The Drills Report: Auburn's Pass Rush for Defensive Tackles

At Auburn, our emphasis is on our players having great effort on each play. We want our players to have ‘relentless pursuit.’ If they get knocked down, they get up and sprint to the ball. We want them to know how to play hard and that loafing is never acceptable. This is the key to playing good defense and being a good pass rusher. We stress a three-and-out principle. Everything we do in practice requires three perfect reps before we leave the field. When you conduct practice that way, it gets the defense thinking ‘three and out’ every play. We want to be great on first down, second down and get off the field on third down (Three and Out). We never go on the snap count nor the QB cadence in our drill; it’s always our movement. We are a ball-key defense. When the ball moves we move. When the center touches the ball, we yell ‘ball-ball.’ This alerts us to be ready for the