Wide Reciever/ Tight Ends

Now let us go back to offense. If you have good hands, can move sort of fast and love to catch the ball then you should think about wide receiver. The wide receivers are basically the ballerinas of the field now that is not a bad thing though because wide receivers have to be able to catch and block and some of them will even run the ball. Now I call them ballerinas because of all the amazing tip toe catches they have to make. Wide receivers need to be able to get 2 feet in bounce according to NFL rules. So wide receivers just don't need good hands they need very good foot work. Lyn Swan one of the greatest wide receivers of all time who played for the Pittsburg Steelers did ballet to work on his foot work. 2 other great examples of the wide receivers in the NFL now are the Detroit Lions Calvin Johnson JR. aka Megatron. Megatron is a true vernicle threat and a thorn in the side for most defenses. There is also the Houston Texan's wide receiver Andre Johnson. Johnson is just a true beast and he can take the hits from defenders and he will give it right back to them. Then there are tight ends. If you can catch and block you should think about being a tight end. Tight ends are the offensive hybrids tight ends are a mix of wide receivers and offensive lineman. Tight ends need to be able to block and catch. 2 good examples of tight ends are Rob Gronkowski who plays for the New England Patriots and there is also his teammate Aaron Hernandez. Tight ends are truly skilled positions in the NFL.

D fence drills #2

In my last blog I wrote about my top 5 favorite drills for D fence but I only got to the 4^th and I have 3 more to go.  So here are the rest.

#3 The angle drill. In this drill you have a running back that has to get by a corner and then run to the end zone but the catch is that there is a person taking a angle to catch up and make the tackle. If you are the running back the only thing you are allowed to do is change speeds there are no jukes or spins. There are great hits and is a very fun drill.

#2. This is another drill that I love but I can’t think of it. In this drill one person has a ball in his hand and the other has nothing. The two people lay head to head with their feet in the other direction. Then you roll over and get up. If the person with the ball gets past a line they win but the other person is trying to tackle him.  

#1 The top drill that I ever did was Dynasty. I have not played it a lot but I asked some kids and this was always at the top. In this drill you have a lineman a fullback and a tailback. On D-Fence you have a lineman a linebacker and a d back. It is pretty simple idea of the game. If you are on offence you have to stay in bonce and cross the line. If you get by you stay and if you don’t the defenses stays. It is so fun but when I think about it is not really a hitting drill but it is so fun.

Thank you for reading and stay tone for more Blogs.

Linebacker

 After the defensive line there are the linebackers. Linebackers are the guys who control the front 7. The front 7 are the defensive ends the defensive tackles and the 3 linebackers. The normal 3 linebacker set usually goes like this there are the outside linebackers. These guys control the gap between the defensive tackles and the defensive ends. They can also be an outside pass rusher. 2 great examples of outside linebackers are the Chicago Bear's linebacker Lance Briggs then there is also the Dallas Cowboys outside linebacker Demarcus Ware. Next is the middle linebacker this guy will tell everyone else where to go. He is usually the leader for the front seven. A great 2 great examples of this are the San Francisco 49ers's Patrick Willis and there is also Navarro Bowman. Bowman is on the same team as Willis. Now there are different ways to line up your front 7 there could also be 2 defensive tackles, your 2 defensive ends and a nose tackle. That would leave two inside linebackers for the defense. The linebackers are also a hybrid like the defensive ends. The linebacker is a basically a hybrid between defensive tackles and defensive backs that is why you can see some variations with smaller and faster linebackers or bigger not as fast ones too. You could also see a middle point one where that player would have some size and some speed to him. Line backers are also skilled players because they have to be able to recognize pass and run. If it is a run they need to be able to get the runner or if it is a pass they need to be able get to their cover some or be able to cover one of the backs or a wide receiver or tight end and all of this is happening during the play so it does involve thinking. Linebacker is a very important position. 

Defensive Tackle/ Defensive End

Let us say you are a big guy and you want to tackle the running back or sack the quarterback well then you might have a future at the position of defensive tackle for the people who aren't really football knowledgeable the defensive tackle position is played by big guys who like to hit. There is 4 to 5 D- linemen there are the two defensive tackles, the two defensive ends and depending on the type of defense you play there could be a nose tackle. The nose tackle as you could already guess lines up right in front of the offensives center. Then there are the two defensive tackles and on the farthest point on the line are the defensive ends. The defensive ends will be mentioned later in this blog. The best examples of players who play this position in the pros are the Detroit Lion's Ndamukong Suh he is a true beast at the position. Another great defensive tackle is the Houston Texan's young player J.J Watt. Like Mr. Suh he is a great defensive tackle. The defensive tackles main responsibility is to blow up the line of scrimmage and hit the ball carrier. Then there are the defensive ends. These guys are usually responsible for containing the outside edge. Defensive ends are usually a little bit faster than the defensive tackles. They are skilled positions. Defensive ends are basically a hybrid between a defensive tackle and an outside linebacker. Some of the great defensive ends in the NFL are the Chicago Bear's Julius Peppers and the Minnesota Viking's Jared Allen. I myself played a little bit of defensive end and let me tell you it is not that easy. Defensive ends are truly skilled players. These guys are the front line of defense for teams.

Defensive Drills #1

In some sports practice is not fun at all but to me the best part of football are the hitting drills. There are so many good ones that I cannot even tell what one is the best but I think I can narrow it down to at least 5.

#5- The diamond drill. This drill is one of the hardest hitting drill I know. In this drill you have a running back and a tackler. This drill is used to work on tour open field tackling. You have four cones set up in a diamond formation and when the running back reaches the first cone he has to make a cut to one side, at the same time the other player has the run to the cone on the other side and then break down until he commits and then you hit him.

