Footwork

How are his feet to begin with?

There is a drill Art Kehoe, University of Miami teaches which helps linemen block in space. It is called the cage drill. Set up 4 cones in a square about 5 -10 yards apart. If the cage is to small make it bigger, which will make it harder on the OLM. When linemen are in space the first thing they do is put their head down, their base narrows, and they drop their hands and put them outside the framework of the defender.

The defender is in the middle of the cage ( the cones). The defensive player must stay in the cage and avoid the o-lineman he can and spin, he can lean, he can jump what ever it takes to avoid the OLM. The defensive player wants to stay in the cage and the o-linemam wants to move him out of the cage. The defender is not allowed to make contact or engage the o-lineman. When blocking in space it is important to emphasize linemen to keep their head up, feet apart, and hands down and in, look the block in. Start on a snap count drill should go about 10 to 15 sec. The mistake is linemen try to contain a defensive player. You do not want to contain a defender you want to engage the defensive player and drive him which allows the back to make a cut. Teaching this drill has been very beneficial for us; we did a much better job in space.

kw

Joboo59,

I think your much better off having you players work in space. Trust me, if you work the cage drill you will see what player is not moving his feet and leaning on the defender. The cage drill will give you a much more realistic view. You may have a lineman who can drive the dummy, but can he block in space?

kw

kw, in the cage drill how do you teach them the difference between blocking and chasing? i've always taught that you don't chase a defender, if he goes out of his way to avoid you, then you've done your job.

to avoid the block means to run around it.

kw

thefish,

Start with a smaller space and as the kids improve make it bigger, but it is all about proper body mechanics. A suggestion is film this drill also get the so called "skill kids" like the dB's and put them in the box. Doesn't that just make you mad we other coaches say skill kids? That pisses me off. It takes some skill to play the o-line, do you think. We film this drill and will show them and make the corrections. This is also a great drill for conditioning. 10 to 15 sec. may not seem like a long time but it will get after them.

kw

Thanks for all the responsed everyone has given I will try the cage drill at our next practice. Do you have you guys (OLine) start in a three point stance or two point stance or both during this drill. DO you also let the SKILL player use any move they want and would you suggest when first introducing the drill to start with other lineman rather than starting with quicker players.

Coaches,

Please let me know how the cage drill works at for the both of you. Are you both still in spring practice or is the school year over? Where I am most of the HS have one more week of spring ball and the last day of school is June 17.

kw

i would not get DOWN on this kid. it happens to alot of big OL as they pull on sweeps or screens. I reinforce the idea of just getting out to their mark as fast as possible and having it timed up with the RB. Sometimes a WHIFF is as good as a block if the timing is there. as these DB's "oley" the OL, it is important for the RB to cut the opposite direction. If so, the OL did his job. The back must be accountable as well. I might add that I have seen many great blocks by OL who leave too early on screens and the DB gets knocked backward and has time to make the play because the timing was off. I would spend more time on timing up these blocks - RATHER than perfecting the block itself. Just my opinion.