's called the ricochet rush. This is where the nose tackle would attack the inside shoulder of the guard. Now, the beauty behind this is that, remember, first you hit the one in the middle. You attacking the center once, twice, maybe even three times. What's those guards going to predict? They're probably gonna predict that you're going to attack the center again, but this time, Big Dawg, you don't. You Change your P.O.A. just that fast. Now, it looks like you lined up the same way and you are, but your point of attack is different. Now, we're going to attack the inside shoulder of the guard. And, when we do that, Big Dawg watch this, the offensive tackle has to kick out on that defensive end. So, you have that space with that "B" gap. You can knock that guard over into that "B" gap and that's going to give you more space and your "A" gap. Now, you're playing like a tactician and that's big dawg football. In summary, you're a nose tackle, you're a Big Dawg, playing in a 3-4 defense. How do I deal with this? Attack the one in the middle. Shock and sit him down. Work your two by two or you're two by one. Or finesse him, attack his elbows and below. Put that center on a different level and create space. Be smart, Big Dawg. Eventually, change the rhythm of your rush. Change your P.O.A. and ricochet. Hey, Big Dawg. I can talk about this all day long. Actually, I think I do talk about this all day long. Big Dog Christian Foltin. Great Question Big Dawg. I appreciate that. I know for a fact, Big Dawg community, we got better today. Your progress, is our success. Big Dawg, if you have a question, feel free to email me at trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com. That's trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com. We appreciate your questions and we really appreciate you being subscribed to our Big Dog Trench Talk podcast. Also, don't forget to head over to www.bigdawgfootball.com. It is the Mecca of defensive line content. People all over the world are subscribing and joining the Big Dawg Football community every day. All of those pass rushes we talked about today for the two by two, two by one, finesse rushes, you can find all of our pass rushes on www.bigdawgfootball.com. Let's get our Big Dawgs better. You know what time it is? Stick those cleats in the dirt. Let's go to work.

The "Netflix" Of Defensive Line Video Tutorials: https://www.bigdawgfootball.com Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day": trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com What's up Big Dawg? This is Coach Rolle at Five Star Linemen Academy. Thank you for subscribing and tuning in to another episode of Big Dawg Trench Talk. In our previous episode, we were discussing the question, "What makes a great pass rusher?". Now, I always like to ask my athletes after a session or sometimes during the session, to make sure they're tracking, what was your great takeaway? What was your "G.T." or what was your great takeaway from that session? From that film session? What did you take away from it? And so for me from episode one, my great takeaway was that you have to make sure that you put your attitude before your arsenal. We discussed how it was important to have the skills and the technique and the measurables to be a successful pass rusher. However, you need to ignite all of that. You need to have the right attitude to ignite the vehicle, and so my great takeaway was attitude before arsenal. However, it is important that you develop a certain set of skills. That you develop your set of pass rush moves that will cause you to be successful. Now that your attitudes in place. Episode number two. How do you find your arsenal? Let's establish some vocabulary, Big Dawg, so we're on the same page. When I say arsenal, I'm referring to a set of pass rush moves. Now, I'm not just referring to any pass rush moves, but I'm referring to pass rush moves that fit your style of play. These are your pass rush moves, your arsenal. So now the question again is, "how do you find your arsenal?" or "how do you find your set of pass rush moves?". The key word for me here is set. There is a set of pass rush moves that work together depending on your style of play. Depending on your style of play, you should have a set of pass rush moves that you go to every game with, every practice with, that work together for you. When it comes to the art of rushing the passer, I do not believe that pass rush moves work independently. I believe that pass rush moves, work dependently. When you're watching a pass rusher in an nfl game or a college game or high school game, I believe that the pass rush moves that did work were the result of those pass rush moves that might not have worked. I believe that the other pass rush moves have set that pass rusher up for future success. So in other words, the pass rush move that worked, played off the one that didn't. I believe that they worked together. For example, you may see a pass rusher bull. Bull, bull, bull, bull. And all of a sudden he comes back with a finesse move. He comes back with a sweep or a quick swim or a cross chop of that sort because the pass rusher was "bulling" on the previous pass downs and lead to a successful finesse rush or hand attack. And so this is why, to me, it's important to have a set of pass rush moves depending on your style of play, not one move. I don't think a pass rusher should go to a game or a practice and only thinking about one move as opposed to the set of moves. This is why I say arsenal arsenal as in your set of pass rushes. Your set, not your one move, your set of pass rush moves. Now, the wisdom and the art of pass rushing now comes to the question, what is in your arsenal that works well with each other? That actually compliments each other, that play off each other? Well, now we're talking. Now we're talking about the perfect set of pass rush moves in your arsenal. Those pass rush moves have to play off each other. They have to work well or compliment each other well in order for you to have that success. So point being is that when it comes to choosing pass rush moves or choosing the right arsenal for you, you have to think about a set. #1: You need to have a "go-to" or you need to have a pass rush move that works for you. This is that pass rush that you feel you're going to win eight times out of 10, nine times out of 10, 10 times out of 10, because that's the pass rush move that worked for you, that nobody can stop. That's when you need that pass rush or that great rush to cause havoc in the backfield to cause the quarterback to run. To cause that quarterback to throw that ball off the wrong foot. To cause some kinda big play to happen. That's your pass rush move. For me, when I played the game, my pass rush move was my slingshot. I love the slingshot. It did not matter how big or strong that guy was for me. If I wanted a sack or a great rush and I knew that I took the time to set it up, my "go-to". Now that it was time to get to that quarterback and now the timing was perfect to attack that offensive lineman and he was right where I wanted him, I went to my slingshot. I went to my slingshot. That was my move. My other move was catching the hands. Nobody could stop me when I rushed the passer, when I caught those hands. That is to me like black belt. You'd be talking about karate. You got the different levels of karate, or the different belts. For me, catching the hands was like black belt for me. To me that was mastery. I felt like I couldn't be stopped when I caught his hands. And so #1: You have to have your "go-to". That move, that you "go-to" in need of a successful rush. What move are you going to "go-to" when you need that rush. The second thing that needs to be in your arsenal, it has to be that "set-up", that "set-up" rush. For me, this rush, the "set-up" rush requires a little bit more maturity. Now I take that back. It requires a lot more maturity because this is the rush where you have to be