It is my belief that the heart and soul of any good offensive football team is its offensive line. There is no position in football that requires more discipline or technique than being an offensive lineman. The success of an offensive football team hinges on its ability to control the line of scrimmage. To win consistently, you must win in the trenches, and that means playing on your opponent’s side of the line of scrimmage.
My approach to coaching the offensive line is to out execute our opponent’s. This is a lot easier said then done! To take this approach and to believe in this philosophy means a great deal of time must be spent on understanding fundamentals and blocking technique as it applies to the type of athlete being coached. I feel that an offensive line coach must understand what he is teaching and how it applies to the offense. Don’t introduce a technique or drill if it doesn’t apply to your offense.
Remember, strive to keep your blocking rules simple and consistent. By keeping your line calls and rules simple, it will give you the coach a better chance to perfect your technique and drills. You want your offensive linemen aggressive not confused. What ever your offensive line starts they must be able to finish.
To be a good offensive line requires more than just discipline or good blocking technique. It requires “PRIDE” in yourself; your group; and your team. A team with “PRIDE” is a hard team to beat because they are willing to do the “LITTLE THINGS” that most teams are not willing to do. No detail should be overlooked, regardless of how non important it may look on the surface to you as the coach.
The difference between SUCCESS and FAILURE often lies in your ability as a coach to prepare. Prepare your offensive linemen for the unknown; what I mean here is make sure that your system of calls and rules will apply to half time adjustments if needed.
Not every offensive lineman that you coach will start, make the all district or all conference team, be an all American, play in college, or play in the NFL., but every player you coach can hustle and hit and be a good team player. It is your responsibility as their coach to give them the drills and blocking schemes to help them be successful.
This next section will provide you a method for setting the protection schemes. The dropback portion of this section is built off the concept of B.O.B. (Big-on-Big). Protections are set by the alert word “Right & Left” and a numbering system that will be explained.
As you review the following protections always remember, your opponent can always bring one more than you can pick-up so, it will be up to you to identify where the “Hot” defender is coming from. The sprintout protection which is our 800 – 900 which scheme is built around a full reach concept.
Pass protection is built around pride in the fact that no one touches your quarterback. Pass protection schemes can vary and I have attached numerous scenarios that take into consideration multiple alerts geared to handle most pressure schemes that an opponent can bring to bare. Remember, your opponent can always bring one more defender than you have blockers to pick them up.
To maintain consistency in your passing offense, you must develop tremendous personal PRIDE in your ability to protect the passer. You must not only work individually, but collectively as one well coordinated unit. The ability to anticipate each other’s moves, must be developed along with being able to make the proper adjustments accordingly without hesitation.
An offensive lineman must be able to anticipate and adjust to any type of defensive maneuver and alignment. To do this with any degree of efficiency requires you to know every possible detail available about you opponents. Pass protection in its simplest form can be reduced to you having more desire to get the job done. Refuse to be beaten.
The first and most significant element of pass protection for a lineman is to “set quickly” in a good position to take the pass rusher out. The manner of the pass set varies depending on the alignment and capabilities of the opponent. Getting and then maintaining proper body and head position is the first step in getting the job done. There is a spot from which each pass is thrown, and it is vital that
that your offensive blockers know where the passing spot is, in order that they may protect the passing area until the ball is released. For the passer to throw the ball with any degree of accuracy, the quarterback must be free of harassment from any opponent and should be able to see downfield. To accomplish this, your offensive line must give a clear area between them and the pass known as
the depth of the pocket. The center and guards are responsible for the depth of the pocket while your tackles push the width of the pocket.
Having acknowledged that a determined attitude is the basis for effective pass protection, the fundamentals are as follows:
1. Get set quickly into a good fundamental position with knees bent, back flat, head up, elbows in, body under control, and chin over the inside of the knee. If your opponent contacts you while you are still leaning back to set up, he has the advantage.
2. Make contact with your opponent on or near the line of scrimmage. Your pass set should be dictated by type of pass thrown such as Play Action, 3 step, 5, step, 7 step, and sprintout passes.
