We continued to work many of the same skills during our 2nd day of offensive position drills. The objective we are after is the mastery of the basic technique that will allow us to succeed in running our base plays against various looks.

The offensive linemen, once again, began by working on stance and takeoff mechanics. This is something that we must continue to emphasize each rep of each day. We tell our linemen that we want their 2nd step to be in the ground before their opponent’s 2nd step.

We then worked on bucket steps to emphasize foot placement in combination blocking situation. We will typically use some form of combination blocking on 60% of our run calls.

Following this the OL worked on drive blocking technique. We try to spend more time working on the drive block early on to develop a mindset of “creating a new line of scrimmage” in our linemen. We will actually use a straight drive block on about 25% of our run calls. If we can develop the drive block then the teaching of combinations becomes that much easier.

We began working drive block technique using boards. The boards are used to emphasize a wide foot placement for the OL when finishing a block. However, we had some problems with other areas of technique including too high of a pad level on takeoffs, hands not being violent enough, overextention, etc.

OL Coach Stephen Brogli and I stopped this drill to work on an explosion drill to emphasize low takeoff, violent hands, and a hip roll during contact. In this drill (that we got from Georgia Southern), the linemen will end up falling chest first into the ground after making contact with a defender who is using a bent shield. Power and explosion is the true emphasis of the drill and our drive blocking looked a little bit better after about 3 reps of this.

Sophomore-to-be Brandon Smith improved during this time. Senior-to-be Josh Gibson did, as well. Returning starting center Chris Hendrix was probably the most consistent performer in the drills.

Coach Brogli then worked our linemen through an explosion drill vs. 2nd level defenders. Following that the OL finished up by working hard on double team blocks. I caught the tail end of that drill and it looked much better than what we saw on Tuesday. We did not get to work on combinations Thursday, but we will have plenty of time for that. I felt like we emphasized the skills we needed to to get better with the basic technique first.

The skill players, once again, were all placed in one group. They worked heavy on stalk blocking at the start of practice.

Following this they worked on route running technique (hard steps, technique on the top of the stem, etc.). Then it was time for some actual ball drills and route running. These guys focused on the same three routes as on Tuesday (hitch, slant, fade). With so many younger players, we still have a ways to go in perfecting those routes.

Following the route running we worked with our skill players on some technique concerning running the football in the open field. This sounds easy, but is difficult to master for most young players. As with any other skill, some of your athletes will pick up on it more naturally than others. These qualify as some of the drills that can seperate your more athletic players from the rest.

We finished up the day with a 10 minute session of the “Oklahoma drill.” We saw that our offensive linemen still have a ways to go with some basic technique. Sometimes, players may look good in drills, but those skills must be transferred to the game. I did think that our OL did a better job locking onto defenders then what we saw in this drill on Monday. Newcomer Parker Anderson has been a pleasant surprise this spring while running and catching the football. LB Daniel Slone probably had the best hit of the day. LB/DB Trevor Crewey was much improved today in his tackling technique and did a good job of wrapping up ball carriers.

This finished our first week of spring practice. I am proud of both the attitude and effort of our players. We have been able to get a lot of work done with numbers in the low 20’s because of those two factors. Next week, we will practice on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Some early reports are calling for rain on Monday. That’s okay, though, I don’t think we’ll melt. Check back next week and see the next installment of “March Madness–KY HS football style.”