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Get a Grip

Northwestern Puts and Emphasis on Ball Security
by: Kevin Johns
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I have been asked to write about the program that our offensive staff implemented this past season for ‘Ball Security.’ In 2004 we were fortunate enough to go through the entire season (695 touches) with only one offensive lost fumble. This put us first in the Big Ten and tied us for first in the nation. Ball Security is an aspect of our game that our team and coaches take personally and very seriously. We make it a priority at each position to make sure our players understand that fumbles will not be accepted or tolerated.

It starts with our head coach, who in 1998 at Miami University coached a team that finished 10-1 and did not lose one fumble! The rest of our offensive staff, Mike Dunbar (Offensive Coordinator), James Patton (Offensive Line), Garrick McGee (Wide Receivers), Jack Glowik (Tight Ends), and Adam Cushing (Offensive G.A.) followed his lead on this subject.

One of the first assignments given to me by Offensive Coordinator Mike Dunbar was the title of ‘Ball Security’ Coach. He told me to come up with a plan to help our team reduce the number of fumbles. In the 2002 and 2003 seasons, our offense had committed 10 and 11 fumbles respectively, placing us in the bottom of the conference both years. It was indeed time to address this issue with our players and figure out a way to correct this problem.

As we all know, the margin of error in football games is extremely slight. The team that makes the fewest number of mistakes and is able to execute the best will win a high percentage of the time. Through our research we found the team who commits the fewest number of turnovers will win the game 85% of the time.

At Northwestern, we realize that it is tough enough to beat the team we are playing on the field without trying to beat ourselves in the process. In the Big Ten, as in many conferences, very rarely do teams get blown out or roll over and quit. We are going to have to earn every point we get. By eliminating turnovers we would be increasing our chances of scoring points and help keep our defense out of bad situations. We had to convince our players that by reducing the number of turnovers/fumbles in a game, we would be giving ourselves a chance to win the contest. Winning the turnover margin does not guarantee a victory, but it will allow your team to keep the game close and give yourself a chance to win in the 4th quarter.

The first step I took in researching ‘Ball Security’ was to contact as many different running back coaches that I could. I think one of the best aspects of our profession is the willingness of coaches to exchange coaching points on particular topics. The program that we put together at Northwestern is a wide variety of the different coaching points I was able to gather. Some coaches do not talk about ‘Ball Security’ techniques because they do not want their players over-thinking or over-analyzing how they carry the ball. They feel if they make too big of a deal about it their players will mentally break down if they do fumble or they will spend more time focusing on ‘Ball Security’ rather than their assignments. Other coaches make it a huge emphasis on their teams and incorporate it into their daily drills. I think the best thing we did in 2004 was to make our players aware of how they carry the ball and gave them coaching points on how they can improve. As in all areas of football, there are different ways to do things. We feel this approach has worked best for us, and plan on continuing with it.

The very first step in ‘Ball Security’ is understanding how you need to carry/grip the ball in order to secure it away from the defense. We start by explaining that there are four areas of the ball that need to be covered in order to totally protect it. They are the front tip, back tip, left side and right side. In order to cover all four areas of the ball, we coach the five pressure points. They are (1) the Fingers, (2) Palm of Hand, (3) Forearm, (4) Bicep/Crook of Elbow and (5) Ribcage.

Some of the best teaching concepts that our staff developed in this ‘Ball Security’ package were short phrases that we could yell out to our players on the field so they immediately knew what we wanted them to correct. For example, when covering the back tip of the ball we use the term “Back Door.” Instead of yelling on the field “use the pressure points of your bicep/crook of elbow and ribcage to cover the back tip,” we can yell “keep your back door closed!” We use the term “the Claw” when referring to covering the front tip of the ball with our fingers and palm. As soon as our guys hear these sayings, they know to pay more attention to specific areas. These terms make it easier to communicate quickly to our players on the field.

When running with the ball, we talk to our players about keeping the nose of the ball up and having it secured tightly against their ribcage. When it is in this position, we say the ball is “locked.” We feel like the ball is properly protected and secured when it is in the locked position. We want our players to be able to use natural running form when they are in the open field. For this reason, we do not teach keeping the ball “high and tight” across their chest. We make the decision as a staff that this is not a natural running style for our players.

We also teach our players to keep the ball away from the defense by putting it in their “directional arm.” If a WR catches an out route, we want him to immediately put the ball in his outside arm to keep it away from the defenders who are trying to tackle him. I teach the RB’s when they take a hand-off from a QB who starts under center to put the ball in their directional arm. For example, if we are running zone to the right, the ball would go in his right arm. If the RB makes the proper pocket when receiving the ball, when he puts it away, it will naturally be away from the defense. For those of you using a shot-gun offense, the exchange between the QB and RB is a little different in terms of the RB’s pocket. It is critical that you demand your RBs put the ball in their directional arm to keep it away from the defense.