patient. This is the rush where you're setting him up and you're setting yourself up for success. Set-Up. You're setting him up and you're setting yourself up for success. This requires patience. You may not get the sack on the "set-up". The "set-up" is not for the sack at that moment. The "set-up" is for the sack later on. Now, I'm not talking about the next quarter. Now, depending on what kind of game you playing, it might just be that you might've been setting him up and trying to go to your "go-to", but you know what, you realized I got to go back to my "set-up". I got to set him up just a little bit more to get him to believe that that's what I'm going to do majority of the time. So sometimes it may take that, you know. You may play a four quarter game, then you might get one sack and that's a great game. You know, we've watched Super Bowl games, the last Super Bowl, and you saw that sack in the fourth quarter from the Eagles. That changed everything. They came at the right time. It came at the perfect time. I thought it was going to be a sackless Super Bowl. You should have saw me Big Dawg. I was sad in front of my tv. I'm like, come on, Super Bowl. No sack in the Super Bowl. Not one! Not a half of one. Saw a lot of rushes. Saw a lot of guys get close to the quarterback, but it wasn't no sack. I was sad. Wasn't no sack. Until I was patient and I waited all the way to the fourth quarter and here it was. Finally, Eagles had the sack right when they needed it, but man, it took a lot of work that night. Those boys put the work in and right when they needed it, there was a sack. Well, sometimes that's what your "set-up" does. Your setup may take time and at the right time because you've set yourself up for success, there goes your sack. #2: The "set-up" move. You gotta, you have to develop a "set-up". #3: Counter rush. You have to have your counter rush and hopefully if you took the time and you were patient and you sacrificed in your "set-up", now you've given yourself the opportunity in that window (because the window closes fast sometimes Big Dawg), you've given yourself the opportunity to counter. Now, you counter from what you've been showing him with your "set-up". So, a lot of times people think counter means to go inside. I'm going to counter inside. Yes, counter can mean that you're going to counter back inside, if you have been setting him up by going outside. So therefore, that's the counter. You're countering what you did previously. Well, what if you're "bulling" him? If you are "bulling" him, then your counter may be to get on and get right off. Your counter may be like a slingshot. Slingshot is where I "sold" the bull. I flipped my hips and got off of him quickly, but I made him think I was "bulling" him. Your counter may be your bull shed. Another one of my favorite pass rush moves. Your counter is the opposite of what you've been showing him, what you've been doing, that's your counter. If you've been going in, in, in, your counter will be out, out, out. If your counter was a "bull", now you come back with something fast and quick. If you were setting him up with something fast and quick, now your counter is to come back with something powerful, a power rush. And so sometimes you know a coach will say, "speed to power, speed to power, speed to power". Well, what about power to speed, power to speed, power to speed? That to me would be considered a counter. And so now in your arsenal now, I haven't necessarily spoken specifically yet to specific moves and how they work and the timing of them, but just make sure you check your arsenal. Check your moves and you should have at least three moves, four or five, but at least three going into a game or going into practice. #1: You should have your "go-to". #2: You should have your "set-up". And #3: Your counter. Now, if I had to put these in order, I would probably say it this way. #1: "set-up", #2: counter, and #3: now "go-to". That would be my opinion. Now I'm not saying that that's the only way. I've actually trained some of my guys and I've actually told them, "Hey, how about you go to your "go-to" right now. Start them off with your best move and see if he can handle it. If you are speed rusher, sometimes my advice is to speed off the edge right now on that pass rush. See how fast he is going backwards and you're going forward. Make him understand right now that you a speed guy. Make him move his feet and then hopefully you set him up with that. Now, you can counter off of your speed rush. Now you can sell the speed, turn back in, and "bull him". Now, we've seen some great pass rushers do that. They'll "sell" the vertical rush. They'll "sell" the speed off the edge. All of a sudden they put that work foot up, for me work foot is the outside foot. They "plant" that outside foot, inside foot is toe to target. All of a sudden, Bam!, they done put him on his back and you got your sack. Big Dawg, I've seen that. Now, why was that successful? Because those two moves were perfect compliments to each other. They worked dependently. That speed to power worked because the pass rushers "sold" the speed rush. That's why it worked and that's what I mean when I say set. To me, there is no perfect order to those set of moves. If you have your "go-to", if you have your "set-up", and your counter, if you have those set of moves you off to a great start. Now, the beauty of this and the art of rushing the passer is one, all those moves compliment each other and you can do all of those moves well, but now what order do you now approach these? Now that is the art of pass rushing. When you can answer that question and yes, there are a lot of variables to that answer depending on who you're going against. Depending on that offensive tackle, that offensive guard, that center's weakness. And, you began to now pair your strength with his weakness. Now you're picking the perfect set of moves for your arsenal, that game. Now, I'm not saying for every game you have the same set of moves. For at a certain point, you should be extremely skilled to where you can do a lot of different things very well. And so, going into a game, depending on the guy you're going against, you may have a certain set of moves for that game that's going to cause you to be successful. Now, will your "go-to" change? Probably not. That's your "go-to". But, what's going to help compliment that "go-to" is key. Okay, so real quick, three important pass rush moves you should have in your arsenal. One, find your "go-to". Two, figure out your "set-up" pass rush move. And three, make sure you get your counter. You got to have those three moves in your arsenal. That is your set of pass rush moves. All right Big Dawg, Let's dig a little deeper into this topic. One of the common challenges that I see with a lot of pass rushers is just that. They are rushing. They're rushing, they're not taking their time, and they're not actually setting themselves up for success because they're rushing. Meaning, they're not being patient. They're rushing. As opposed to allowing yourself to set yourself up and allowing yourself to setup your "go-to" move or setup your counters, you're not being patient and you want that sack every single rush. Man, how many of some of the master rushes have we seen sack the quarterback every single time they rushed. Now I know that we've seen guys that were so successful that it felt like every time they rush the passer they had a sack, but I've never seen that ever in my life. You may have 30 plus pass rushes in a game depending on the offense you're playing. And I've never seen, there's never been anybody that has had 30 sacks or 30 sacks a game. Seven, yes. Eight, yes. And that's, that's incredible numbers. That's incredible numbers to see a pass rusher have more than two sacks that game, especially on NFL level. Because it takes so much work to get those two sacks and sacrifice to get those two sacks. To see somebody do three sacks, four sacks, six sacks, I mean