Pit drill

A pit drill, also known as an Oklahoma drill, is an football practice technique primarily used as a means of testing players in confined full contact situations.

Pit Drills have several variations. The most common involve two players lined up three yards opposite one another. A corridor is set up typically using three blocking bags on each side of the players lined up top to bottom to create a wall, and the walls are spaced about one yard apart. This creates an area of about three feet by nine feet. The two players, at the sound of the whistle, then run at one another and the drill is over when either one of the players is on the ground, or if a ball carrier is involved when he is tackled. If a player is able to drive the other player out of the corridor, that also ends the drill.

Many High School and College teams use the pit drill as a way to kick off the first day of full contact practice. While often criticised as excessive, it can be a critical tool used by coaches to evaluate players that might have looked good in non-contact drills, but have yet to face full contact. Other times the drill is used simply to get players in the proper mind-set for full contact practices, especially in High School and College where many times players have gone up to eight months in non-contact only drills.

In the NFL, some team owners and coaches do not allow the pit drill. Notable exceptions include the Jaguars and the Chargers, who use the drill as a kind of celebration of the first day of full contact practices. In the case of the Jaguars, fans are invited to watch and media members are allowed to submit matchups subject to the coaches approval. Veterans and high profile NFL players rarely participate in pit drills due to the higher risk of injury.