The drill can be traced back to Glenn’s time in Detroit. Though he said he has modified it to fit his style, the teaching points have remained the same — focusing on the fundamentals.
“I love the drill,” he said. “It gets the players excited. You get a chance to teach, to work on the things that you have to work on to be good as far as tackling. And also offensively, eluding guys in space.”
Glenn said there are certain matchups that he wants to see during drills like this, but players have jumped at every opportunity to be part of the action — a testament to the buy-in and commitment to self-improvement players have spoken about.
“It’s very fun,” RB Breece Hall said of the drill. “There’s advantages and disadvantages for the offense and defense because the defense has to try to stay lateral for the whole time. For us, we don’t have that much space to maneuver, but that’s how it is in the game too. Right now, we don’t have pads on so they can just tag us off and push us, but once we get the pads on, it’s like ok, all you have to do is make them miss a little bit, get a stiff arm up. But for me, I’m always going up against Quincy [Williams]. I go against [Andre] Cisco and Jamien Sherwood. The coaches want the best on the best so that’s how it’s going to be every day.”
Fans saw the drill end in dramatic fashion with one of those key matchups. Star cornerback Sauce Gardner got a stop against star receiver Garrett Wilson, and cheers from the defense and the crowd followed.
“It’s a really good drill for both sides,” Glenn said. “It’s something we’re going to do quite a bit.”