that's, that's a beautiful thing to watch. That, that is, you watched him go to work that night. He earned his paycheck that night, despite all those zeros he have, he earned all those zeros. And so, the question remains, are we taking our time to set ourselves up for success? And this is where I kind of want to put the car in park right here in this topic. In this section of our discussion is the "set-up" Are we taking the time to set ourselves up? Are we sacrificing? Are we sacrificing? These rushes are rushes for the sack. If you get one sack a game, you had a spectacular season. You're probably leading the NFL in sacks. You probably the NCAA leader in sacks, you have one sack a game. Big Dawg, it ain't easy getting a sack a game. Have you ever heard the phrase, "you get out what you put in"? Man, I heard that so many times growing up. My Dad used to tell me, my coaches. You get out what you put in Big Dawg. What you get out is what you put in and it's absolutely true when it comes to the art of rushing. My question to you is how much did you sacrifice? How much did you put in? Let's talk about that for a second. The setup is so essential to your success. The setup is so essential to your success. Why? Because this is where you play the psychological game, when it comes to rushing the passer. What do you mean by, Coach Rolle, psychological? Big Dawg, what you talking about? I mean is, what are you getting him to believe? Now, fear, f.e.a.r, fear. Fear is a part of the game that, that defensive linemen often forget is important. It's fear is a very important part of the game. If you can get that offensive lineman to fear something, if you can get him to fear something, you are setting yourself up for the opposite of what he's fearing. Fear for me, f.e.a.r, fear for me simply means false evidence appearing real. False evidence appearing real. False evidence appearing real. If you can get that offensive lineman to believe (to have false evidence, it's not true is false) but, if I can get him to believe that false evidence and to him it appears real to him, then I can do something different. I'm going to give you two different analogies I want you to think about. Chess. I don't know if you play chess. I don't play chess that often, but I used to like to play it a lot because I like to play games that have you think. Games where you have to strategize. Where you have to put yourselves in the right position to get what you want. Chess. Let's think about chess for a second. You have all these pieces on the board and within that you have to be strategic enough to make the right moves to put yourself in the right spot. Now, there's no telling how many moves you actually have to do before you actually conquer the major piece. Before you actually conquer the king and the queen. Not the knights, not the bishops, not the ponds, but that king. It may take you, Big Dawg, a lot of moves. Follow me now. It may take you a lot of moves before you can say, "checkmate". Game over. Sack. You can't move. You can't go nowhere. I got you. Game over. I'm eating. It's over. Checkmate. Sometimes, it takes that in the setup process. Think about the game chess. You're making a lot of moves just to put yourself in position to conquer the king. I'm gonna say it again. It may take a lot of moves to put yourself in position to conquer the king. How do you conquer the king? You got to be a king to conquer the king. First of all and second of all, it may take a lot of sacrifices. Big Dawg, you probably lost a lot of pieces. You had to sacrifice some pieces in the game of chess to get yourself in position to be successful. That's what I'm saying. You might've had to sacrifice. Matter of fact, I guarantee you, that by the time you say, "checkmate, game over", you didn't have the same amount of pieces you had when the game first started. You some pieces short. I know I said short because I'm from Miami. I'm going to say it properly. You are some pieces short. I ain't like that. You some pieces short. You know what I'm saying? Because you had to sacrifice. Now, such is rushing the passer. Have you sacrificed enough to make that offensive lineman believe. Now, I've heard coaches say, "Hey, you gotta make him believe it. You've got to make him believe it.". And so, but for some of them, they're actually saying that in the midst of the rush. And so, my thoughts are, are you saying that that defensive end or that defensive tackle has to make that offensive lineman believe that he's gonna do something different within the move? Are you saying that the step before you actually do the move, you should be "selling" something? Or are you saying that the pass rushes before that is what you already "sold" him on? That he's going to believe what you're doing now because of what you've done before? Going back to fear, fear is a type of faith. I know, I'm gonna say that again. Fear is a type of faith. False evidence appearing real. I believe. I believe in that. I am afraid because I actually think that what could happen will happen. I'm afraid. I am fearful. I am fearful that I'm going to get beat off the edge. I'm afraid that this defensive end is in a wide nine and he's going to beat me around the corner. He gonna carve the corner. I'm afraid that he's gonna beat me off the edge. I'm afraid that he's gonna beat me to the spot. Now because he has fear, what is that offensive lineman going to do? Is he's going to change his set? Is he going to overcompensate for what he believes is going to happen? Most of the time, human nature is, yes, I have to protect myself. Fight or flight. Now, ain't nobody gonna flight because you play football. You're going to fight. But, that's the whole purpose of it. I've taken my time setting you up, instilling fear in you and all of a sudden you overcompensate for that. You're afraid you're going to get beat off the edge and you jumped me or you overset me. Oh, I got you. I got you because you was afraid. You overset. You got on top of my pass rush line. All of a sudden you left the inside wide open and you do the simplest move. Sometimes you'll see a pass rusher, they do the easiest move. you like, "Man, how did, how did that move work so well?". Go back and watch the last four or five pass rushes. Look at the fear in that offensive lineman and look at what he set himself up to do. He was afraid for the speed rush. So, he vertical set. He was light on his feet. He rocked on his heels. He overset him. He did something wrong out of the fear of being beat. But, fear is a type of faith and fear is something that has to be instilled. Now, faith is what you choose, but fear is instilled. Nobody picks fear. Nobody chooses to be afraid, but fear is something that the man across from you can instill in you. You've got to do that. Fear is part of the game and sometimes we don't take the time to instill fear. The more time you spend in your setup, the sweeter the success. Why is that? Because you're not just a pass rusher. You a tactician and I trained tacticians in the trenches. I want my Dawgs to be tacticians. I want them to be strategists. Move, move, move. Checkmate. Boom, your king is conquered. Fear. It's not right to think that just because I didn't get a sack, I didn't have a good rush. No, I got closer. I instill fear of making that offensive lineman believe that every time I put my hands in the dirt and I'm going to work on you, I'm getting closer and closer and closer and it's just first quarter and I'm getting closer. And you should be telling them, "Big Dawg, I don't know if you realize, but I'm getting closer.". And it's not right to think that just because you didn't get a sack that you didn't have a good rush. Tacticians don't think like that. Great chess players don't think like that. A skilled boxer doesn't think like that. Now, I've seen in my time, Mike Tyson knock people out in the first round. Forget the first round, I've seen Mike Tyson knock people out in seconds. In seconds, that's rare. You