Offensive Line Question

[winston 0]

When run blocking, what methods do you guys use to turn a Dlineman, eg. If you are turning a lineman left do you bend your left elbow and keep the right arm almost locked out in a straight position then drive with the legs or do you have both arms almost fully extended? Or what other methods are there?

[CoachSteve 0]

actually, we do a lot of double teams to move the DL. Now, sometimes teh double team is just a chip block to get help the OL get the DL moving in the correct direction and then sliding off to find a backer. If I am teaching a player to try to turn a DL, I focus a lot on getting the head on the correct side and on correct footwork. I believe firmly in footwork; bad footwork leads to bad blocks due to things like over reaching.

[winston 0]

Can you give me instructions on both proper head placements and footwork please and also tell me where/how both hands should be?

[patscoach 0]

Winston,

What Age group do you coach?

Each play is designed to go somewhere vs. a myriad of defenses. In general the blocker should stay low, fire into and up through the target, while pushing with his hands and churning his legs forward and finishing only after he has hit a second target. The blocker should also "get his head in the hole" to push out and away from the play.

Our scheme teaches priority (who is my assignment?) with 1. MAN ON YOU 2. MAN AWAY FROM PLAY 3. AREA IN FRONT OF YOU AS DEEP AS THE LINEBACKERS.

Depending on where the play goes the blocker decides where to get his hat and how to push i.e. play to my right, fight to get my helmet to his right, push back and to my left. We teach our backs on inside runs to run to the back of your lineman, and preferably to the seam between two of them. If the line has put the hats in the correct places the backs find seams better.

We also depend on linemen taking correct first steps to help them get to their spots with better body posture so doing the above is easier i.e if he has to get his helmet to the left of his man he needs to step with his left foot first. Can be taught by showing how he will get twisted up by stepping with his right foot across his body. This will take reps and constant supervision. I find that when an assignment is missed it began with a poor first step.

We teach using hands from 8yrs old flag kids and up as only a part of correct form. If we see kids relying on hand use (i.e fully extended) and don't follow through with hips, helmet placement and leg churning we correct that. Takes more correcting the younger they are, and the less experienced they are.

Good luck. Cruise the websites for Youth Football. There are lots of good drills to do to teach correct form.

SAFETY FIRST

[winston 0]

my kids are 8-10 Coach, appreciate the help and YES, I am and have been frantically seraching the net and printing out drills, techniques and any other advice I can find, thing is, I never depend on only one source of info which is why I strive to get as many different instructions/opinions/ideas as possible so I could try different things and then choose what works best for the team.

[CoachSteve 0]

Before I jump into your questions, the best offensive line book I have ever read is:

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In part, what you are asking depends on blocking scheme - I am going to assume you are doing base blocking and not anything like inside or outside zone. In this case, I want my linemen to get their head to the side of the DL that the play is going to. So, if the play is going to the right of an offensive lineman, then I want his head on the right. Why? It is hard to slide or roll off a block through the blockers head.

as far as hands go, I hate the flipper method of blocking. It is useless. I like to get the hands inside and into the chest of the DL. No grabbing!!! When the OL hits the DL, he should give a solid hand pop to the chest - keep fingers together but not making a fist.

Footwork should be short steps and not really big steps. The reason for this is that a really long step takes teh OL off balance and makes him easy to push over. the basic steps I teach are to lead with the foot in the direction you are going to go. So, if you are moving right, start with the right foot. The first step is SHORT - no more than four to six inches. Here, you are doing nothing but begining to get out while keeping a solid base. The next step with the other foot is also a short step - this is a stablizing and planting step. The third step is the fire or attack step. You should be making contact between steps two and three. To do this, you may have to move your linemen back off the LOS as much as you legally can to give them time to get through the progression. Once you make contact, they should STOMP step all the way to the whistle (assuming they are to maintain the block and not slide off and go for someone else like a backer). A lot of people teach chopping, I prefer stomping. Chop implies light feet; I don't want light feet, I want a hard drive.

The last thing I advise (and is the hardest to perfect) is that just as you make contact, you want you explode from the hips and this will give the initial pop - remember the hands I mentioned above.

That is just the basics - for 8-10, that is going to be a lot. One thing I forgot to mention is that a good three point stance is critical to success. If too much weight is on the arm or the feet are too far apart, the footwork will fall apart.

