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AFM Magazine


Teaching WR\'s the Critical Skills

by: David Needs
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One of the main problems that have plagued football coaches for a long time is how to teach the necessary skills needed to play the game during the fifteen to thirty minutes in practice known as individual. Just at the wide receiver position, we must teach stance, start, footwork, route running, releases (press and open field), blocking (push blocking, wall-off, cutting, middle block), catching the ball, running with the ball, and many other skills needed to be a good wide receiver.

There is a lot to be done and not enough time to do it. There are a number of great coaches who believe that individual time, where we teach and perform position skills, is the most crucial time for player development. My high school coach believed that if any thing should be sacrificed in practice it would be team time, because individual skill work made a player better in both long and short term. If you visited the first practice at Carson-Newman College and then returned to the last one you would find them not to be very different; we firmly believe that individual skills and the time in which we do those drills is where you equip a player with the skills that are needed to play.

When I first started coaching wide receivers over ten years ago I was amazed at how much time we wasted during individual. I also found that often when we did drills the wide receiver who was designated as the defensive player in the drill would not give a very good picture in the drill because he was either taking care of his buddy, trying to rest, or didn’t know what to do, and most importantly these things slowed down the pace of practice in a negative way. At Carson-Newman College, our Head Coach Ken Sparks has a principle called 'Coaching on the Run.' Essentially what it means is we do everything at a high pace with an emphasis on increased quality reps. Thus, most wide receiver drills were not meeting this standard. My solution to the problem was to do multi-purpose drills.

Multi-purpose drills are where both individuals involved in a drill are being asked to do a skill essential for the position that they play. Thus at the wide receiver position we may have one individual working at push blocking and at the same time have the other individual working on releases (See Diagram 1).

Figure 1

The positive results of these types of drills are numerous: individuals can’t rest or take care of their buddies during a drill because they are being evaluated on their skill work. Individuals know what to do always because they are doing their own position skills. We save a lot of time because we are working two skills in the time it takes to work one, and our performance level increases with the added level of competition during individual. With the time we have saved in this drill I can now move on to other drills. Here are some great multi-purpose drills that have been important to our skill development:

Box Drill in a 5 or 10 yard Square
In this drill we have a push blocker and a running release receiver. The goal for the push blocker is to take the release man and push-block him out of the 5 yard by 5 yard square. The release man’s goal is to cross the back line without being pushed out. Coaching points for this drill are to make sure the push blocker is moving his feet and does not stand stationary but attacks. He should not throw his hands until he can step on the toes of the release man. For the release man his goal is to cross the back line as close to the center as possible. The further he is moved from the center the more he is thrown off his pattern. If we use a five yard square the advantage is towards the push blocker, but if we increase the dimensions to 10 yards the advantage is for the release man. We usually make sure that everyone gets a rep of both at each depth. (See Diagram 2).

Figure 2

In this drill we have the push blocker stand face to face with the release man. He can either start with his hands on the release man or at his side based on the difficulty you want to attach to the drill. On “Go”, the release man will try to use his best press release to cross the back line. The push blocker will try to drive the release man out of the square. The tendency for the push-blocker is to over lean, when this occurs I start with a “Ready” call, followed by “Go”. Here the push-blocker chops his feet on “Ready” and on “Go” he push-blocks. Because this is a compacted drill, we always use a five yard square. This drill certainly favors the push-blocker; but, by putting the release man in a worst case scenario we teach him to overcome and adapt to a difficult situation.
Back to Back Drill

In the Back to Back drill we teach open field move skills and push blocking skills. In the Back to Back Drill the open field man with a ball in his hand will stand back to back with the push blocker in a ten yard square. On “Go” the open field man will turn and try and cross the back line without being pushed out. Here he can cut back or out sprint the blocker to the corner. His only rule is he can not run over the blocker. This simulates catching a hitch or curl route and then trying to score. For the push blocker his job is to flip his hips and find the open field man. Even though he is carrying a football, we still try to drive him out of the square. This teaches the blocker how to block in the open field while taking good angles and not clipping. A coaching point for the push blocker is if the push blocker stops his feet any time he will not make the block. Thus, even when he flips his hips or turns around the push blocker must always keep his feet moving. This is a difficult drill for the push blocker. If the coach wanted it to be less difficult for the push blocker he does not allow the open field man to cut back (See Diagram 3).

Figure 3


L Drill
One of the hardest things to simulate in practice with the proper intensity is a wall off block or a crack block. Often wide receivers will catch the defensive man in a practice simulation which is not the proper technique. The best way to wall off a defensive man is deliver the body through the defensive man with controlled intensity.

This also presents a problem in practice simulation, because the WR who is being blocked is not going to run at the blocker and get hit at full speed. These problems led to the creation of the “L Drill”. In the L Drill there is a receiver who has a ball in his sideline arm, he stands two yards from the sideline, he sprints to a cone while not getting pushed out of bounds; and there is a wall off man who tries to get his head across the runner and drive him across the line.

For the runner this drill teaches acceleration to beat a defender who has an angle, how to stay in bounds with contact, and how to hold onto the ball when there is contact. For the wall off man it teaches how to execute the block in a worst case scenario, that being a defender who sees you coming and shoot up right away to play the run. If the wall off man does not take a flat step he will not make the block. This is an easy drill to gauge success; if there is contact and the runner is driven across the line the wall off has done his job. If the runner absorbs the contact and stays in bounds or beats the blocker to avoid contact he has scored. This is a very physical drill and sets the tempo for practice (See Diagram 4).

Figure 4

Multi-purpose drills really do work. When the spirit of competition is added to individual skill work, the drills become fun not monotonous. Drills are intense not casual, and drills have a purpose for everyone involved. The best way for a player to produce on the game field is for his position coach to create game like circumstances on the practice field. Since this game of football is an intense one, drills with passive participants only do harm in the long run to a players performance level.

Carson-Newman College Head Football Coach Ken Sparks constantly reminds our players that this game is about blocking and tackling. Thus our coaching staff is constantly being challenged to do drills in individual that reflect this philosophy. Multi-purpose drills are a vital part in teaching wide receivers how to play the game.






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