what are oklahoma drills

The Oklahoma drill is a practice technique used in American football to test players in confined full contact situations. It was developed by Oklahoma Sooners coach Bud Wilkinson. In the drill, an offensive blocker and a defender face off against each other in a full contact situation. Many high school and college teams use the Oklahoma drill as a way to kick off the first day of full contact practice. While some argue that 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, it has also been criticized as excessive. The drill, along with other full-contact drills, was officially banned from NFL team practices in May 2019 following years of declining use and increasing concerns for player safety. Prior to the ban, many team owners and coaches already refused to permit the drill. However, some teams, such as the Chargers and the Bengals, had used the drill as a kind of celebration of the first day of full-contact practices.