#4- My 4^th favorite drill I think it is called the scrape and fill drill. In this drill you have a linebacker and a running back. Your coach will stand behind the linebacker and give the running back what hole to go through. Then if you are a linebacker you know what I mean about you have to scrape and fill. If you are not a linebacker I will give you a basic idea of what it is but if you still don’t get it check out my cowriters linebacker blog it is my favorite one that we did so far. So scrape and fill is when you side step until you see the running back go through the hole. When that happens you break and fill your hole.

I will be having the top 3 hitting drills in enough blog. We are asking for all the people who read this blog to put up their favorite drill.  

Weight Lifting

Weight lifting is an important part in improving our skill like we said before "technique is everything but having some muscle is still nice" well that statement is still true, but you do need muscle to help you. There are several ways to build muscle the conventional ways are workouts like benching and squatting. There is more to those exercises though, like depending on how you want to build muscle you need to adjust the amount of weight you use and the number of repetitions. For example if you want to build more arm muscle you would choose a high weight and a low number of reps, but for muscle endurance you would choose a low weight and a high number of reps. The same can thing can be applied to squatting. Remember though you r legs are a lot stronger than your arms so you should be able to squat more than you can bench. Make sure you just don't bench or squat for a week or two strait because you could tear something mix it up throw different work outs in there like you can do pushups or jump rope for coordination. There are also exercises like triceps extensions that are where you hold a dumb bell or a kettle behind your head and with your triceps you push the weight up. There is also a kettle bell jump that is where you place three pairs of kettle bells on the ground and you take each pair and jump as high as you can every time you go through the three pairs it should be counted as one set, so there is more ways to get stronger but you can go to a gym and ask instructors there on you can build muscle Weight lifting will make a huge difference in your ability to play football. 

Offensive Drills

If you could not tell yet my co-writer and I are line man and we love it. In this Blog I am going to tell you some drills that are couch tells what to do to make us better. One drill that we do every day is the 1000 six inch steps. It was not the funniest drill but I think it has to be one of the best. In the drill you should have a grid painted on the ground but that is not necessary. Then you have to get in your stance and then you do your techniques from there. Like 1000 six inch steps or your play side steps. But my favorite drill for the line has to be the Suma circle. In the Suma circle there are two people in the middle of a circle made by your fellow teammates. Then the two in the center get in there stance and then they battle out to knock the other one out of the circle. If you win you stay if you lose who have to wait for your next turn. If you want to show of your techniques of just your strength this is your drill. Another drill that is pretty fun to do is the six man drill in this drill there a line man a full back and running back for offence and for defense there is one line man a linebacker and a d-back. The goal for the offence is to get the ball through some cones and the goal for the defense is to stop that at all costs. There are great hits great moves and even better blocks. These are just some things that a couch makes us to make us better. Some might not be as fun as some drills, but there are ones that are the most fun that is humanly possible.   

Cross Training Football

There are more camps with the Be The Best camp. All you have to do is go online and type in is     http://www.crosstrainingfootball.com/ these are a series of camps ran by coach Mike Masters. I just happen to attend one of these camps earlier in the year. My co-writer however was not there. I did in fact have the company of my friend Matt Myszka. We were the only two linemen at the whole camp. The camp was also for quarterbacks and wide receivers. Those players had to sign up in a tandem. The camps are also for running backs these camps are relatively inexpensive so they are open to more people. There is a 2 day Varsity impact camp coming up. It is a 2 day camp on July 1^st and July 2^nd. There is not a set time yet though. The camp will take place Buffalo State College it cost 49 dollars per player or 117 dollars per trio. The trio must consist of a running back, a quarter back and a wide receiver.  The camp is doing something new this year it says you may include a second wide receiver with the trio and individual line backers. Not on varsity? Don’t threat there is a 1 Day JV camp on July 17^th. The camp is at Nicholas High School. Like the varsity camp there is not a set time yet. The cost 39 dollars per player or 117 dollars per trio like the varsity camp the trio must include a running back, a quarter back and a wide receiver. Unlike the varsity camp you can’t have a second wide receiver and the camp is not for individual linebackers. We would highly recommend going to one of these camps. We think they could really help a young player with their skills.   

Offensive Line: The Protectors

We will now be talking about the offensive line. If you don't know football or are trying to learn the offensive line are the big guys on the line. There are five offensive linemen. There is the center, the left guard, left tackle, right tackle and the right guard. I had the opportunity to interview two very special people, our good friend’s Matt lamb and Zachary Miner. Now Zachary Miner plays the center position and we asked him some questions.

Us: what is your job on the offensive line?
Zach: "I help direct the offensive line and i usually have to get the middle linebacker".
 Us: Is there anything else you do at center?
Zach: "I snap the ball to the quarterback because if you don't snap the ball the play can't start".
Us: thank you Mr. Miner you can go now. 

Then we interviewed freshman left tackle Mr. Lamb. Matt is one of our best friends and he is one of the best lineman one are team and is almost going a certain starter on are team.

Us: now what are your general responsibilities at the left tackle position?
Matt: “I am basically responsible for the blocking the defensive end”.
Us: Is there any else you are responsible for?
Matt: “I am responsible for protecting the quarter back’s blind side on a pass.
Us:  Thank you Matt. 
Matt: “you didn’t even need to interview me. You play the Position Leyton”
Us: We just need another lineman’s perspective on the position.

We hope you enjoyed this blog and that you learned a lot. We will have a bunch of more blogs try to teach you what we know about football. We are very thankful for are two people we interview, with out them we would not be able to do this.