3. Don’t allow your opponent to get his hands into your body and force you into an upright position. Upright position will force you to lose the ability to control your defender. As a pass blocker once you get your hands on the defender don’t take them off.
4. It is better to give up ground (maintaing position) than to over commit and lose your defender to quickly.
5. Always slide or shuffle your feet quickly. Don’t pump your feet up and down. The more your feet are in contact with the ground, the faster you are able to control and mirror step the defender you are engaged with.
6. Keep your knees bent, head and back flat – this prevets you from over extending. Strike from a low to high position (strike up through the numbers).
7. Never quit or let up until you hear the whistle. Once your hands go on the defender fight to keep them there.
The following information is important when setting your drills for teaching your offensive linemen how to pass block.
To maintain consistency in a passing offense, you must develop tremendous personal pride in your offensive line’s ability to protect the passer. You must not only work individually, but collectively as one well coordinated unit. The ability to anticipate each other’s moves must be developed, along with being able to make the proper adjustments accordingly and without hesitation.
You must be able to anticipate and adjust to any type of defensive front and individual maneuver. To do this with any degree of efficiency requires you to know every possible detail available about your opponent. Pass protection in its simplest form can be reduced down to the offensive line having more desire to get the job done then the defender that your offensive line is playing against. Refuse to be Beaten.
The first and most significant element of pass protection for a lineman is to set quickly in a good position which will allow for the greatest possible means of success and will not allow your quarterback to get touched or sacked. The manner for pass sets varies depending on the alignment and capabilities of the defender. Getting and maintaining proper body and head position is the firs basis for getting the job done. There is a spot from which each pass is thrown depending upon where the quarterback sets up to throw and it is vital that the offensive line knows where that spot is in order that they may protect the passing spot of the quarterback until the ball is released.
For the quarterback to throw the ball with any degree of accuracy, he must be free of harassment from any defender and should be able to see down field. To accomplish this the offensive line must give a clear area between them and the quarterback. The center and guards in a dropback scheme are basically responsible for the depth of the pocket while, the tackles are responsible for maintaining the width of the pocket.
Having acknowledged that a determined attitude is the basis for effective pass protection, the fundamentals are as follows:
1. Get set quickly into a good fundamental position with knees bent, flat back, head-up, hands up, elbows in and pointed down, chin over the inside knee, and body under control. If your opponent contacts you while you are still leaning back to set up, he has the advantage.
2. Make contact with your opponent on or near the line of scrimmage. Once your hands attach to your opponent work to keep them there. (use your hands and arms to strike an upward blow, keep elbows in and pointed down.)
3. Refuse to let the defender get into your body and force you into an upright position. When forced into an upright position you lose the ability to control your man. If unable to separate yourself from the rusher, give ground as a last resort and work your body down low again (sit down in the chair) into a good fundamental position.
4. It is better to give up ground (keeping position) than to over commit and lose your defender too quickly.
5. Always slide or shuffle your feet quickly (keep them on the ground.) Don’t pump your feet up and down. The more your feet is in contact with the ground when reacting to your defender (focus your energy on the inside of your arches.)
6. keep your knees bent, hear up and back flat – this prevents you from over extending. Strike from a low to high position with your punch focused on the top of the jersey numbers of your defender. Strike from low to high in a lifting manner.
7. When picking up an escaping rusher – stick him (butt’em in the mouth) let him know he’s been stuck. Make no bones about who controls the line of scrimmage.
8. NEVER QUIT or LET UP until you hear the whistle blow. Stay after your assignment.
9. Carry out your assignment alone. Never be dependent on someone else to pick your man up.
About the Author of this post:
Jerry Campbell has over 30 years of high school and college coaching experience. He has experience as a head coach, offensive coordinator, and various position coaches. He has written numerous football coaching articles in various publications, is the author of over 30 books on coaching football, and has produced 12 coaching video series. Additionally, he is a nationally sought after speaker on the coaching clinic circuit.