[winston 0]

Thanks for the referral, will definitely look into it. Which would be better for coaching training, videos or books?

[CoachSteve 0]

Personally, I am a reader - I can read a good football book in bed or on my throne; I don't have a TV in either the bedroom or the loo. That said, what works best for you? If you learn better from watching a video, go for it.

[winston 0]

Myself and my HC have different views regarding the Center and how far the ball should be in front of him prior to the snap, is there any set distance or should the center just be comfortable with it?

[CoachSteve 0]

I like the ball out as far as he can comfortably get it. My reasoning is that I do some things with my o-line that requires making some steps and movements as well as reading the on coming blitzes. As such, I want my O-line as far off the ball as legally possible to give them the maximum time to set up their blocks. That said, it doesn't do any good if the Center puts it so far out that he can't get out of his stance or the ball is too slow getting to the QB.

[jag1872 0]

Coach,

This is from my website:

BLOCKING FUNDAMENTALS

The key elements of blocking are:

Good Stance

Footwork

Stay Lower then the Defender (maintaining leverage)

Hips under Defender

Controlling Center of Gravity

Expoding off the LOS

Follow Through

Upper Body Technique - varies (blocking surface)

Footwork

Starts with a good base (feet shoulder width apart and toes pointed forward) at all times (you can narrow the stance a bit but I would not recommend a wider base as this reduces the ability to generate power through the hips). The base is key if the feet get to close then the lineman can become off balance or lose the ability to generate proper force and to wide of base you lose the ability generate force. Next the feet should never cross each other as this will cause the lineman to become less agile and increase the likely hood of the lineman losing his center of gravity and balance. The foot near the blocking target always moves first; you want to limit penetration and engage the defender as fast as possible and by stepping with the near foot it moves the blocker towards the blocking target in a direct path while limiting penetration by the defender. The first two steps are key to any good block; the lineman that can get is first two steps down before the defender does will win the battle in the trenches....it is that simple. The first two steps are always power steps no matter what block is being performed. A power step is a very short six inch step with the near foot followed by the far foot taking another quick power step that should go slighlty past the first step (if making a direct block) or if reaching or wedging the short power steps appear like shuffle steps (feet do not cross). The feet never stop moving either they must attempt to get their feet under the defender and through the defender.

Probably the most important but often overlooked portion of blocking at the youth level is sound footwork so you have to stress it.

I like to explain footwork by using the term B.E.E.F (Coach Tim Murphy).

Blast Off Step - foot near the blocking path. Short power step. Get it up and get it down fast. You load your arms on this step. Staying low (numbers to the knees)

NOTE - power step is literally stomping the ground with all seven cleats. Flat feet give you a solid base. The steps are short and powerful. You get them up and down fast.

Explode Step - foot away from blocking path. Short power step. Get it up and get it down fast. You unload your arms into the defender. Staying low (numbers to the knees).

Elevate Step - near foot and a short power step. Get it up and down fast. You elevate through the defender and upward driving from your feet, knees, and hips as you step to create synergy.

Finish Off Step - fourth step is the far foot and every step after wards. This again is a short power step as you drive the defender away. IF you get the defender on his heels you speed up and get on the balls of your feet and go through him (PANCAKE).

Stay Lower then the Defender

It is very important that blockers realize that they must fire out low and engage every defender from a low to high movement. This does several things for the blockers; it gives them leverage as they engage the defender by denying the defender the use of his COG. It gives the blocker the ability to deny the defender to ability to generate force from the ground. If a blocker is in the habit of standing up and then moving forward then he is not an effective blocker. Stress moving out of the stance low to high so that the chest stays near the knees in the first few steps. Bend a the knees and hips and never at the waist.

Hips under Defender

The worst habit a youth lineman has is engaging a defender but not following through with his hips to get under the defender; denying him his center of gravity (COG), putting his COG under the defender, and creating more blocking surface and there by creating more control over the defender. The linemen must learn to drive their belly button into the defender as they engage. This along with tdriving the feet forward and staying low places the blocker's center of gravity under the defender and gives the blocker control of the defender's COG and gives him leverage.