don't, you don't always see that. But, I also like to see a skilled boxer or a martial artist because they take their time and they set that guy up for what they want. They're not going in there right away necessarily for the knockout shot. Sometimes they do. Sometimes those guys get in trouble because they take a great risk. Sometimes you have those skilled guys. Those guys that are patient. You watch Muhammad Ali, I love Muhammad Ali, God bless him. And he was such a tactician, which to me is why he was one of the greatest of all time. The G.O.A.T., the greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali, when it comes to when it comes to boxing. Why, tactician? He was smart. When he wasn't stronger than the guy he was going against, he was smarter than him in his mind. If he wasn't smarter than him with his body. Smart. Strategist. Tactician. And we've got to be the same tacticians. We have to think our way through and make the right decisions when it comes to the art of rushing. Sometimes, the mistake is that we're rushing. We have to sometimes settle in #2, which is that "set-up" move. Make him fear us. Make him believe something that we want him to believe and that's going to take time. But like I said before, eventually move, move, move. Checkmate. Conqured your king. Now, now that we've established and laid that ground of fear and how important it is. The next thing is now that you have your set of moves, they have to start at the nucleus or the core, which is your strength. What is your strength? What are you good at? What are you gifted at? What do you feel that you have that's better than the man across from you? What is your strength? Now, I don't want you to misunderstand me and think that I'm only referring to how strong you are. Yes, that is a strength, your physical strength, but that's not the only strength. There are other strengths. They're tangible and intangible strength that you can have. For example, are you smart? Are you smarter than the guy across from you? The psychology, your mentality, the decisions you make can be a strength. You can outsmart your opposition. I've done it. Trust me, I've done it. I've gone against guys that were physically stronger than me, but my strength was that I was smarter than them. Are you smarter than the guy across from you? Are you stronger than the guy across from you? Is that your strength? Your strength, your physical strength? Are you tall and long? Are you a long bodied rusher? Yes. That can be an absolute strength. However, it can be a mistake to consider a tall pass rusher or defensive linemen as a guaranteed strength. That's not true. Just because you're tall doesn't automatically make you a great pass rusher. Does it help with your pass rushing? Man, absolutely. If you can use your length and use your height for your advantage, absolutely. It's a strength. If you learn how to use that length, it is an absolute strength. But Big Dawg, let me tell you something. It ain't for me just about how tall you are but how long you are. I'm gonna say it again. It's not about how tall you can stand, but how long you can play. The guys that learn how to use their height and transform it into length, do great things. So yes, your length is a strength, but what if you're not tall? What if you're short? Can that be a strength? Absolutely. It can be a strength. You have to learn how to use that strength or the fact that you're not as long as the guy across from you. Well, it only matters if I'm trying to punch your chest. Right? So, if I'm trying to touch your chest and you're trying to touch my chest, but your arms are longer than mine, then why am I trying to touch your chest? Can I be quicker than you to my chest plate? Ohhh, that's a whole nother discussion. We ain't gonna get into that right now. That's a whole nother discussion. Am I short? Am I tall? Am I fast? Am I quick? Maybe not fast, but am I quick? Do I have great feet? Do I have quick feet? Do I have quick hands? How's my hand/eye coordination? Do you have great hand/eye coordination? That's a strength. What about your leverage or your flexibility? Do you have great leverage and flexibility? I've seen, I've heard players say, "I got magic ankles. My ankles can bend. That's what helps me to bend corners real tight. That's what helps me to get down real low." Absolutely. That's a strength, your flexibility. Man, you might have great hip mobility. How's your hips? Are you really loose in your hips and you can flip your hips really well. Change direction really smooth. Do you have those kinds of hips? Are you a flipper? Are you a carver? You see there's always a strength. There's always a way you can outplay the guy across from you. That's the beauty of football! It's not the same kind of guy that's successful. Go back and look over the past two, three decades and tell me if those pass rushers looked the same. Absolutely not. Why were they so good? Because they figured out what their strength was. Didn't matter the guy across from him, what he could and could not do. They realize their strength and when the time came for it, they were stronger than the guy across from them. Once again, I'm not necessarily saying that they will physically stronger than the guy across from them, but they were stronger than them at that moment. They played to their advantage. They out leveraged the guy across from them because they found out what they had and what he didn't have. I'm gonna say that one more time. They found out. They was smart enough to find out what they had and what he didn't have. Your strength, Big Dawg has to be at the core, at the nucleus of your arsenal. In other words, your moves have to play to your strengths. Your moves have to play to your strengths. So for example, if you are a longer guy, then "long arm" moves, "long arm" combos, 2 to 1 quick releases (calling out pass rush moves for guys that are long. For guys that will not allow an offensive lineman to get to his chest plate because he's playing long. Not standing tall, he's playing long). And so, what kind of moves would he do. For a guy with quick feet, maybe stutter stepping, maybe cross chopping. Things where you attack the offensive lineman, close to cushion, get tight to the fight, and all of a sudden you're doing something different. Why? Because you got quick feet. You can change directions. You can make the offensive lineman believe you're going one way and all of a sudden poof, you change directions on them. Why? Because you got quick feet? Maybe you don't have quick feet. Maybe you're not as agile and versatile as another guy, but you have a great hand/eye coordination. Your hands and eyes work precisely. They are precise and they attack. You are what I call a hand assassin. You don't need a whole lot of feet. You can attack that offensive linemen and see his hands like they moving in slow motion. So, you may be a hand combat guy. You may get to him and "quick swim" him. You may get to him and "sweep" him. You may get to him and catch his hands because your hand/eye coordination is so good. It'd be a shame for you not to play to that strength. You steady trying to "bull rush" this guy like everybody else when really you have great hand/eye coordination. What you're doing Big Dawg? You're not playing to your strength. Maybe you're not long, but you powerful. Maybe your best bet is to "sell" that "speed rush", turn your toe to target, and put your helmet right underneath his chin. Maybe that's you. You're a power rusher. You're a strong guy. You like Mike Tyson. You trying to get behind his jab. As soon as you get behind his jab, you hooking up and upper cutting him. What am I talking about? You might be that power ripper. You might be that power clubber. You might be that "chop club rip" guy. That might be you. That might be your style of play. Coach, I ain't real strong. I ain't strong like them Coach. I don't bench as much as they bench. I don't bench that much. I'm ashamed to tell you how