Physical OLine Play

Thanks Coach! I appreciate the input.

Coach,

It's true. You can only give your o-linemen so much. We've been through the entire spectrum in the past 5-6 years. We've had physical (nasty) offensive lines that impose their will on other teams. We've had finesse lines that were composed mostly of 200-230 lb. athletes. We've had some very passive offensive lines.

The best advice I can give is to make certain that your offensive philosophy, particularly in the run game, reflects the kind of team you have. We've made the mistake of trying to outphysical people when we just don't have that aggressive line and we've not done so well. We've also made the mistake of trying to run a bunch of traps and fold type schemes with lines that really should just have been running people over. We learn by doing, though.

I would say that if you have a less aggressive line, you may want to run some option and zone stuff as your primary schemes. The Option schemes can cure a lot of ills because they allow you to leave a man unblocked, so you can choose your match-ups wisely. The zone scheme is all based on double team combos, so you can get movement on the LOS into the second level. CERTAINLY NOT to say that these schemes are unaggressive, just saying that if it were up to me, and I had a more passive offenive line, these styles / schemes are ways to even the playing field a bit more. Of course, the unfortunate thing is that there is NO substitute for heart and aggressiveness.

AS A SIDE NOTE:

Many people believe you should base your offense around your quarterback. I agree to a point, but I think even before that, you need to base your philosophy around your offensive line. If you can't block for your QB, it really doesn't matter what offense you run. It starts and ends with the offensive line.

As a young coach who is still trying to figure out my coaching style and what works for me I have discovered that you can't yell or scream someone better (at least I can't). It has a small place for motivation, but, as many far wiser coaches than I have already pointed out it follows the law of diminishing returns. The more you yell the less you seem to get out of it!

Maybe players who aren't as aggressive are lacking in confidence. They really don't understand that proper technique and execution can somewhat neutralize a size advantage. We run what I would call a power offensive scheme and have been fairly successful with linemen who are smaller. Last year our center was 180 and our guards were 175 and 210. Of course we are a smaller school, but many of our opponents were bigger and stronger than us. We adjusted our blocking a bit to take advantage of double teams. For example, against 50 fronts our center usually had trouble with the nose. So, when we ran the inside belly we double teamed the nose with C and PSG and the PST inside released to ILB. We just didn't block the DT. Its not that we read him-we just didn't block him. Our fullback was usually through before the DT could make a play anyway.

One drill that I found really helped give us confidence and become much better drive blockers was what I call 1-on-2. Place an O-Lineman in his stance (we usually did this from the chutes) and 2 DL holding 1 hand shield facing. It is important the bag holders keep their inside feet together and forward and their hips together so they do not split. On the count the OL fires out of his stance and attempts to drive the bag holders. They learn real quick that they need to sink their hips to get any movement. Now, as to the bag holders, I always tell them to initially "Stonewall" the OL but then allow him to be successful. Provide strong resistance, but allow them to gain ground. This is very physically demanding, but I use it regularly and I think it has built up their confidence. It usually turns into a very encouraging drill with the bag holders spurring the OL on to work.

This probably didn't help much, but if you figure out a formula for making kids more aggressive let me know, I would make a great business partner.

M. Richtman