“When making your move do not stop or stutter your feet; this only allows the pursuit to catch up and takes away your speed advantage.”
I'm sure you have heard this conversation amongst your players before. “Did you see Dante Hall yesterday? He made those guys look like they were in Pop Warner.” “Yeah, he’s pretty special but he doesn’t have anything on Reggie Bush.” “Did you see Reggie in the playoffs… as a rookie he looked like a man among boys.” “Neither of those guys have anything on Barry Sanders; he used to do that on almost every play.”
Dante Hall has the field to work with on kick offs and everybody couldn’t focus on Reggie Bush because of Deuce McAllister. Barry on the other hand was a marked man and still made 11 guys miss. Those guys are blessed athletically more than most and those who try to imitate them often end up looking less than average. Unfortunately, almost everybody who carries the ball in high schools across the United States thinks they are Barry Sanders, Reggie Bush or Dante Hall and make too many unnecessary moves. As a running backs coach, I see this all too often. Less is more when it comes to ‘makin’ ‘em miss.’
The first thing I do is to get my backs to understand what kind of player they are. This may seem elementary but some guys have completely missed it when it comes to self-evaluation. Some players think they can be the same guy they were in high school. Some of them can be, but most of them will have to become smarter and more efficient runners. Just because you can toss right and toss left in high school and outrun everybody down the sideline does not automatically mean that you will do the same thing at the college level. So I must make a guy get a realistic view of himself. For the guy who was nicknames ‘Lil’ Dante’ from Pop Warner through high school, it could take a little more for him to buy this concept. I must teach him that I’m not taking something from him but rather adding to his repertoire. You may need to put on your psychology hat for this talk.
Next, the runner must understand the responsibility of the defender. It is imperative that running backs understand run fits. In addition to understanding the blocking scheme and who the unblocked player is, they also need to know what the defender’s responsibilities are. If I know what the defender is protecting, now I can attack that area with leverage, putting him on the defensive. If a linebacker takes on all blocks with his inside shoulder, then you need to attack his outside shoulder to widen the hole for yourself. They need to know how safeties play the run differently in quarters vs. in Cover 2. All this can be learned from film study.
Ball carriers should give the defender only one chance to make the tackle. Closing the distance between yourself and the defender before making your cut makes the defender have to be perfect. As a ball carrier you should make your move 1 1/2 to 2 yards from the defender. When making your move do not stop or stutter your feet; this only allows the pursuit to catch up and takes away your speed advantage. By getting past the second level you will move the chains. By getting past the third level you will change the scoreboard.
We don’t all have backs with that game changing break away speed but if we can get the 4.6 guy to get an extra 20 yards, that will do wonders for the offense and a running back coach. A drill we use is the ‘1 Cut/No Cut’ drill. This drill was brought to us by UNLV Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach, Dennis Therrell. It is a great drill because it benefits both sides of the ball. It can be done with both linebackers and safeties on defense and anybody who carries the ball on offense (See Diagram 1).
Objective
To teach ball carriers how to make good cutting decisions.
Set up
• You will need 3 cones.
• Put one cone on the outside edge of the numbers for the offense and 10 yards away put another cone on the inside edge of the numbers for the defense.
• Put one cone on the sideline directly across from the defensive cone.
The Drill
• The offensive player will run full speed on a straight line to the cone positioned on the sideline.
• The defensive player will also leave on offense’s movement.
• The offensive player must decide whether to use speed and beat the defender down the sideline or to cut back across his face.
• The defender must keep good cut back leverage or be ready to accelerate through the ball carrier with his head in front if the runner uses speed.
Coaching Points
• The ball carrier must start on an angle directly at the cone on the sideline.
• Do not allow ball carrier to stutter his feet.
• Make sure the ball carrier closes the distance on the defender before cutting.
• Stay in between the cones.
Set-up:
1. Align with outside foot on inside edge of numbers.
2. Offensive player runs directly at a point 10 yards on the sideline.
3. Defensive player runs at angle keeping inside out leverage to not allow cutback and make good form angle tackle.
4. Offensive player must decide to either outrun defender down the sideline or cut back across his face.
Objective: On offense – teach that one cut is all you need and when to make that cut. On defense – to teach proper angles for tackling and when to ‘pull the pin.’
Reggie Davis is the Running Backs Coach at Oregon State. You can reach him at ReggieDavis@GridironStrategies.com.