much I bench. Okay, but you're fast. You that fast guy. Matter of fact, you scared yourself. That's why you so fast because you're scared. You're afraid If they get they hands on you, they're going to throw you like a rag doll. That's okay Big Dawg. Use your speed. You might be that guy that line up real wide. That guy that speed rushes off the edge. You a speed dipper. You a speed chopper. You a speed sweeper. That might be you. Your speed might be your strength here. It'll be a shame for you to try to "club" a guy. To try to power rip that guy. If you know you're not that kind of power guy. Do what you do best. Your arsenal has to compliment your strength and that's why it's so important to first discover who you are. The man that knows who he is, that knows himself, has a greater chance of mastering his environment. When you know you, when you know you, you can be the best you you can be. Sometimes we spend way too much time studying the guy across from us that we do not study ourselves. One of the most important things you'll ever study is yourself. Study Yourself. What is your strength? And now begin to develop those moves that compliment your strength and watch yourself become the best pass rusher you've ever been. Stop trying to just mimic moves because it worked for him or them. That may not be your move. Find your weapon of choice. What should be in your arsenal? Who are you? And once you identify what your strength is, what kind of guy you are, then you'll start to make the right choices. You will be surprised how many guys are not successful at playing in the trenches because they're trying to do something they saw on tv. They're trying to do something. somebody posted online. Oh, that move works. So, that's what I'm gonna try. Not understanding that, that was the move that worked for him and may not work for you. Sure, go try it. Go try it. Go try the move. You might find your match. However, if you found your match, it wasn't the move. It was because it complemented your strength. Think about that. Really think about what I'm saying because sometimes we can get discouraged and feel like we're not going to be successful or can't be productive because we're not producing. Where if you're not producing, it means you've got the wrong tool. If you work with the wrong tool, you're not gonna be productive. So, choose the perfect tool. What tool is that Coach? Well, find your strength. Who are you and begin to surround your strength with your arsenals, with your pass rush moves. Man, this topic got me fired up because I see so many guys make that mistake and I'm hoping that as coaches, that as athletes, we look in the mirror. Start there with our attitude and began to create our arsenal with our strength at the core. Huh, what a topic. How do you find your pass rush moves? Keyword: your. Favorite part of today: move, move, move. Boom! Conquered your king. Thanks for tuning in for another great episode of Big Dawg Trench Talk. Don't forget to head over to www.bigdawgfootball.com, where you'll find the best d-line content on site. Some of the latest and the greatest pass rush oves we've been referring to, you'll find them all on www.bigdawgfootball.com. Join the Big Dawg Football community where our mission is to create some of the best d linemen in the world. All right, Big Dawg. Enough talking. It's time to stick your cleats in the dirt and let's go to work.

The "Netflix" Of Defensive Line Video Tutorials: https://www.bigdawgfootball.com Submit A "Trench Question Of The Day": trenchtalk@fivestarlinemen.com The #1 question that I get asked is, "Coach Rolle, how can I be the best pass rusher?". We're breaking down the foundational core of the Pass Rusher. What's up? Big dawg this is Coach Rolle at Five Star Linemen Academy. I like to say this is my first podcast and I'm excited about it because I get a chance to do what I absolutely have a passion for and my passion is the trenches. I absolutely love to watch my Big Dawgs play in the trenches. I love it. I love analyzing it down to the inches, down to every movement that defensive linemen make. I love to look at the decisions they make. I love to look at the moves they choose to do. I just love watching. My defensive linemen or my outside backers rushing the quarterback. That is my absolute passion and to be able to do this, to do what I love to do is an absolute dream of mine. So, I'm excited about this podcast. The first question that I want to address is a question that I've gotten quite a bit and that question is Big Dawg, "What makes a great pass rusher?". And man, if it was that simple that we can package that answer, put it in a powder form, mix it with some water, put it in a blender and drink it and there it is. Everything we need to be a great pass rusher. We just consumed it. If only it was that simple, but it's not. It's not an easy answer because to be a great pass rusher starts with you. In my opinion. I've trained a lot of and I continue to train a lot of defensive linemen all over. Professional guys. Collegiate players, high schoolers. Even middle schoolers. I train them all. If you want to get better then I'm here to help you get better. The answer to that question, isn't it a one size fit all answer. I've seen guys 6'5" that are dominant in the nfl, college, high school. 6'7", but I've also seen guys 6'0" and 5'11". Do great things in the trenches. You know we like to rely on our size. We like to think that just because I have the perfect size or my arms are very long and, my hands are big and I'm fast or I'm very strong, but that's what's gonna make me a successful pass rusher. Okay? That's not true. That's not true at all. None of those things. Nothing guarantees a success as rushers. The only thing that comes remotely to a guarantee is our mentality, your attitude, your appetite. What is your passion? What is that thing in you that drives you to get up in the morning, that makes you try to figure out ways to make yourself great. That's to me is the start to know how to do all of these pass rush moves to be strong and to be fast and to be athletic and have great agility and "know how". That's the beginning, but we forget sometimes that we have to ignite those things and make those things work for us. When I get asked this question, I like to use the metaphor of a vehicle, a car, a truck, a van, pick one. With these vehicles, they have everything that it needs to function well to be efficient. The job of that vehicle is to move you around to get you from one place to another. Some of those vehicles, responsibilities and jobs are to carry certain things is to carry a load. Some of those jobs have vehicles is to transport other vehicles. Sometimes it is the pulll, another vehicle, or if you're driving across the country and you're, you're carrying your luggage and your carrying your things with you. That vehicle has the power to do that. These vehicles have the ability to do what they have been designed to do. The only thing is is that none of those vehicles work until you turn on the car until you stick your key in the ignition and you ignite that vehicle. Unless you ignite that vehicle, the vehicle will not move. It will not function until you ignite it. You put the key in the ignition and you turn it on. When guys come to me and they tell me, coach, I'm big and I'm strong and I squat this and I bench pressed that and yes, those things are important. You must be strong to play in the trenches. You must be quick and agile and flexible to play in the trenches. You must have great technique to play in the trenches. There's a lot of things that you must have, but if you don't ignite the "animal" in you, none of those things mean nothing, none of those things can actually help you be productive and successful. If you don't ignite that "animal" in you, that "dawg" in you. D.A.W.G. driven attitude, wills, greatness. You want to be a great pass rusher. You want to be a great person, a great player, a whatever that