Controlling the Defender's Center of Gravity

If a blocker can do the above three things well he can control a defender's center of gravity (deny him his center of gravity) and easily move a defender. Often in youth football coaches simply tell lineman to get in the way or get on adefender that is in front of them but blocking is not about getting in the way it is about making a way for the runner to run to and that means moving defender's not stopping them. If you coach fast short steps, get them to get their body lower then the defender's, and drive their hips into a defender they will defeat defenders by controlling the defender's COG. Controlling the COG is done by creating lots of blocking surface and the more blocking surface you can create the more control you have over a defender.

Exploding Off the LOS

Being the first off the Line of Scrimmage is important. If blockers are allowing defenders to move first on their snap count you will lose the battle of the trenches...it is that simple. Your lineman must be able to get off the ball fast. Now that doesn't mean they have to be quick but they have to be quick. You can teach and drill this by working on footwork, good low to high technique, repeatition, and developing elastic strength in your blockers legs (see my SAQ Development Article on the Youth SAQ site.

Follow Through

Finishing off defender is very important. When a blocker makes initial contact they must learn to follow through with their body (hips into defender, keep feet moving, and maintain blocking surface. They must keep moving, keep lifting, and stay low and finish off the defender (pancake him or move him out of the way until the whistle blows).

Upper Body Techinque

Upper body technique is the least important of all of the fundamental but always seems to be the most stressed. Youth coaches seem to be ###### bent on teaching hands technique with out really understanding how the techinque qworks. They also seem to be ###### bent on not actually using other varieties of techniques because they are not "modern" or "populer". What you have to understand is that each technique offers advantages and disadvantages and a good youth coach knows how to evaluate his team and use the proper technique for his team.

There are three types of upper body running techinques and one type of upper body pass techniques:

Hands

If using hands they should fire into the lower lip of the breatplate and move inward and upwards as the forearms begin to make contact with the defender's ribcage or some coaches have them move the elbows outward. I prefer the elbows to stay down and go into the defender to create additional blocking surface. But other coaches like for the elbows to turn outward to trap the defender inside. I have found that if I create more blocking surface that I get the same effect and more control. The object is to lift the defender off his feet as you move your COG under him. The key is getting the throat line of the shoulder pads to lift and forcing the defender up to avoid being choked by his own pads. The key to teaching the hands tech is having the palms fire low to high into the breast plate, followed by the elbows, and then followed by the hips and body. The problem with the hands technique is young players only fire their hands into the defender and never follow through into the defender. They also fire straight into the defender instead of low - high which means they create no lift on impact. They also just hit and recock and try to strike again insteas of follow through. This is the most common technique but is the hardest to master. Most kids do not have the hand- eye coordination that is required to make a consistent strike with both hands into the breast plate while moving into a defender.

Shoulder

The shoulder technique really dates back to the single wing and old T formations days. It has been used and is still in wide use due to the ability to easily engage a defender with a large amount of blocking surface and maintain a lower COG then the defender. The older variation the blocker engages the defender with the far or near shoulder (depends on defender's reaction - if attacking into the LOS far shoulder if scraping down the LOS then the near shoulder) into the defender's near hip. The head and shoulder form and L that seals the defender as the blocker fires his forearms or hands into the defender's hip to create additional blocking surface. He drives his hips into the defender to create lift. This technique has the disadvantage of not have the ability to readjust if the defender counter moves the block. The defender can also drive the defender into the ground as well.

FLIPPER

Another "old" style of blocking that uses the forearms (elbows inward) snug to the chest with either the fists together or the wrists crossed so that the forearms make contact with the defender. Used to create blocking surface and steer a defender. It also creates a powerful base for blocking along with a powerful punch. It is an effective running style but can causes problems if the blocker leans or the defender is agile (spins). A good system to use with younger kids. Several HS programs notably Clovis East HS in CA (nationally ranked) uses this along with several other successful programs.

Hybird Forms

The more modern technique is to engage the shoulder under the defender's near shoulder while using either the hands or forearms to punch into the defender's ribcage to create additional blocking surface as he drives his hips iinto the defender. I use this variation myself using the forearm of the shoulder that is making contact to punch into the defender to create additional lift as the backside palm punches into the opposite side of the forearm to create more blocking surface and lift. This is really a hybrid form of the shoulder technique and the forearm/hands technique. I have found it to be very effective and natural form my kids to learn. There are plenty of other varaitions out there. FInd a technique that you think your kids will master and learn it and learn how to coach it.

