Scott Lancaster on Sports

Bill Walsh

I distinctly remember Bill Walsh and I discussing his concern about the underdevelopment of young lineman several years ago during a car ride from the NFL offices out to the NY Jets Training Facility in Long Island (at the time). The visit was arranged to videotape Bill’s coaching tips for our Junior Player Development video. He was very happy with the JPD approach but raised the subject that not enough was done for training lineman.

Bill expressed concern that lineman were getting too big and lacked an effective training regiment that reinforced technique, improved movement skills, and overall fitness at the youth through the high school level. I was recently reminded of that conversation, after reading several books on and by Bill Walsh (“The Genius: How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football” & “The Score Takes Care of Itself”) and during the launch of Trick It Out Football. Unfortunately skill competitions have typically been designed for skill position players. Often overlooked are larger players or lineman. Sadly I never had the opportunity to accomplish such a request, until now.

Over the course of the next several blogs I’ll present a series of workouts and skill competitions that are designed to enhance a lineman’s technique and fitness for coaches to apply to their practices.

Staying Low and Exploding Out of a Stance:

Let’s face it when it comes to all levels of football one of the largest technique issues that arise constantly are offensive lineman standing up at the snap of the ball. There are specific pieces of equipment, such as chutes, that help emphasize staying low out of a stance but may be hard to come by at the youth level. And then there is the issue of knowing how to best use this piece of equipment if you’re lucky enough to have access. Let’s first look at how you can replicate this piece of equipment with a little creativity and at a fraction of the cost. I use a set of large 2-foot high cones with holes placed on the top and sides. Each set comes with a set of three 4 – 6 foot poles that fit straight up and into the top of each cone along with plastic snap-on holders that connect and hold a third pole across the top.

Sets can also serve as hurdles to run and jump over.  Perform Better the sports/fitness catalogue company carry this product here:

Set-up two sets of cones with poles approximately 5 feet apart at a height of about 3 feet and about 6 feet in distance apart. Ask each player to set-up in a stance in front of the first set of cones & poles, on a signal from the coach, the player power steps under the two sets of poles – stepping first with the left foot for a right shoulder block (replacing the heel to toe as a description of the length of each step) – head up skying their eyes, keeping the body square. When staying low young players have a tendency to not keep their upper torso square causing them to miss blocks. Check that every player is bending their knees & ankles while placing their chest to thigh. Continue to have each player march under the poles.

Progression 1: Objective is to replicate the movement while moving low and adding another game- like physical challenge we repeat the above drill with a slight adjustment. Place two half-foam rolls or two by four pieces of lumber under the poles that each player must power step on under your homemade chute. This drill challenges a player’s balance while keeping them in a low athletic position ready to block. This benefits the athlete’s ability to maintain balance while continuing to develop muscle memory of the basic technique of blocking, a skill invaluable to any athlete at all levels.

Progression 2: Objective is to continue to develop the movement and muscle memory of staying low along with the combination of thrusting into the block with power. In order to accomplish this replication we set-up the original placement of cones/poles and add a 4 pound medicine ball (remember I’m designing this for 9 & 10 year olds, some athletes may be able to handle a heavier weight, but I would avoid it due to the unfamiliar movement technique they are learning). Players are asked to begin in a stance as low as a 3 point stance but with arms up holding the medicine ball under their chin just above their chest. Once again they march/power step through the chute and explode upward after passing under the second set of cones and thrust the medicine ball up and out as far as they can. This forces the athlete to stay low, power step to get momentum, dip the hips and thrust upward (as though they are initiating a block with force).

Skill Competitions: “Tight Rope Drive” Take progression one and time how fast they get through the chute using proper form and not falling off the half foam rolls or 2×4 pieces of lumber. Each player must make a shoulder block into a blocking shield or blocking dummy. Clock stops when they make contact with shield or dummy. Allow each player to conduct the race six times recording the time of each one and then dividing by 6 for a score. The lower the score the better. If a player falls off the half foam roll or 2×4 or knocks down the poles the times still counts but they lose that run as one that is divided into their total score (in other words they might make it through successfully 5 times out of 6 without losing balance, then you would take the total accumulated time for all 6 runs and divide by 5 not 6). “Power Drive” Take progression two and time player through chute and measure the distance the 4lb ball is thrown. Combine the total distance of the throw and subtract the total time it takes the ball to leave the players hand for a score. If ball is not thrown within a six- foot area parallel down field from the chute an additional second is reduced from the total score. An accurate throw indicates that the athlete has executed correctly by squaring up their body.