Pick Up Drill
Setup
Place a series of cones or bags that make four lanes of space, three yards wide. A football is placed in the first and third lane.
Purpose
The Pick Up Drill teaches players to remain low while encountering different play situations. Getting low to the ground allows players to gain an advantage by being in a powerful position to explode up and through contact. Picking up the football, and setting it down forces players drop their hips and keep low throughout the drill.
For defenders, they must remain low when shielding off a block or engaging in a tackle. For offensive players, they must remain low when executing a block or running with the football through a hole or contact in the middle of the field.
Drill Description
When entering a lane, players concentrate on dropping their hips and keeping their bodies in a low, powerful position. Players keep their bodies facing the forward throughout the entirety of the drill as they enter in and out of each lane.
Players get low to pick up the football in the first lane, and then they get low to set the football down in the second lane. They repeat this maneuver again by transferring the ball in the third lane to the fourth lane.
After backing out of the fourth lane, players continue the drill by repeating the same maneuvers, but his time going in reverse from right to left, transferring the ball from lane four to lane three, and again from lane two to lane one. After completing the drill, the two footballs should be in the same locations as when the drill was started so that the next player up can begin without having to reset any portion of the drill.