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With younger kids I don't waste my time teaching Drive blocks and frankly I don't bother to teach it unless I know have pretty decent blockers (athletically and size wise). That is because for a base blocking system to be even remotely successful every blocker on the line bigger and more athletic to consistently be successful. The reason for this is pretty simple. If you block a head up defender it comes down to force on force so two players facing each other create 100lb of force the cancel each other out and you get a stalemate (a stalemate means no movement and that is win for the defense) so now it comes down to athletic ability and technique. You do the math.

A Reach block (blocking a defender on the playside) and Hook block (blocking defender head up) requires a blocker to seal that defender away from the playside. Again you had better have a better blocker or way to move the defender into a position to be more easily blocking using these blocks because your blockers are now at a disadvantage.

X block - when two blockers cross, normally the outside blocker blocks down and the inside blocker comes under adn blocks out. This is only effective against certain fronts. But it gives you a distant leverage advantage as you create a force multiplier by using that angle (you can get 1.5 to 4x the force of a base block) depending on the angle of attack.

Down block (Angle) - I prefer angle blocking as a base because as I stated above you get a leverage advantage and a force multiplier. So smaller lines can block big lines since they "appear larger" due to creating more force. It also puts the defenders in an already blocked position (they are sealed from the Playside). I prefer to use Severe Angle Blocking and WEDGE blocking and then teach REACH blocking as it works in conjunction with the other two schemes.

You also have to understand that when you coach kids they are not small adults so adult based techniques are not going to useful in some cases. A good solid stance (whether it is a 3 point or a 2 point) is a must as that is the bases of all your movement. Good footwork is very important. One good rule to follow is the man that gets his first two steps down first usually wins the battle.

Jack

[CoachSteve 0]

SUPERB!!! Excellent write up Jack!!

I especially honed in on the statements about footwork! I believe solid football technique is underpinned by solid footwork. I stress this to no end.

I came back to mention SAB and Wedge blocking. I think at 8-10 level, this would be extremely effective.

Well done coach!

[winston 0]

Just saw the post Jack, thanks a million! At yesterday's practice I ran into a problem at the Center position, I have 2 guys, one small and the other big, the small guy is quicker and blocks better but his hands are small and when he lifts the football from the ground it would come loose every now and then and a lot of the times he has to grap the ball twice before handing off, so there's a lot of bad exchanges between him and the QB. The big guy can snap securely but he is very slow with the snap, what should I do here?

[CoachSteve 0]

reps for the smaller guy and see if he can improve. See if he can use both hands on the ball if he is not already.

for the big guy - is he just slow reacting to the cadence or slow getting the ball back. If he is slow reacting to the cadence, make sure he is reacting to the "H" in Hut and not the "t" (or whatever word you use). Also, go over his stance and make sure he is not leaning too far forward and see if he is getting any hip explosion during the snap. Check his feet and knee bend. You can try to tweak these and see if you can get some more oomph and speed in his snap but truth may be he is just slow.

At that point, it is a question of which risk you prefer - big and slow but clean snaps or faster but some fumble problems. Me, I don't like turnovers. Others may disagree.

[jag1872 0]

Here is what I would do.

Get both centers and have them work together as QB/Center so they can learn how it feels for the QB.

Start with just snapping with their hand only so that the palm of the hand touchs the base of the tail bone. If a center has small hands then use a two hand snap.

Make sure everytime they snap they step to the left. right, or forward.

Make sure they stay low and don't drop or lift the butt.

Then put four to six ball by the center and you feed him balls has he rapidly snaps them back to the other center. Make sure each understand how the QB takes the ball. These rapid fire helps them get a lot of snaps and reinforces good habits. It forces them to get the snap right or they will fumble it and the rapid fire stops.

I can get about 50 reps in five minutes this way.

Jack

[winston 0]

from today onwards we plan to work out the 2 QB's and the 2 centers from the start of practice, I will try what you guys have mentioend here and I will especially try the 2 hand snap with the smaller guy and will get back to you all here, thanks.

[nm83 0]

How do I teach 6-7 year old Offensive linemen to block against Stunting DL? Does anybody have any

experience at this level with this sort of defensive scheme?

[winston 0]

still problems with both Centers and QB, sometimes it's the Centers not placing the football where they should and sometimes I see the ball go in and come out of the QB's hand, it hits the QB's wrist area and comes out before he can close his hands, any ideas?