might be. You've got to look in the mirror and find that answer because that's where the answer is. The answer is in you, Big Dawg! You got to find that answer. Stop looking for what you don't have and identify what you do have and ignite what you have. I've seen vehicles with three wheels and get the job done. I've seen we see motorcycles with two wheels and get the job done. Everybody does not have to be the same, same size, same height, same speed, same agility. We're seeing players now that are playing with one hand as opposed to two, and we say, that's amazing. That's amazing. Why? Because it takes two hands to play great football, to be a great pass rusher says who? Of course everybody would like to have all their limbs to be successful. However, does it mean that I can't be successful if I don't have everything that I need? Absolutely not, because the one thing that you need to be great is within you. You have to ignite what you do have. There are some people that have everything that they need but will not or cannot ignite what they have. Their vehicle never turns on because they're forgetting that even though you have everything in place, you have your four wheels, you have your engine, you have your exhaust pipes, you have your steering wheel, you have your gasoline, you have all the functioning pieces that you need to be productive and successful. However you're forgetting one thing Big Dawg. You've got to turn the car on. You have to ignite the vehicle. You've got to ignite the animal and part of that part, of the ability to ignite the animal in you, starts with your attitude. If you take the word attitude and you give it a numerical value, that means you give it a number value for every letter, for example, A is one and B is two and c is three. But you take the word attitude, A.T.T.I.T.U.D.E, and you give each letter a numerical value. I want you to do that and I want you to add all the letters up in the word attitude. Now some of you know where the ads up to and when you do the map, Big Dawg, you're going to see that attitude. When you give the word a numerical value to the word attitude equals 100. What do you think that means? Some people say it's a coincidence. Some people say, oh, that's just a coincidence. It doesn't mean anything. I don't see it that way. I think that the fact that the word attitude equaling up to a hundred is giving me an answer is telling me something that is just my thoughts, but I believe that attitude plays a 100 percent into what you will and will not become. Can I be a successful pass rusher in this league, in high school, in college, right now on this play? Check your attitude. Can I be a great player in the trenches, but I'm only 5'11", 5'10", 6'0", 6'2"? Can I be productive with what I have. I can't tell you that answer. Check your attitude. What does your attitude say? Your attitude plays a 100 percent into what you will or will not become. If you don't become a successful pass rusher, It's not because you didn't have the proper technique. It's not because you weren't strong enough, it wasn't fast enough. I guarantee you that the number one reason why you are not a successful pass rusher is because of your attitude. Watch this Big Dawg. You can also switch the word attitude with appetite. What's your appetite? What do you crave? What do you want? What's your "appe-tude"? What's your appetite? Do you have an appetite to be successful? How bad or how hungry are you really? Have you ever been in a situation where you have really been hungry, where you have not eaten and you want to eat? You're not eating because you don't want to eat, you want to eat, but the problem is it's that you don't have food available to you. That's a different kind of hunger. When you are hungry and you have money in your pocket and you just haven't gone to go get something to eat yet that's a different kind of hunger. That's a different kind of pain that you have. You know that that's the pain that you're going to resolve rather quickly because you actually have the money to go get you something to eat, just a matter of time. But what, what happens when you're hungry and you don't have the money to eat, to go buy you something to eat? Now what? That's a different kind of hunger because now you are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure you eat. Well Big Dawg, are you craving success as a pass rusher? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to eat? See, that's where it starts. I think this generation, they're working a little backwards. They're watching these guys make great plays and do great things on the football field. However, don't know the stories of these young men that are out there playing on TV and knowing where they come from. I don't know if they know the hunger pains these men have had to deal with and if you call one up right now, and say, "Big Dawg, what's your motivation and what is your purpose behind what you do and why are you such a great pass rusher?". They're going to say that they've had great coaches. They're going to say that they have great teammates, but let them talk just a little bit longer and they are going to talk about their childhood. They're going to talk about the things they didn't have. They're going to talk about those moments that they were picked on, where they were considered not good enough and not great enough. They're going to talk about how they came to a crossroad and how they had to figure out and decide for themselves at that moment what they would become. ATTITUDE. At that moment, their appetite changed. They decided to crave to be great and it wasn't about being perfect. When you're hungry, you don't have to be perfect. To go, to go get something to eat. Matter of fact, it might be the fact that you're imperfect that's causing you to go hungry, but at that moment it does not matter. What's most important is that you eat. Is that you do whatever it takes to eat. Ask these men. Have conversations with these great pass rushers and I'm willing to bet you that there is a motivation that causes their passion to be great. Which makes what they do great because of their appetite or their attitude. I know that's not the answer that a lot of my Big Dawgs were looking for. They want me to say it was a sweep, is that speed sweep that causes you every time to get a sack. That's not true. Oh, it's that quick swim? The quick swim is what does it every single time against a slow offensive tackle? That's not true. It's not always true that chop club rip gets them every time. That's not always true. It's not necessarily just the move. It's the attitude behind the move. When you have the right attitude and you're driven by your appetite, remember D.A.W.G. means to me, Driven Attitude Wills Greatness. That you out "will" your opponent. What makes you out "will" your opponent, you're driven attitude. When you have a driven attitude, which wills greatness, a lot of times even if the move wasn't perfect because you had a "will" stronger than the guy across from you, it's enough to get the job done. And sometimes, we'll look at a pass rusher and say, "Look what he did. He, he got the sack because he did a quick swim or because he sweeped them or because he chopped club ripped them or cross chopped him.". That wasn't necessarily the mood. Matter of fact, if you go back and look at a lot of statistics, go back and look at the sacks over the last three years and look at how many of those sacks were clean. Now when I say clean, what I'm saying, look at how many of those sacks happen on the first move. That percentage, Big Dawg, is small. It's a small percentage. The larger percentage and the kind of sacks that we saw the last three years are the second effort sacks. The first move worked kind of. He's still on me. What do I do? Do I give up and say, Oh man, that move wasn't clean, so I'm gonna. Shut it down. No! They tried the first move and with that first move that offensive linemen was still there. So here