In Let’s Talk Football, Coach Bass brings his 30 years of NFL coaching experience to USA Football. Email Coach Bass your question.

Brian sent the following question.

Should we still teach the four-point stance in youth football? I hardly see it any more in young defensive linemen.

Hi, Brian.

I am a proponent of teaching the four-point stance to young players, especially young defensive linemen who are just beginning their football career.

If you have ever seen one of the three-wheel scooters that people use to get around, you see that the front wheel is in the center of the scooter. This is what occurs when young players first line up in a three-point stance. Their down hand automatically goes to a position in front of and under their nose.

With the down hand in this position, the shoulders are not even – the one on the side of the down hand is lower. The leg on the side of the down hand usually is tilted to the inside at the knee joint, lowering the hip on that side of the body.

In a four-point stance, where the player reaches slightly forward and puts both hands on the ground, the shoulders remain even, the head is up, eyes are straight ahead, the back is straight, the hips are even, and the player can move easily in every direction.

I truly believe that it is the easiest and surest way to get defensive lineman lined up in a good, balanced stance. Maintaining a balanced stance when moving to a three-point stance merely entails lifting one arm and resting the forearm on the inside of the thigh without moving the other hand.

Good luck his season, and let us know how it works out.

Coach Tom Bass

Bill sent the following question:

We like to end our practices with something fun that’s still football related. For example, we may have an offensive lineman try to coffin corner a punt from the 20 (even if it just dribbles there). If he misses, everyone does 25 jumping jacks. If he makes it, the coaches do them. We’ll do this a few times until someone makes it. Any suggestions on more fun things we can do?

Hi, Bill.

I have known coaches who have a designated a player tell one joke and the end of practice, and it seemed to be something that the team looked forward to following each practice.

I do like your idea of pitting the players versus the coaches, as long as the coaches can do what is asked of them. I’m not sure that would work for every staff.

Over the years, I have used drills that are directly related to the game. On offense, it was moving the ball, 20 yards at a time, up and down the field without an error or poor effort. If there was an error or poor effort, the team had to go back and start over. In your scheme, if they made it up and back, there could be a penalty for the coaches.

We ran an interception drill for defense with the same organization.

Starting on the 20-yard line, with the defense going in, the team had to take their correct drops, a defensive player had to make the interception, then the entire defensive team had to run across the goal line. Poor drops, a missed catch or poor effort caused the team to line up and go again. Again, if the team is successful, the coaches could pay a penalty.

One end-of-practice drill that our defense had fun with was our end of the week fumble recovery drill. The defensive players line up across the 10-yard line. The coach, with some footballs, lines up on the goal line. The coach calls out a number and throws the ball on the ground in any number of ways. The player called must sprint and pick up the ball on the run, maintain his balance and sprint across the goal line with the ball. No one was allowed to go in until every defensive player completed the drill successfully.

Another drill that I have observed that seemed to get the players fired up was the five bag, six blocker drill. The drill starts with six blockers spread out on the 10-yard line facing the end zone (somewhat like a punt defensive team). Five players with lightweight stand-up dummies line up spread out on the 15-yard line.

On the snap, the blockers charge across the line to the 5-yard line and then turn and sprint downfield. At the same time, the players holding the bags can run to anywhere on the field. The key is for each blocker to locate and block one of the bags. One blocker will not have a bag, and he gets to get in line to try again.

The successful blockers become the bag holders and movers for the next group. I was amazed at how far the bag holders would run to make their teammates give the greatest effort.

I think you are on the right track. Let them cheer but work, involve team success and failure for individual and team performance and above all have fun and make the players want to come back the next day. I hope this helps and gives you some new ideas

Coach Tom Bass

Coach Tom Bass, a 30-year NFL coach and a technical writer and advisor for USA Football, also is the author of several football coaching books, including "Play Football the NFL Way" (St. Martin's Press), the only authorized NFL coaching book, "Football Skills and Drills" (Human Kinetics) and "The New Coaches Guide to Youth Football Skills and Drills" (McGraw Hill). If you would like to order a personalized autographed copy of Coach Bass' books, copies of his printed “In-Depth Coaching Clinics” or “NFL or College Sport Maps,” visit http://coachbass.com.