When researching ‘Ball Security’ I not only talked to offensive coaches but defensive coaches as well. I wanted to find out how they were teaching their players to create fumbles. The majority of defensive coaches I spoke with use the philosophy of the first defender securing the tackle as the second defender tries to pull the ball out. In response to that idea, we instruct our players that when they get in a crowd to cover the ball with both hands, simply put, “when in trouble, double.” When a ball carrier is running through the interior of the line or senses more than one defender approaching, we want him to be extra careful with the ball and cover it with both hands. I studied fumbles closely and found that a high percentage of them occur at the end of the run as the ball carrier is being tackled. We convinced our players after they make a long run or big catch downfield that securing the football is more important than any extra yardage they may gain. It is imperative we do not give the momentum back to the defense by allowing them to strip the ball out and creating a turnover. The phrase “when in trouble, double” has been good for us, and our kids understand the point we are trying to get across.

The final coaching point on ‘Ball Security’ has been the hardest thing to get our players to do. After every play, even touchdowns, we ask all of our players to hand the ball to the referee. By getting up off of the ground with the ball and handing it to the referee we are accomplishing two things. First, we are eliminating any doubt that we fumbled the ball. If we are able to get up from the pile with the ball in our hands, obviously it is still in our possession and we did not lose it.

Second, we are making a statement to everyone on the field about how important the ball is to us. This is our ball and no one else can have it! We tell our players to respect the football and to take care of it. We cannot score points and win games without it. Initially it was tough to get our players to hand the ball to the official because they had never been trained to do so and everything they see on TV teaches them to disregard the football at the end of the play. They were accustomed to leaving the ball on the ground and running back to the huddle to get ready for the next play. By insisting that our kids hand the ball to the referee, we are making them aware of ‘Ball Security’ and making a statement of its importance to us.

After presenting my findings to our offensive staff, we came to the conclusion that the only way to get better at ‘Ball Security’ and to truly make it a point of emphasis is to use practice time to work on it. We decided last spring that we were going to make ‘Ball Security’ a priority to our offense and have dedicated one period (6 minutes) every day to specific drills. Depending on the number of bodies we have available, we will divide our skill group into either two or three groups and build a drill circuit around that. Our most common circuit is to divide into three groups and spend 1:45 at each station, with a short time given for rest and group rotation. Station 1 will be Up-Downs, Station 2 will be Sideline Drill and Station 3 will be running through the Ropes (See Diagram).

Up Downs, Sideline Drill, and Ropes

Up Downs

Divide the group into three lines. Start the drill with players chopping their feet and a coach 5 yards in front of the players. On the coach’s command, have them do 3 up-downs and then sprint through the coach. The coaching point is to not allow the elbow and ball to come away from their bodies as they get up off the ground. Have the players who are waiting in line try and punch the ball out from behind as the first group is doing their up-downs.

Sideline Drill

Position three bag holders 5-6 yards apart 1 yard from the sideline. Put the remaining ball carriers in one line 10 yards away, with the coach at the front of this line. On the coach’s command, the coach will reverse pivot and toss the ball to the players. They will catch the toss and dip and rip through each bag. Along with ‘Ball Security’ this drill will teach your ball carriers not to run out of bounds! Our players know the only time they are allowed to run out of bounds with the ball in their hands is when we are in a hurry-up situation at the end of a game or half.

Ropes

Along with working on ‘Ball Security’ this will also improve your players’ footwork. The coach will stand along the side of the ropes and attempt to strip the ball out from the front or punch the ball out from behind as the players run through the ropes. This will force your players to secure the front tip with the claw and cover the back tip by closing their back door. Use any variety of rope drills you like; i.e., run through, crossover, etc.

Obviously you can come up with any drill combination to include in your circuit. I would like to offer one coaching point to add to any drills that you perform. Never allow your players to start a ‘Ball Security’ drill with the ball already in the locked position. Each drill should start by them either catching a pass or receiving a hand-off so they are forced to put the ball away using all five pressure points. We try to make all of our drills simulate a game whenever possible. Never in a game will any of our players start a play with the ball already tucked away. We want to create drills in practice that make it tough on our players to keep the ball tight to their body. If we can make it hard for them in practice and constantly make them focus on ‘Ball Security’ hopefully, it will become second nature in a game.

About the author

Kevin Johns

Running Backs coach Kevin Johns starts his second season at Northwestern this fall under Head Coach Randy Walker. Before joining the Wildcats he was the wide receivers coach at the University of Richmond. Before working with the Spiders, Johns served as Northwestern’s offensive graduate assistant, 1999-2001. He is a former All-American quarterback at the University of Dayton where the Flyers went 20-1 in his two years as starting quarterback.
QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions
you can email the author at:
KevinJohns@AmericanFootballMonthly.com




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