THE SWAMPER SPECIAL blocking drill is one of the very best I’ve used in my 24 years of coaching. It combines functional blocking skills, high-level conditioning and downfield blocking, and it gives your team a lot of repetitions in a very short period of time.
Swamper Special is named after our offensive linemen and it gives all the players on our roster a little taste of what an offensive lineman has to go through on every play.
You’ll need a 7-man blocking sled with a coach standing at each end of the sled. Line up seven players, each holding a blocking dummy, 20-yards downfield. Divide all the other players on your team into seven lines, each line positioned behind each sled pad.
DIAGRAM 1: “Swamper Special” Blocking Drill.
On the coaches “hit” command, the first player in each of the seven lines comes out of a 3-point stance and drives the sled as hard as they can for 8 seconds. Both coaches blow their whistle after 8 seconds.
On the whistle, each player drive-blocking on the sled rolls out to the closest end of the sled (the center player rolls to the right) and sprints 20-yards downfield and makes a block on a dummy that’s being held up by teammate.
The dummy holder steps away from the dummy just before the block is made.
The dummy holders sprint to the end of the sled lines and the blockers stay to hold dummies for next group.
Run this drill continuously for 10 to 15 minutes. It’s the toughest, most complete functional drill you’ll do for offensive blocking and conditioning. Your players will attest to this!