High Hits at close range - causes and solutions?

I had a friend recently become interested in shooting and I had a chance to work with him today. I gave him some basic instruction on stance, grip, sight alignment, trigger press etc...I had him start at 3 yards on a b8. His shots were consistently 6" high when he was shooting but when I shot the gun it shot out the x ring(duh it's 3 yards).

I'm no instructor nor a diagnostician. What would cause hits that high at such close range, so that next time I work with him I can correct the issue? His kids shot also and didn't have the issue at all, so it's definitely his input that is causing it but I'm not familiar with what it would be or the solution.

He is a strong physical fitness buff with a background in wrestling and my height (6' give or take), if any of that matters. I explained sight alignment and he seemed to have grasped the basic concept. I even tried my gun and the same issue occurred.

Driving the dot versus using the top edge of the front sight? Not sure that's enough for 6" at 3 yds though. Perhaps je has a strong front site focus and has it standing proud of the rear? Have him draw his front sight picture and have him focus on not only having equal light bars on either side of the front sight but the top edge even with the top edge of the rear. If sight picture is good, perhaps some ball and dummy drills are in order?

Just a thought.
If you are telling him to "hard focus" on the front sight he may be tipping the gun up just enough to clearly see it and not have it settled in line with the rear sight.
He may be so focused on the front sight that he is failing to properly align it in the rear sight.
I had a young lady in a class some years ago that struggled to hit the target backer much less the target. I asked her if she had the sights aligned as instructed and was she focusing on the front sight and she replied yes. I stood off to her right side to watch and sure enough she would line up the sights then tip the gun up to focus on the front sight just prior to pressing the trigger. Easy fix from there.
Just thinking out loud here.
rd62 beat me too it.

Another thought, you can run this one-round drill to see what's happening on the second press.

https://youtu.be/NxyTFzgWjhk

About all I can think of. If each and every shot is high, kind of hard to deduce what's happening without being there. :(

If you have access to a gun with a laser or red dot, you could probably determine if it's a sight alignment issue or a trigger control problem.

Hard to diagnose without seeing it(can you video?)...
Off the top of my head, he may be anticipating/“heeling” the gun just before the shot. Put a dummy round in the mag and would see that when he hits that dummy in a string of several shots..
Others have suggested a front sight way out of the notch. Some people learn visually; draw sights aligned on a target for the sight “picture”.
Good luck-and good for you for taking a new shooter out!