How to Develop Run Blocking Skills for an Offensive Line: Designing Run Plays is Useless Unless the Offensive Linemen Can Block

How to Develop Run Blocking Skills for an Offensive Line: Designing Run Plays is Useless Unless the Offensive Linemen Can Block

Developing a good offensive line depends on a coach having drills that will teach and train the correct blocking skills. If those drills and techniques relate exactly to the techniques they need to perform in a game, then the offensive linemen have a good chance to be good blockers. Coach Renner's Core 4 Blocking Drills teach the exact footwork, punch contact, hip roll, and running the feet at contact that an offensive lineman needs to execute any type of block a scheme requires. Those four drills done correctly can develop an efficient, effective offensive lineman even if he is smaller than the defender he is going to block. The correlation of the Core 4 blocking techniques with the different types of blocks makes the minor footwork or tracking step adjustments easy techniques for an offensive lineman to learn. With specific coaching points and numerous detailed pictures, Coach Renner will take you through the coaching points for teaching the drive, reach, scoop, and down blocks. He also details how to coach the pull-trap/kickout technique and what Coach Renner calls the pull-paddle technique for the second puller in a counter or power run blocking scheme. In this book, Coach Renner also gives you his offensive line teaching progression. He details in four classes/practices how he installs and teaches the Core 4 Blocking Drills. He spends one week on each class teaching and emphasizing that classes techniques before moving to the next class. He starts these offensive line classes in the off-season each year. That process has ensured his team has a good offensive line every year. It also made pre-season and in-season offensive play execution better and quicker because the offensive linemen knew how to block. Coach Renner personally taught these drills for 17 years as the offensive line coach/offensive coordinator/head football coach. Even though there were years when his teams were undersized at the offensive line, his team never had issues with blocking well enough to run the ball. Even if the offense could not get big yardage from the run plays, the run plays could always get the 3-5 yards that allowed them to wear defenses down and contribute to keeping the quarterback from being under siege when he passed. These drills will also develop your best offensive linemen to become even better. Coach Renner had numerous all-conference and all-state offensive linemen and some who went on to become D-1 college players. These drills and techniques work to develop linemen with any talent level or ability. Just inspire them to have the personal pride to do the drills right and they will block their assigned defender, and you will be able to run the ball with success.