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AFM Magazine


Improving Your Running Game

by: Mike Leiderman
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The commitment to run the ball has to start when a head coach lays the foundation for his system. Portland (OR) State’s Tim Walsh sees this mentality as key to any coaching staff. “Coaches have to find a way to instill a belief in their players that they can run against anybody. At Portland State, we’ve created a mindset for players over several seasons.” Walsh and his assistant coaches stress the team’s prior success to new recruits, while returning players have already been in the system and experienced the results.

     US Military Academy OC Kevin Ross draws a parallel between the goals of his team and the institution it represents. “We’re going to have a good running game because we represent The Army. The Army is made up of a bunch of tough soldiers and we have to be tough, too. We want to line up and hit [opponents] and keep hitting ‘em. It starts in the weight room. We ask our players: ‘How much are you going to fight for that last rep?’”

    University of Delaware Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line Coach Jim Turner – like Ross, a Marine veteran of the first Gulf War – also uses a military analogy. “The intent of every running play is a ground war, a battle for land.” Turner tells his team: “You’re trying to win that little piece of land you’re responsible for. If one of you can’t, we’re in trouble.”

 Identify the O-Linemen
    While attracting the right players to make your system work is essential strategy for major college teams, most high schools and many smaller colleges are restricted in their recruiting or can’t recruit at all. These programs face a different challenge: finding offensive linemen within the existing player pool. “People can always find skill players,” says Tony Severino, veteran coach of Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, MO, “but to win with a rushing attack, you must start up front, with the offensive line.” Severino says the hard part is convincing players to play on the O-line. “Kids who were too big to be ball carriers in youth leagues now want to run and catch the football when they get to the high school level. Besides, they already see there aren’t any highlights of offensive linemen on SportsCenter. But as a coach, it doesn’t do you any good to have seven tight ends or 8 fullbacks on the depth chart when some of those kids would make good offensive guards and tackles.”

     Severino, who has coached six Missouri state championship teams in 23 years at Rockhurst, stresses that the members of the offensive line must also be the team’s leaders.  “Running backs can be younger, but the linemen should be the older guys, usually upperclassmen, because the line must function as a unit to make the running game work.” Adds Mt. Carmel’s Frank Lenti: “Offensive linemen won’t get their names in the papers. To play for a state title, you must make them believe in themselves and their roles on the team.”
 
Practice – Mental and Physical
    Once a team hits the practice field, players must “bring a mentality to every play,” says Delaware’s Turner. He advocates making the running game as simple as possible, giving players fewer options so they can learn their assignments more quickly and react instinctively.

     “In a straight zone, we’re trying to attack that front. The player must know, for example: ‘block the man to your right. If he’s not there, help the man to the side of the play call.’ Each man should know whom he’s blocking. If it’s a stretch play, the goal is to influence the linebackers, get them to commit. On a draw, [the linemen have to] sell the pass; influence the defender to rush and take himself out of the play.”

     Turner’s practices break down each rushing play into “play side” and “back side.” Play side blockers learn proper techniques to “blast” their opponents in the direction of the rush, while those on the back side wall off their opponents, lifting them off the ball, away from the play.

     Tim Walsh uses only four basic running plays, each with several combinations, at Portland State. He emphasizes that technique is more important than a thick playbook. “You must establish a point of attack,” Walsh says. “The offensive linemen must see what lies in front of them. If they understand what they are facing, they can understand what’s needed. The tailback must understand, too. Otherwise, he loses confidence in his blockers.”

     Most programs practice their rushing offense using 7-on-7 drills (usually a QB, RB and the 5 OLs), but Valdosta (GA) State Offensive Coordinator David Dean puts special emphasis on involving the full team compliment, 11-on-11. “We run from the shotgun and do a lot of one-back stuff,” he says. “Our slots [inside receivers] are as important as the offensive line in our scheme. Opponents will involve safeties and flat defenders in the run defense against us, so we want the backs and receivers to be involved, to know the proper blocking angles.”  He says Valdosta spends as much as one hour of practice time per week drilling 11-on-11.

     Dean – whose Blazers were the 2004 Division II National Champions – adds that working from a spread makes the angles of exchange for handoffs more precise than with a close-in formation. “If the quarterback takes an extra step in our system, it changes the angle and maybe forces the running back to bounce around to find another gap. That usually makes plays less successful.”

     Our coaches did agree that rushing drills need to be done at full-speed. “It’s hard to simulate the running game at half-tempo,” emphasizes Chuck Petersen at the Air Force Academy.  “It’s all live on Tuesday and Wednesday. The players really get after it – and get the mental and physical preparation they need for the games on Saturday.”

     “Full-speed,” however, does not mean full contact. “The body only has so many hits during a long season,” says Tony Severino. “You don’t want to leave them on the practice field.” Severino’s Rockhurst teams rarely scrimmage and are in full pads just twice a week. He prefers “Thud” drills, wrapping up the ball carrier at the point of contact, instead of tackling and going for his legs.

