THE PRIORITY UNIT on your team should be the offensive line, according to Bob Ladouceur. The head coach at De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif., believes that nothing demoralizes an opponent more than being able to run the ball downfield at will and showing total control of the football.
Ladouceur should know a thing or two about demoralizing opponents. His De La Salle squad hasn’t lost a game in 11 seasons and, as of press time, is in the midst of an incredible 146-game winning streak.
O-Line Building Blocks
Like many of his peers, Ladouceur believes that the team that captures the battle in the neutral zone will win the game. To build an offensive line capable of dominating the trenches, he begins by evaluating his linemen and putting the best player at tight end.
“When building an O-line, you must work it from the TE to the inside, with the TE being your best offensive lineman,” he says. “He has to be a multi-talented player who can handle a wide variety of duties such as blocking and catching.”
Second Step Is Key
Ladouceur says that linemen who can get their second step down before their opponent will always win a 1-on-1 battle. Therefore it’s critical to have linemen who are agile and can explode off the ball.
“Whenever my team is warming up, or whenever we’re doing agilities, I’ll stand behind the offensive linemen,” he says. “If their feet aren’t positioned correctly or if they don’t step out properly, I’ll stop them and we’ll keep working until they get it right.” Coaches often visit Ladouceur and ask him how his offensive linemen get off on the snap so quickly. “There are no secrets,” he says. “All of our linemen steps are positive, progressive steps and we work on them all-year long.”
To learn more about how Ladouceur built this perennial high school football juggernaut, check out page 20 of this month’s issue!