Offensive Line: Maximizing Movement

Simply put, I love the offensive line and all the coaching that comes with it. What I think the most interesting part about it is how it is constantly shifting and changing in the ways that it is coached. We should always challenge ourselves as coaches to try to be at the cutting edge to make sure we are giving our athletes the best chance to succeed and keeping them safe. There has been a lot of change in the coaching cues that we use to teach our lines to move effectively. I think that is what I want this post to focus on, maximizing movement for the offensive line. I could write a post about each of the techniques, but I think this will be more of an overview of the things I like to coach to maximize movement on our offensive line.   

The first thing I like to work on is stance. When I work on stance, I like for the kids to start feet shoulder-width apart with their toes turned in slightly then drop into a two-point stance, lean forward and place their hand on the ground. I like using Rick Trickett's coaching cue that your weight should be evenly distributed 33% on one foot 33% on the other foot and 33% on the hand, I'll let your imagination determine what the final 1% is. We are shooting for a mix of power and comfort and I have to understand that some kids are built differently. I have to accommodate that. The stance that my 160-pound guard is in is going to look extremely different than my 350-pound tackle. The guard may have that perfect flat back and knee bend that O-line coaches talk about, but my tackle... it may be a 2 point stance for him. Regardless, if your O-line is uncomfortable in their stance they will be sluggish to get out of it. The O-line should be in a position at all times where they can feel powerful out of the stance, not like they have to readjust (take a false step, etc.) before they can fire out. Focus on maximizing the output of your O-line, not making them uniform and "pretty." 

Another really good coaching point that I have learned came from a coach at Roane County High school in WV. He teaches his linemen to load their stance. On the line, it is essential that you maximize movement and bring force behind it. One small thing that we can do is shift our mental weight in our stances. I said in the first part that we break up our weight in thirds in the three-point stance, but once we do that we can shift our weight to help us move where we need to move. The offense has the advantage because they know where the ball is going. If you know that you have a B.O.B. block (big on big) then you should shift your weight forward a little. If it is a pass, then you should lean back a little bit. Same for pulling, shift weight right, shift weight left in the direction that you are pulling. It should not be so obvious that the defense can key on it. Think more of a shift from a 33,33,33 stance to a 50,25,25 stance. Shifting your weight can help you get your second foot in the ground before the guy across from you and gain the first punch.

Gaining that first punch is another strange coaching point that I have seen people use. I have heard coaches tell kids to load themselves, swing their arms behind them, and then punch. That makes no sense to me for two reasons. First, when you swing your arms back "grabbing your six-shooter" you are exposing your chest to the defense. If a defender is able to get that breastplate of the shoulder pads you are in trouble. Second, how are we going to ask kids to move forward with as much force as possible while also swinging their arms behind them? I like to have the kids punch up and through the defender from where they keep their hands naturally. This way they are moving naturally and able to punch with force. We work on this punch with a drill I call machine gunners. I will hold a medicine ball and the kids will work on squeezing their elbows and punching up and through the ball repeatedly. I like this drill because it helps the linemen work on bringing a powerful punch with the arms and hitting a rounded uneven surface, much like the chest of the defender.   

There is one other crucial thing that I have learned as far as maximizing movement goes, the drive catch. I highly suggest checking out offensive line performance (OLP) for more resources on drive catch, I am far from an expert. Essentially, the drive catch is a new way of teaching how to move out of your stance and into your pass sets. The drive catch centers around driving off of your interior leg hard and catching yourself with the back leg. This push-off maximizes movement from the stance through your drive foot and gives you your catch leg in the ground to drive of for a man cutting inside. I could write (and probably will) an entire post on pass protection and the drive catch in both the passing game. The drive catch also applies to the run game. Instead of telling a kid to take a 6-inch step, I can tell him to effectively drive off of drive/backside foot, this then switches as he brings his other foot square. This is much more effective and more sense to the linemen.

There are several ways to maximize the way your offensive line moves, and all should be considered. The offensive line is a position that is constantly changing and if we refuse to change with it, we are doing our athlete's a disservice.