Getting kids to love the O Line........

OUR OL and DL guys are honored in our program in every way we can think of without trying to give them a feeling of entitlement.

We tell our guys that there are two types of football players
Guys who play the line
Guys who wish they could play the line

We break our workout groups during the summer into
SKILLS
and
STUDS

We let the OL/DL guys get their gear first.

We have the OL/DL get on the bus first.

We balance this by letting the guys know that it's the skill guys who get their names in paper and it's the skill guys who get their names called out by the game announcer.

You just have to find creative ways to let your OL/DL know that they matter.

It's taken us 4 years to create this mentality but it's worth doing all of the little things.

As their HC I am an ex QB but need to demonstrate to our players the importance of the guys up front. Without them playing well and working hard, nothing good happens.

Show them the contracts of the NFL left tackles.

We start every practice by yelling "Heart and Soul" We are the heart and soul of this football team and know it

Play in the A-11. they dont have to block and they can catch passes.




Wait thats not O-line play. Sorry!

Our coming conflict is this:
Last year we did GOOLS(Gap,on, outside,LB,seek and destroy) and it helped do three things quite well:

1)killed pentration because uncovereds ended up helping players who had people inside of them for interior runs
2)clouded some of the reads on straight ahead runs because the outside progression at the LOS ended up looking like you were sealing for runs on both ends of the line a lot of the time so a robber or mike was having to key flow only and setting up our cross buck
3)converted to BOB blocking for pass protection seamlessly

Problems have arisen.
Two linemen moving, another yet to report. We don't have the size to simply wash or push people, we might have to add frontside help and position block more.

This means blocking down and pulling more if we can't get items like the stretch running full speed. We already did zone but will have to add one puller off the back to that. More doubles at the point, deuce and trey.

Outside of pullers the backside stuff stays the same for the backside's first step. Frontside is going to match up on our covered/uncovered rules on the footwork for gap or on. If someone is outside now they exchange with the man outside of them or the kickout. We'll get less movement on interior runs(only one direction instead of two), more emphasis going to the edge. Our backs aren't as skilled at this time so getting them out inspace and pinning the pursuit seems more important.

This isn't to say we're helpless there, our fastest back is showing some excellent potential. He's progressed amazingly at taking care of the ball but we still have some concerns there if he tries to take too much of the demand, he's quite raw. He's already showing some patience to set up interior blocks, but since we do split back there may be a need to set him deeper or bucket his initial step if we pull or pin and pull along with that.
Before we knew our backs would take care of the first player blocking for one another, and the second one making them miss in a wider hole. Now we need to help the front to one direction more and simplify the cut one direction.

Would you change, knowing one side of the line will probably need help at the point?

Would you pull down, deuce, or tray for anything running G-T or outside? Zone, wedge or gools track everything inside.

IMO, if you want kids to love the OL then the OL coach must love coaching the OL.

Over the years I've observed many outstanding OL coaches. The best have a keen eye for detail. This is not a job for those who bore easily. Most are very enthusiastic and demonstrative. Most mix humor with a sense of extreme toughness. Any good OL coach would rather coach that position than any other on the field.

The OL is an unnatural position. Few kids go out for football hoping to become an OL. I believe that a good coach-one who loves the kids and the position and is demanding but fun- makes or breaks the position.

For my kids, at the beginning of the year, I said OLineman never have to put bags away.

worked wonders.

Additionally, my OLine coach does an excellent job of getting the kids excited about playing OLine. Constantly reminding them that good OLine play is what runs an offense.

I had t-shirts made for all of my o-line. They had a quote on the front talking about everyone working together and on the back it had a big pile of pancakes with butter and syrup. Under that picture was the quote, "Will block for pancakes". On tuesday morning I took the lineman with the highest performance grade and the lineman with the most pancakes out for breakfast. It really became a big deal to the lineman because to us food is a great reward. lol. You might even get a local business to sponsor the breakfast for some free pub!

Three years ago I had these made for the Linemen. I gave it out to anyone who started on the line or was a major contributor to the CHOP Club.

Black shirts...here's the front:




The back: