Marcus Pittman

Playoff mode starts now. 🏈 Two games left in the regular season, and this is when we tighten everything up for the D-line. Playoff football is won in the trenches, and the trenches are won in the first step and the hands. Here's our focus this week:
🔹 First step: Explode off the ball. Short, violent, and gaining ground. The first step wins or loses the rep before contact.
🔹 Hand work: Strike first, hands inside, and keep them active. Win the hands, win the block. No new tricks this time of year. We sharpen what got us here and play faster than the guy across from us. Defensive linemen are skill players too. Detail wins in November. #DLine #PlayoffMode #DefensiveLine #DetailedDLine #TrenchWork

Two of the biggest problems for D-linemen nationwide: getting too far upfield against the run, and hands going dead after the first move. 🚫 So we went to the 3-man sled to fix both. 🔹 Attack the sled 🔹 Coach points a direction, and that’s where you shed 🔹 Shuffle laterally down the line 🔹 Hit a block-shed move on EVERY bag that crosses your face No drifting upfield. No one-and-done hands. Stay square, stay active, and keep shedding until you find the #dline #defensiveline #footballdrills #highschoolfootball #az

Four years in the trenches together. Three straight Arena Bowl rings. Me and Cliff Dukes have been lining up next to each other for a long time. Back then it was about getting to the quarterback. Now it’s about teaching the next wave how to get there. Different jerseys, same mission. Turns out neither of us knows how to leave the field, and honestly, we’re not trying to. The game gave us everything, so now we pour it back into the guys coming up behind us. Defensive linemen are skill players too. We just teach it from the sideline now. 🤝🏿 #DLine #DefensiveLine #ArenaFootball #ArenaBowlChamps #CoachLife

Proud ain’t even the word. 🙌🏽 Week 8 into the season and my guys are already close or passing what they did ALL of last year. That’s not luck. That’s early mornings, film, and reps when nobody’s watching. 🔥 **Ian: NO.99** · 27.5 TFL, 57 tackles, 6 games. Already past last season. Statement😤 ⚡ **Joe: NO.12** · 18 TFL, 6.5 sacks. Passed last year in 7 games. 🚨 **Malachi: NO.17** · 6.5 sacks, almost double last year. 4 tackles from passing his whole season. 😤 **Luke: NO:51** · 11 TFL in 8 games. Last year he had 8. He’s not done. I tell every one of them: defensive linemen are skill players too. Now the numbers are saying it for me. Keep stacking, fellas. We’re just getting started. 🛠️ #DLine #Defenseline #highschoolfootball #arizonafootball #progress

The fix is THE SNATCH. Once you’ve locked out and found the ball: 🔹 Grab cloth. Get the jersey or shoulder pad on the side the ball is going. 🔹 Rip down and across. Pull him violently past your hip, toward the ground. 🔹 Step through. Your near leg clears the space he just left. 🔹 Eyes stay on the ball the whole time. Shedding a block isn’t finished until he’s behind you. Don’t just separate. Remove him. Defensive linemen are skill players too. Hands are your skill. 👐🏿 Drop a 🔥 if your D-line coach drills this every week. #DefensiveLine #DLine #PassRush #HighSchoolFootball #footballtraining

Had a college lineman come through to learn the nose. 🔒 Playing the 0 or 1 isn’t about muscling up with your back. That’s how you get washed and stood up. It starts with the hips: where you place them, how you sink them, and how you move them to stay square and anchor against double teams. Then the hands. Every move needs a purpose: strike, control, separate, and keep your hands working *with* your feet, not ahead of them. Violent hands with no hip behind them is just noise. Big bodies win with technique too. Defensive linemen are skill players. 🦍 📍 Scottsdale, AZ | DM to train #DLine #NoseTackle #DefensiveLine #collegefootball #PassRush

Push, don’t hop. Watch a sprinter come out of the blocks. They don’t jump up. They PUSH the ground away, shins angled, pads low, every ounce of force going forward. That’s your get-off. When you hop off the ball, both feet leave the ground and you’re producing zero force. Your pads rise, you float, and you just gave that tackle a free beat to kick, set, and land his hands on your chest. When you push out like you’re coming out of a track block: ✅ Your first step eats ground instead of gaining air ✅ Your pad level stays under his ✅ You close the cushion before he finishes his set ✅ You stay in attack mode and he’s stuck reacting Pass rush is a race to the edge. Nobody wins a race by hopping. Defensive linemen are skill players too. Train the get-off like it matters, because it does. 💯 #DetailedDLine #highschoolfootball #PassRush #GetOff #defensiveline

Every D-line coach can draw up a hump move. Not every coach can make it land. 🧠🏈 You can know every pass rush plan, every block destruction technique, every get-off drill in the book. But if the way you teach it doesn't connect with the young man in front of you, that knowledge stays on the whiteboard. Real coaching is translation. Some players learn by watching. Some need to feel it. Some need the "why" before they'll buy the "how." Your job is to find the language that clicks for EACH guy in your room. Information doesn't develop players. Communication does. 💯 Defensive linemen are skill players too, so coach them like it. #DLine #DefensiveLine #DLineCoach #PassRush #CoachingMatters #FootballCoach #DetailedDLinePerformance

Goal post = your pregame blocker. 🏈 🔹 Hand strikes: wake up your punch and aiming points 🔹 Bend around the upright: the tightest corner you’ll ever turn 🔹 Rip and club reps: against something that won’t give 🔹 Get-off to contact: first step plus first strike Five minutes, no partner, game-ready hands and hips. #az #dline #passrush #pregame #highschoolfootball

58-0 on the scoreboard, but that’s not what I’ll remember about tonight. 40 snaps. -1 total yards. 🔒 First time in my coaching career our defense held an opponent to NEGATIVE yards. These kids came in focused, did their jobs, and took care of business every single snap. No shortcuts, just technique, effort, and trust in each other. Proud doesn’t even cover it. This one belongs to my boys. 💪🏾 #defensewins #DLine #defensivelineman #az #FridayNightLights

Today’s drill: dip, wrap your inside foot around the pole, rotate through the thoracic spine, then walk it through rep by rep. Slow it down, own the angle, then speed it up. Why it matters: Thoracic rotation lets you turn the corner without losing your base. The foot wrap teaches you to stay tight to the edge instead of running wide. Walk-throughs build the muscle memory that shows up under the lights. You can’t bend what you never trained to bend. What day are you getting your pole work in? #DLine #DefensiveLine #az #fridaynightlights #highschoolfootball

Too many D-tackles win the get-off, then stall out on contact. The real separation happens in the next 0.3 seconds: Second step in the ground, fast. That’s where your power comes from. No second step, no drive. Pad level stays low. Rising up after the first step gives your power away. Hands and hips fire together. Strike, then roll the hips through the blocker, not just into him. Feet keep working. Short, violent steps. Don’t lean and hope. Get-off is the ticket in. Power after the first step is how you take over the A-gap. 📍 Scottsdale, AZ | DM for training #DLine #DefensiveTackle #PassRush #highschoolfootball #az

Even a veteran quarterback who is from an era where hitting was allowed is calling out the timing or the slide.