 Video: “The Eye in the Sky Doesn’t Lie”
    Although some still call it “film,” coaches we interviewed were quick to bring up the importance of video in the teaching process, both in practice and the games themselves.  “There’s no place to hide,” says Army’s Ross. “We show the players every clip – what they do right and what they do wrong.”

     At Delaware, Jim Turner uses video as a motivational tool. “You can question players every day when they watch themselves. I question their toughness; call them on it. I get in their heads to think physically to move the defender off the ball.”
 
Drills and More Drills
    “We do the same drills in August we do the week of the state championship,” says Head Coach Frank Lenti whose Chicago Mt. Carmel teams hold nine Illinois State Championships. Severino drills his running backs almost every practice, stressing pad level, body position, stiff-arm, how to dip on a sweep and setting up blocks with linemen.

     Ross starts each Army offensive practice with a “Takeoff Drill.”  “It’s eleven offensive guys going against eleven defensive guys holding shields. We’re looking to execute the perfect play, running it over and over for 5 straight minutes. Our goal is: maximum reps and maximum speed.” Backs drill on pad level, balance, “hit-and-split,” (one back tries to split two defenders) and a “stay inbounds drill” where they ball carriers initiate contact with a would-be tackler.  “We teach the runners to be the hammer, not the nail,” says Ross.

     Ross also likes the “Oklahoma Drill,” especially during spring practice. An offensive lineman, with a running back behind him, goes one-on-one against a defensive lineman or linebacker. “You set a pair of cones four yards apart. At the snap, the offensive lineman must block the defender and the defender tries to beat the offense and get to the ball carrier within the confined space. It’s nothing fancy, but you learn the right techniques to move the guy out of the way or you’ll get beat. Against a linebacker, who is 4-5 yards off the line, the offensive lineman can’t start breaking down and chopping his feet. He’s got to accelerate into the block.”
 
 Crimes and Punishments
    “You’ve got to be positive,” says Mr. Carmel’s Lenti. “If you tell a kid, ‘Don’t fumble,’ what’s the first thing that comes into his mind? Fumbling. So instead, you tell him, ‘Secure the football.’ That’s a positive statement. You also drill him in the major points of pressure: cover the tip of the ball, press it against your rib cage and clamp it down with your elbow.”

     “Creating a triangle is the key,” adds Bobby Bentley of Byrnes HS (SC). “We teach our players: ‘Hand over the ball; bicep into the ball; put the ball against your chest.’ That sets up a triangle that’s solid. Nothing moves. It’s the same principle used to build bridges. ”

     Adds Offensive Coordinator Chuck Petersen of the Air Force Academy: “It doesn’t matter if you run the ball ten times a game or 50. You always talk ball security to your players. Everyone has drills to protect the football.” Valdosta State ball carriers take a page from Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton, plunging their arms into a vat of rice during the off-season to toughen their grip. Then, there’s “The Gauntlet,” a coaches’ favorite, where a back runs a narrow path between as many as a dozen teammates trying to strip the ball. Air Force also employs “The Blaster,” a revolving set of poles with resistance arms extending, flailing at the ball carrier as he tries to push his way through. “It may be ‘old school’ but it works,” Petersen says.

     Punishment for offenders, either fumbling backs or linemen who jump the snap or commit holding penalties, varies, but isn’t taken lightly. “If our backs turn the ball over, they’ll be running hills and doing ‘gassers,’” Bentley says. “Or they’ll be carrying a football to class. You’d be surprised what a little peer pressure can do.”

     Ross has a different outlook at Army. “I’d rather incorporate correcting something they messed up, as opposed to simple punishment. Running “The Gauntlet” after practice until you’re exhausted makes the point about protecting the football.”

     Delaware’s Turner broadens the philosophy, saying offensive linemen must understand they share the credit for every touchdown, pass or run. Similarly, a lineman drawing a penalty or a back turning the ball over hurts the team. Turner’s solution: after a screw-up, the entire unit runs “gassers” or does “up/downs,” not just the offender.
 
Game Time
    An effective running game doesn’t necessarily mean a team needs to run the ball at will. The key, according to Bobby Bentley, is the ability – and mentality – to move the ball on the ground in particular situations. “We’re a pass-and-spread team,” Bentley says, “but we know we can run the ball at critical points – late in the game and down close to the opponents’ goal.”

     Tim Walsh at Portland State has his squad conditioned. “We know with four minutes left in the game, leading, say 27-24, opponents expect us to run and put either or nine men in the box. We don’t care. We can put in two tight ends and two running backs and run against an eight or nine-man front.”

     Frank Lenti isn’t so adamant. “We’ll take what the defense gives us,” he says, rather than routinely challenge a defense stacked against the run. Still, the rushing game to him is paramount, especially in cold weather climates like Chicago where playing conditions can be severe late in the season.”

     Valdosta State’s Dean sums up the issue in simplest terms. “There are no magic bullets,” he says. “When it comes to our running game, we try to be fairly simple and out-execute everyone we play.”





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