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The full text of “Two Articles from Southern Mississippi” by Rex Lardner, from the Vol 1 — Winter 2019 issue.
Page 19Receiving the football • Route running – the ability to run precise routes and get open. • Ball skills – the ability to attack the ball and catch it in your hands. The ability to focus and make the difficult catch or catch in a crowd . Blocking abilities – run game • Attack – the ability to run through the defender without hesitation. • Eyes – ability to focus on aiming point with head up and neck ‘bulled”. • Leverage – ability to bend your knees and get your pads under defender’s pads.
• Explosive – ability to deliver a powerful shock to defender. Blocking abilities – pass game • Attack – ability to take the block to your man. • Base – ability to be under control with good base and take away direct path to QB. • Hands – ability and timing to “swat” away defender’s hands and not allow him to grab you. • Punch – ability and timing to deliver effective punch (one hand or two hands) to target. • Finish – ability to recover and accelerate the block.
Faking abilities • Effort – ability to go hard until the whistle. • Knowledge – ability to understand that you can help make the play successful. • Pride – ability to do the “little things” that can make a big difference. Want More?
Similar articles are available at AmericanFootballMonthly.com • Drills Report: Pursuing Perfect Ball Security – February, 2014 • Mastering the Five Points of Contact Which Will Help Your Runners From Fumbling – May, 2013 • Drills Report – Virginia Tech Running Back Drills – October/November, 2012 About the Author: Dave Warner just completed his second season as co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach and his eighth overall season on the staff of Michigan State.
He previously coached quarterbacks for six years. Warner has been a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for 25 of the 30 years he has been a college coach. He also coached at Connecticut, Wyoming, Houston, Southern Mississippi, Cincinnati, Bucknell, Kansas, and Kent State. Warner was a three-year letterwinner as a quarterback at Syracuse.