comes the second and third move. Oh, so your effort sacks, those sacks where you see guys with great attitudes and they're hungry to eat, to feed their families. They're hungry to continue to get scholarship money over the course of the years. They want better for themselves. The attitude, the attitude you'll see in their effort and you'll see them continue to do whatever it takes for them to do to get to the quarterback. Anytime. Anytime you say or you see a guy try again and again and again and again. That's, that's attitude. That's his mentality. That's his appetite. That's what makes great players. That's what makes great pass rushers, is the attitude, And you know what, if you actually go back and look at that pass rusher, that defensive lineman or that outside backer and you look at the course of four quarters, you're going to probably see them rush the quarterback probably 20, 30 plus times. Now, that depends on the offense, but quite a bit. How many of those times do they get to the quarterback out of the 20, 30 plus pass rushes they've had over the course of four quarters. If a defensive lineman in the NFL gets one sack a game, that is superb. That's not good. That is superb. What kind of mentality do you have to have to attempt to rush your quarterback over 20 to 30 times, probably more depending on the offense you're going against, and you walk away from that game with one sack which is superb or probably no sack that game. What kind of attitude do you have to have to keep coming back over and over again without a sack on one? I'll tell you what kind of mentality you have to have. That is a pass rusher, who is hungry. Who has an appetite. Who will not stop until he gets what he wants. That is a patient, mature, advanced, elite pass rusher who understands the art of rushing. We want a sack every single time we put our hands in the dirt and there's nothing wrong with wanting one. It's the want and the will that actually gets us there. But, but we are our attitudes allows us to line ourselves back up and keep coming again and again and again until we get what we want. What makes a great pass rusher? That's that pass rusher that keeps coming back. Every play, every series, every quarter, every game until he gets what he wants. Whatever move he had to do, whatever drills he had to do, exercises, whatever film he had to analyze, it does not matter. It's the attitude. It's the attitude that causes a pass rusher to be great. I'm sorry Big Dawg, but you have to place the attitude before the arsenal. You cannot allow your success to lay in your weapon. If you use a particular weapon or a pass rush and it doesn't work, does that mean you're not a good pass rusher? No. That's not what that means. That means you have to choose another weapon because you are a great pass rusher and that's why I'm starting this answer with attitude, not with the pass rush move. Not with what's in your arsenal, but with the attitude. Because when you have the right attitude, you'll find the right arsenal. When you have the right attitude, you'll find the right weapon. Why? Because your attitude will not stop searching until it finds the right weapon. It's in your attitude. You will get to the quarterback. You're just trying to figure out which weapon is best, but I'm going to get there one way or another. I'm going to find a way to get there because my trust is not in the move, it's in me. It's in me. It's in what is in what I want to do. It's in my appetite, it's in my attitude. I'm going to find a way to get there because that's what I want. That's what I crave. To be a successful pass rusher starts with you. Like I said earlier, look in the mirror and that's a great start. Now, once you've done that, now let's talk about the kinds of moves you can do. Now that you know who you are, a little bit more about yourself as opposed to looking across from you and trying to figure out how good you're going to be. What does he have to do with you? As far as I'm concerned Big Dawg, he has nothing to do with what you will or will not become. Remember what you will and will not become what you do and don't do lies in you, not him, not them. You. When you look within yourself and identify who you are and who you are not, that's the beginning and a very important beginning, might I add. Now, are you stronger? Are you quicker than you are strong? Are you strong and quick? Are you long? Are you not as long? Are you short? Are you wide? Now that you know who you are, let's find out your strength. Listen, it's almost like talking to Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. If I were to have this conversation, a conversation, and I would have, if I were to sit across from these two great boxers that I had the privilege of watching growing up, I didn't see Muhammad Ali a lot in person. I did see a lot of Mike Tyson. I was in the Mike Tyson era. But, I recognize that these are very, very two great boxers in their own right. Mike Tyson is not the tallest, Mohammed Ali is. I don't think Mike Tyson is over six feet, Muhammad Ali is. Obviously, Muhammad Ali has a long wingspan. Mike Tyson does not. Muhammad Ali is longer. I don't know if he's quicker than Mike Tyson, but he's quick, light on his feet. Mike Tyson has a very strong lower body, huge chest cavity, very powerful and explosive boxer. They're both successful, but they're both different. They're different. Yet, they were both successful. Even if you look at Muhammad Ali's era, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, there are lots of different, uh, boxes during that era, but they were all successful in their own way. Muhammad Ali had a longer reach, a quick jab. Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee. Rumble, young man rumble. That was Muhammad Ali. Mike Tyson got in you. He was the aggressor and if you allowed him to get past your jab, he was going to uppercut you. He was going to dish out blows to your body. His hooks were deadly, but that was his game. What's my point? If you try to take Muhammad Ali and and train Muhammad Ali to fight like Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali would not have been one of the greatest of all time. If you were to take Mike Tyson and try to train Mike Tyson to fight like Muhammad Ali, he would not have been one of the real heavyweight champions of the world during my era. He would not have been that because that's not him. What's my point? Big Dawg, my point is is that we watched TV. We watch these guys on TV. We watch these youtubes. You watch these videos on these pass rushers and we're looking at what makes them successful and sometimes the danger in that is that we're trying to mimic a Muhammad Ali, but when really we're a Mike Tyson. Or we're Mike Tyson and we're trying to mimic a Muhammad Ali, but, but that's not our. That's not our style. That's not our profile. Yes, watch these guys, emulate them. They're doing a lot of things right, but if you are a Mike Tyson, then go find a Mike Tyson to emulate. to, to, to look at, to study. They don't become so much of them that you don't know who you are and that's another problem, but who are you first? You can't know who to emulate if you don't even know who you are and what you're good at. If you are Mike, Mike Tyson, or if you're a Muhammed Ali, go find a Muhammad Ali type of player and emulate that and learn from that. It starts with you. What makes a successful pass rusher? Attitude. Now arsenal. Now arsenal. Now arsenal. Now let's develop our skill. I'm realizing that I'm quicker off the ball than most linemen. I'm realizing that I have a great first step. I'm realizing that I don't have a great first step, but when I make contact, I'm blowing the guy up in front of me. I realized that I have great hand eye coordination. I don't know, maybe it was because I took karate or taekwondo or maybe I played a lot of tennis growing up or whatever it might be. But, for some reason I have great hand eye coordination and I'm able to