[winston 0]

what's the "fastest" way to get an offense to remember both the holes and plays? Time we don't have, we will be putting our offense together tomorow evening for the first time, then we have one more practice on Friday and then first game on Saturday morning and I only have 1/2 an hour with offense on the next 2 practices so we won't have the luxuries of repetition and time here, any of you guys have any magic method that will help me from not getting too badly beaten up on Saturday?

[winston 0]

For 8-10 yo's, is it wise to have them do "elbow" splits for any reason, if so, why and for which reasons please?

[coachbreck 0]

It depends upon what type of system you are running on Offense. I used to run option so we needed wide splits for the reads. It also depends upon the talent of your O-line. Some people run wider splits to take advantage of angles, some run wider splits to strech the defense.

A few years back we played a team in a different leauge from a much bigger town. They lined up head up no matter how wide we did our splits. I wanted to see how far I could go with it and I had the o-line run yard and a half splits, (which is ridiculous for 5th and 6th grade) It was hillarious we ran fullback dive all day. Which really opened up our outside veer.

After the game the opposing coach complemented us and told us we had a good looking team that could really play ball. He had no clue what I had just done to him.

[winston 0]

Appreciate the info Coach but either I am misunderstand your post or my questions wasn't phrased correctly, anyway, what I am asking is, what are the both the advantages and disadvantages for using elbow splits instead of regular hand or finger splits? With the elbow splits, the holes will be cut down to half the size of the regular splits, should this make it harder for the backfield to run through?

[coachbreck 0]

Sorry, If you run finger splits, that is pretty wide splits for younger kids, That is what I used to run as it was very important for the mesh and reads for my qb running veer.

Advantage of finger splits: is you spread the defense out it gives you wider running lanes like I said in my last post I really like it when a defense says head up then I just keep going wider. Also if you have some talented linemen with good feet and the defense lines up in the gap it is an easy down block to the defender in the gap. Also it gives better vision for the backfield.

Didadvantage of finger splits: If you do not have linemen with good feet there is a real risk of penetration. by stunting D-linemen or blitzing linebackers or stud DT gappers shooting through.

Now reducing to elbow splits creates a smaller running lane but reduces risk of penetration. I think elbow splits are plenty for most youth offenses you can still open up holes and use angle or double team or X blocking.

It is also Ok in my opinion to mess with splits for different fronts to gain advantages in angles or to spread out someone who stays head up.

I switched to zero splits this year toe to toe from end to end.

Advantages of zero splits: There should not be any penetration, short pulls, even if you pull both tackle and guard, wedge blocking is very effective, double teams are quick and nasty. short kick outs for fullback. blitzing linebackers are less effective. Also is better for less talented linemen.

In my opinion if you go elbow splits it should be plenty wide.

Hope I got it right this time, LOL, sorry for the confusion.

[CoachSteve 0]

The tighter the splits, the more the defense is 'bunched' into the middle. The wider the splits, the more spread out the defense will be. So, if you make larger splits and the defense spreads out with you, you should find better running lanes for your backs. Crunching your splits brings the defense closer together and makes running inside very hard - however, it should open the outside a bit. Smaller splits also closes down blitzing lanes. Whether or not there is less running room depends on how much space your OL makes when they are blocking. If they blow the D off the ball, lanes will be there. If they are stagnated and don't drive the defender ot of the way, there won't be a seam.

Which is easier to block? As a general rule, the wider your splits the harder it is to block. The reason is, the OL has to make more blocks laterally to protect the gaps. This is a hard move for 8-10year olds. You can increase their ability to do so by moving them back a few inches. Many coaches put their OL as close to the LoS as they can. If your OL has good footwork, you can move them as far back as you legally can. This creates more space between the OL and DL which gives your OL more time to make their step towards the correct DL and react to anything unexpected.

[jag1872 0]

Steve,

Another good rule of thumb for depth of Lineman. If the defense is aggresive an attacking the LOS then you can back off your lineman so that they can get better angles on down blocks and traps. If they read then hug the line of scrimmage so that you can fire off the ball and move them away from the hole faster.

I have found if I am facing a D that gets after you getting a little space from the LOS on down blocks or traps allows your lineman to have space to execute the blocks and schemes.

Jack