Offensive Line Drills - senior football

IF time is limited - FORGET drills & teach TECHNIQUES (1 on 1; 2 on 2; 5 on 5; 7 on 7; ETC.)!

Do all those "drills" in off-season!

Hi
Thankyou very much for the replies.
We begin practicing in December/January and the season begins at the end of April and runs through to August,so no we don't get a lot of practice time per week but spend around 8 months of the year involved in football (albeit only at weekends).
No Coach the league isnt very sophisticated,unfortunately,but all the help we can get including from people like yourselves on this site helps us.In Division 1 football they practice midweek as well (we are Div 2).We have been working on 1 on 1,2 on 2,3 on 3 for run and pass blocking,slamming and sliding,cross and fold blocking etc I supposed however old you are and whatever level you play at you can only win if you do the fundamentals properly !
Two high school coaches are coming to England next week to hold a few clinics sponsored by the NFL and we are very much looking forward to the sessions so we can learn as much as poss !.
Thanks Bill and Coach Easton.

no coach dont worry i didnt take it out of context !
I understand the point you are trying to make in that if we work hard at what we do and can try and learn and introduce new stuff regardless of what level we are at we will be successful.Unfortunately sometimes because things are relatively basic it works against us,in that defenses dont react in the way that they should to things an offense does.Things will improve over here,its great that the NFL sponsors coaches to come over and some teams have USAF personnel on their rosters from local bases which helps the game too.Thanks again for the input.
We have to buy our own kit,give up time for training,pay team fees to cover costs and we play in front of about 50 people usually but we might as well be playing at Notre Dame stadium for the kick we get out of it !!!
thanks again,cheers !

Thanks for the welcome coach.
We had a seminar this saturday,a coach called Nick Fitzgerald from a high school in NY hosted the offensive line course and while it was primarily for coaches we took 4 of our 5 o-line just to learn some stuff for ourselves.It was excellent.I don't know if you are familiar with Coach Fitzgerald but he was a great speaker (about 4 hours) we gave us so much information it was incredible (we voice recorded the session so we can refer back to it).
At training today we ran a lot of what we learned and by incorporating zone blocking into our offense we hope to spring our backs for big yardage this year and further strenghten our passing game (we have a great quarterback),we have the tools for it,we have a big line ranging from around 260 to 350 pounds and have been working on our agility big time.
It was great to have a top notch high school coach speak to us,as it is great to be a member on here,i come on here a lot and read as much as I can.Seeing the facilities on film at the high school Coach Fitzgerald is at blew us away,you have no idea what it is like over here,lol.I wish I was a few years younger and had a plane ticket to the states !.
If no one minds at listening to a limey droning on about amateur football i will keep you posted as to how we get on this year (season starts 30/4/06 for us).
Thanks again to everyone who has helped so far.

GOOD SHOW, BLOKE! KEEP UP THE HARD WORK AND YOU WILL FIND YOURSELVES IMPROVING EACH GAME YOU PLAY! WHAT DO YOU FEEL WAS THE CAUSE OF YOUR DEFEAT?

Coach Easton

Get good at using the hands:

JOE BUGEL (REDSKINS) BLOCKING TECHNIQUE


Bugel's current and former players believe his success stems from masterful motivational skills, communication ability and teaching acumen. Returning Redskins say they have improved markedly through Bugel's emphasis on hand techniques to hinder defenders.

Last season, Thomas, a gifted athlete who is agile despite his 6-foot-5, 306-pound frame, relied on a flawed blocking method -- blocking wide, with his hands several inches apart. It left Thomas' chest open to defenders, making him more vulnerable. A lineman has more control over the defender by keeping his hands close together inside the chest area -- "tight hands," Bugel explained -- before punching out.

The Redskins also have incorporated one of Bugel's trademark techniques: the arm pump, which is used in run blocking. The lineman cocks, or pumps, his arms to his sides before forcefully pushing upward -- "like a fork lift," Bugel said -- into the defender's chest area. It diminishes the chances of holding and keeps the lineman from being passive.

"He wants us to hit 'em in the chest and make their heartbeat stop," Thomas said. "It stuns them at the line because the defense is taught to hit you in your chest, so it's better if you hit them first."

Bugel used imaginary handcuffs, teaching his players through repetition and constant reminders. Thomas, a sixth-year veteran, had previously known a similar technique but stopped using it last season because it wasn't emphasized. Samuels, who is coming off perhaps his worst NFL season, picked up damaging tendencies in recent years -- dropping his head and using his hands improperly.

Hi Spartan,

Hands, and knowing how to use them, where to place them, etc. is an absolute imperative skill any modern day lineman must be able to exhibit. The day of shoulder blocking went by the wayside when it became legal for offensive players to use their hands, in my opinion. In explaining your loss, sounds to me like maybe your Line Backers let you down? If they went straight up the gut on you, that Mike Backer has to have enough butt to step up in the hole and meet the ball carrier head on. But, at the same time, he must be an athlete with drop back skills for pass responsibilities, angle tackling skills, etc. It takes a very special player to play middle line backer. Sounds like you had a good individual effort. Just a point here about that: AS coaches, we all teach and preach TEAM EFFORT. But, if you think about what constitutes a TEAM effort being nothing more than a collective effort of good INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS, IT BECOMES QUITE CLEAR THAT IF EACH MAN BEATS HIS MAN INDIVIDUALLY MORE THAN HE GETS BEAT, YOU WILL HAVE A SOLID TEAM EFFORT AT GAMES END. My point being simply, and individual effort is where it all begins.

Coach Easton