see the guys hands in front of me and I can attack his hand very well. Who are you? Now? We start to get into what kind of player you're going to be and you find your niche and you find your craft and then you start creating or you start training yourself to be successful based on your strength and that's where you're on the road to true success and there's something unique about this young man. The way he plays, there's a little bit of Michael Strahan. There's a little bit of John Randle. Gosh, I even see a little bit of Reggie White, the late great Reggie White. There's a little bit of Deacon Jones. You know there's little bit of all of these successful pass rushers, mean Joe Green, that we've had in the past, but it's because you studied these men. However, you are unique in your own way. Now we're on the road to success. Why? Because you know who you are and you get this authentic skilled pass rusher. Now you mix that in with a great trainer, a great coach that's not trying to make you into somebody you are not. He has identified the skills that you have and who you are and he's molding that and he shaping that. Now all of a sudden you don't have to pretend to be somebody else, but you feel good about who you are and how you're playing because it feels so natural. It's my attitude. It's my appetite. It's my rush. It's my responsibility. They are my responsibility. All of a sudden you've created this vehicle, Big Dawg. All of a sudden, you have all the tools you need to be successful and productive. All of a sudden you're strong and you're fast and you have four wheels. You got an engine and you've got exhaust pipes. All of a sudden you have everything you need and now, now all you need now left. All you need left to do is ignite the animal in you. That's all you need at that point and now you're watching yourself do great things. You're watching yourself make great plays. Watching yourself actually do things you didn't even think you could do. You're doing things that nobody could have taught you. You know what's teaching you to do what you're doing? Outside of the technique you have been taught. Outside of the foundation that has been laid because you've had a great coach, as I have had great coaches that have guided my life and changed my life. But now, all of a sudden you're taking it to another level and you're doing things that you didn't know you could do. You know what's causing you to do things that you never thought you can do? Your appetite, your attitude. It's making you do what you have to do to eat. When you asked me, Coach Rolle, "Big Dawg, what does it take to be a successful pass rusher?". Chapter one, your attitude, your appetite. Why are you doing what you do? Why? Why are you working so hard? Why are you playing this game? Why did you choose to put your hands in the dirt? Why are you choosing to put your helmet on and strap up everyday? What's the why behind what you do? Start there. Chapter Two, your arsenal. You found your weapon. One of my favorite movies I've watched called Dr. strange, love the movie. If you haven't watched the movie, I'm not saying you got to go watch it, but it's one of my favorite movies. I like those kinds of movies that make you think, you know what I'm saying? I like those kinds of movies that make you look in yourself and really analyze and really think things through. I'm a thinker. I love to think, and that's one of the movies that made me do that when I watched it. Probably watched it about three times. But, one of my favorite parts in that movie is when Dr. strange is, is learning the whole idea behind his mentality. How his mentality just wasn't right. He misunderstood a lot of things, very smart man, the doctor to surgeon, very smart, very good at what he did, but his attitude wasn't right. His mentality, the way that he thought through things, um, wasn't necessarily correct or it didn't allow him to, to think on another level. And so he's learning all these different things. And so now that he's starting to figure things out, one day in crisis where he's fighting for his life because he's being attacked by some villains, I don't know what they're called, but he's being attacked and all of a sudden he finds his weapon. Now, there were different weapons in this particular house that he was in, but I'm not sure if house even the right word, but have you seen the movie? You know what I'm talking about? He finds his weapon. He finds what's his. Though there were different kinds of weapons in there that did not work for him, but he finally finds what's his. And when he finds his weapon, that's when he finds even more so his purpose and his calling and he becomes a man that he has never seen before. He watched this, begins to do things he has never done because his circumstance has brought him to where he is at that moment and crisis has led him to a place where now he's looking for answers and he finds it and the answer was in the mirror. And once he identified who he was, then he found his arsenal or he found rather his weapon. And all of a sudden in the movie, he steps into his identity and he began to do things he never thought he could do actually saves the world. I know it's it's comic stuff and it's not realistic, but the principles are very real. When you find out who you are and it may come through crisis and may actually come through you not being as successful as you would like to be. Don't put your head down. Don't stick your head in the dirt. This is actually the perfect opportunity for you to actually find the answer crisis at difficulty and trials and tribulations and turbulence that we go through sometimes is the thing that we actually need to seek and find who we are and what we ought to do. It kind of makes us decide for ourselves, do I want to do this? Do I want to continue rushing this quarterback and I not get there. We need that. We need those rough times because at those moments we dig a little deeper. We search a little harder. We seek a little more and we find the answer we're looking for and I'm telling you, Big Dawg, when you finally find your weapon, you can't be stopped. You can't be stopped. I would be wrong to tell you that the quick swim is a guaranteed move and it's gonna work every time. That's not true. I would be wrong to tell you that the cross chop works every single time. That's wrong. Not True. Does it work? Yes. It works. Absolutely. It works. Does it work every time? No. No. It doesn't. To chop club rip, bull pull, sling shot, long arm, stab, jab, all these great moves that work. Cross club over, stutter, catching the hands, hammer down, wheeling out, escaping, there may be so many different techniques you can do to make you productive and successful, but it's all about pairing those moves with you. What's your weapon of choice? Who are you and how do you work best? The answer in which you seek lies in you. That's my answer. Make sure you check back in. We're going to continue to talk about the now specifics of rushing the passer. We're going to talk about the art of rushing the passer, the four points of leverage, the three points of attack, all of those different things that are important when it comes to rushing the passer. The practical pieces, the principals as it pertains to rushing a passer. We're going to get into all of those things on our future episodes, but I want to start there. What an absolute fantastic foundation when it comes to being a successful pass rusher. Starts with attitude. Remember, attitude equals 100 because attitude plays 100 percent into what you will or will not become. And to be honest with you Big Dawg, failure is never an option. BIG DAWG FOOTBALL www.bigdawgfootball.com Watch Defensive Line Drills, Pass Rush Moves, Football Offseason Workout Training Videos, D Line Technique, Fundamentals & More! American Football Video Tutorials & Training For Defensive Tackles, Defensive Ends, Linebackers, & Coaches. 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