Developing Complete Route Runners
Developing Complete Route Runners
B. Upper Body
1. Bend at waist until chest over knees. Straight line from
chest, through knee, to toes.
3. Get back to your original stem. Own your line off the ball.
This gets you vertical faster (shortest dist. between 2 points).
Why we do a lot of release drills across the field (use lines).
B. Vs. Zone
1. Threaten the defender’s deepest part of the zone. #1 thing a
defender is taught is don’t get beat deep. This opens windows
in the zone.
2. Eyes come around immediately once the plant foot hits the
ground. This helps us locate the windows faster.
III.Release Philosophy
A. Vs. Zone
1. Rolling start off the ball gets you up field with no false steps.
Get great drive off the ball to threaten the defender deep. Have
to be aggressive against collisioning defenders to stay on your
stem.
C. Vs. Press
1. Redistribute your weight in your stance. You must foot fire
to get your feet to parallel in order to make a stick move. Keep
shoulders pointed forward to protect your body from the
defender (hides torso). Hands, feet, and eyes work together.
B. Single Stick
1. Make sure you stick outside the framework of the defender’s
body. Forces him off balance. Make sure you gain ground on
your step. This keeps your shoulders in good position, and
puts you on the offensive. One of the most basic releases
C. Double Stick
1. Counter to the single stick. Hard step in the direction you
want to release, step and weight shift opposite the way you
want to release then go. Double Stick release to the left should
look like a single stick release to the right initially.
D. Squirt
1. Counter to hard leverage corners. Must get the CB running
to execute this release properly. Biggest mistake is finishing
the release too soon. Great for slants or any vertical stem
route.
E. Read
1. Used against DB’s off a couple of yards. Foot fire to break
their cushion, let him make the first move, and break opposite.
This is great against aggressive CB’s.
F. Speed
1. Most basic release. If the DB presents an easy release take
it. Though simple, it is often over used.
V. Release Drills
A. Rope Ladder
1. Forward, Sideways, Typewriter
B. Release Progression
1. Teaches basic single and double stick moves at a slower
pace. Forces WR’s to learn stick moves from proper parallel
position. Done at varying speeds.
C. Hoops
1. Forces the WR to get back on his line. Helps to eliminate
drifting after the release. Can be used with release progression
or with a dummy.
D. Sled
1. Great for getting multiple reps in a short amount of time, and
teaches physical use of the hands.
E. Read Drill
1. Can be a combination drill that works the read release off the
ball with a read release on a downfield defender.
F. Squirt Drill
1. I usually do this drill across the field so the WR can work on
getting back on his original stem.
B. Leverage
1. Work to maintain advantageous leverage on the defender.
Stem to give yourself the best chance to beat him to the ball.
C. Influence
1. Make the defender think you are going somewhere you are
not. This will slow the DB down giving you an advantageous
position to the ball.
D. Body Control
1. Helps in regards to influence. Avoid tipping your routes with
bad mechanics. Use proper technique to get out of breaks
faster.
E. Defense
1. Understanding defenses is key to running good routes.
Knowing where the defenders will be will let us know where we
need to go to get open. FILM STUDY!
B. At the Break
1. Eyes Down – WR’s often want to look at the ground when
they make their break. Once the eyes drop, the DB knows you
are no longer heading deep, and he breaks on you.
5. Rolling Out – Too often the plant foot hits put the other foot
carries above it. This causes a lack of sharp angles at the top
of the route. This is caused by not driving your weight down
through the plant foot. Often the WR is simply trying to stop
rather than change direction.
6. Drifting Out – The WR often slows down looking for the ball.
This eliminates any separation gained by a good route.
B. Adjust on Sight
1. Used to help eliminate choppy steps at the top of routes.
C. Sit Cone
1. Works on sinking hips with chest over knees at the initiation
of the break.
D. Quick Cone
1. Helps the WR get better at opening his hips quickly, and
getting them aligned in the proper direction.
E. 45 Degree Cone
1. Works on sharp route cuts, getting the hips open and
accelerating out of the break.
F. Square
1. Works on eyes up, shoulders square, and other break point
fundamentals used in the 45 degree drill just executed with 90
degree cuts.
G. Top of Route
1. This grid helps develop not just the break, but the finish of
the route. Can also work getting up field after the catch.