Drilling is repetitive practice of a specific technique with a cooperative partner. No resistance, no counter — the defender feeds the position so the attacker can repeat the movement cleanly. The goal is to build the movement pattern deeply enough that it becomes available in live rolling without conscious effort.
BJJ has two main drilling contexts: technical drilling (slow, precise, full technique repetition) and flow drilling (faster, chaining techniques together at a moderate pace without full resistance). Solo drilling — working movements like hip escape alone — is also common in warm-ups.
The "drilling vs rolling" debate is ongoing in BJJ. Most coaches recommend both: drilling builds correct patterns; rolling pressure-tests them. Heavy drilling without rolling leaves you over-prepared for a compliant partner; heavy rolling without drilling leaves gaps in your technical baseline.