Great Football skills for Middle School Coaches and Parents alike

Basics to football hand offs

Whether you are a quarterback, running back, or a player that at anytime will receive a hand off you need to realize the basics of a great hand off. We will explain this in a common scenario between a quarterback and a running back. The running back starts the hand off running towards the quarterback with his arms open creating a pocket for the quarterback to slide the football right into the running back’s chest. When the quarterback slides the ball into the arms, or the pocket as it is called, the running back closes his arms around the ball to protect it. Now that the running back has the ball when he leaves the quarterback he should remain low to the ground in order to react quickly on the field.

Around the world: Improved Ball Handling

Without a solid foundation of ball handling players will be easy prey to a solid defensive team. This drill is meant to help players control and develop their ball handling skills. The secret to this drill is having the ball constantly moving around and from hand to hand. The drill starts with the head moving the ball in a circular motion from hand to hand, then proceeds to go under the arms, around the waist, then the knees, and finally through and in between the players legs.

The best thing that a coach can do is call out body parts that the players will have to move the ball around, or even calling a reverse command were the players will need to change the direction of the football. This change of motion will keep players from falling asleep, and ensure that you are developing handling skills and not just muscle memory.

At the very end of the drill the players will do several simple drops. The player will drop the ball and quickly pick it up again. They also should rotate which hand they are using to pick it up so that you can increase ball handling with both.

Running with the Ball: The Gauntlet Drill

There is nothing more important for offense to learn great ball security. This is especially true for a running back or wide receiver as they will carry the ball more often than others on the field, but it is a good idea for all positions to practice a little ball security. That is why the gauntlet drill was created, to test and practice effective ball security. The drill starts with a player protecting the ball as best as he can while running through several opponents. The opponents can line up in any scenario, the most common being two lines and the ball carrier must run through them. Make sure to take the drill slow at first, and to also have the ball carrier hold the ball in several differing positions.

Up Downs Conditioning Drill

Out of all of the football conditioning drills up downs is one of the most popular. This drill consists of having players run in place as fast and as hard as they can. Then at random a coach will yell, “down” or blow a whistle at which the players must dive to the ground do a push up and then jump back into running in place. This drill is an excellent workout and should be worked in slowly at first and then increased in intensity and length over time.