RB drills

Coach,

Here's what I do with my backs throughout the season (in no particular order):

BASICS and FUNDAMENTALS:
-Stance and Start Progressions: 2 and 3 point stances
-"5 Points of Pressure" Instruction on proper ballcarrying
-Forming the Pocket (for the handoff), followed by "handoff assembly line" drill

AGILITIES:
-Zig Zag Cuts vs. Cones
-Bag Agilities (one foot, two feet, bunny hops, sideways stepovers, shuffle, etc.)
-Coffee Grinders

BALL CARRYING or BALL SECURITY DRILLS:
-Dive and Cut vs. Bag
-Dive and Spin vs. Bag
-Dive and Stiff Arm vs. Bag
-Blaster Tunnel
-Strain Drill vs. 2 Shields, hip to hip (player gets stymied by 2 shields, and must maintain leg drive to strain through)
-Midget Gauntlet vs. Shields (for pad level, 4 guys on their knees holding shields in a traditional guantlet, forces runner's pads down as he goes through low and with EYES UP)
-Piggy Back Ball Wrestle (piggy back partner tries to dislodge the ball, back drives 10 yards)
-Anchor Drill (partner holds back by collar, runner drives hard for 10 yards, watch 5 points of pressure)
-Monkey Rolls with Balls (have them hold a football while doing the rolls)

BLOCKING DRILLS:
-Form Blocking for Iso
-Form Blocking for Kick-out (same as Iso, except on an angle)
-Iso, Toss and Kickout blocking full speed vs. Shields
-Pass Pro Skelleton (vs 4 LB's with variable blitzing patterns, variable protections)
-Run Skelleton (2 backs vs. 2 LB's with lead blocker on variety of plays: iso, kickout, toss

COMBINATION DRILLS:
-Off Tackle Handoff, Into Bag Agilities, end with cut/spin/straight arm vs. bag
-Run the Lane (very useful in teaching backs to hit the vertical seam on an off-tackle kickout play. Blocker kicks out DE with shield, back runs a tight "lane" you've created INSIDE that block)
-Sideline Tightrope (practice different pitches, ballcarrier catches and runs between a sideline and 3 guys with shields who try to bang him out. Carry ball in outside arm and rip upfield for yardage)

Those are our basics. We do all agilities during pre-practice (bags, cones, etc). During Individuals, we usually try to get in 2-3 quality drills with tons of reps and efficiency. We generally run indy with 3 drills if they are simple to set-up (for example, maybe 1 blocking fundamental drill, and 2 ballcarrying / security drills) or we will do two if we are running a more complex drill that is tougher to maximize reps through, like the "Run the Lane" drill.

Then, we go "Run Group" period with the QB's and run our offensive rushing plays with perfect fakes, steps, and aiming points vs. the painted fire hose. We often run this as a "skelleton" drill so kids are also practicing various techniques (ie: we will have guys hold shields if there is blocking involved, etc.)

Then it's on into "Pass Skelleton" and "Team" and so on...

TIRE DRILL:

car tires side by side in row of 10 to each row. Old as the hills drill but still is great today for building stamina and HIGH KNEES!

half tires mounted on rack facing each other. RB's, with running start, barrell into the tires that are placed at a height that will put the RB at risk of having the tires knock the ball loose if he carries it wrong!!! It takes a really strong kid to run the whole gauntlet of the 10 tires without being stopped! BUILDS STRENGTH AND GETS RB'S USED TO BEING SLAMMED.

Coach Easton

Thanks again.

Tiger One, I know what you are talking about. The first head coach I worked for had both the tires and the exact rack that you explained. Those tires are hard to get through and unforgiving. You have to hit it hard and with good balance or you will be stopped midway through.

Todd

44ATTACKD,

Glad to hear you are familiar with the drills I described. The half tires on the rack is a real challenge for the exact reasons you enumerate! Like I say they are old and proven drills. I kind of feel myself smiling to myself whenever I walk out on a practice field now days and see the tires on the rack and on the ground. They let me know that the HC is a man with some experience under his belt.

Coach Easton

AMEN TO THAT, BROTHER! Never want to be a Willie Loman type and unable to keep up with modern trends, but some old school things just don't need changing. I just finished a 42 year on field career. Tell your HC I said keep up the good job as long as he can. I experienced some health problems of a very serious nature last fall and was forced to give it up, I hope he can go on for several more years!

Coach Easton