The Pin Drill and the Half-Line Rush Drill can help increase the odds of your special teams unit successfully blocking a punt.
A punt block/return team that is well-coached in their technique can be the catalyst for game-changing plays and provide consistently great field position throughout games. This special teams unit can be the most dangerous group on the field, posing a constant threat to make big plays for their team.
Consistently drilling the technique for the players on this unit helps ensure that when they aren’t blocking kicks and springing big returns, they still contribute to securing much needed hidden yardage, which adds up over the course of a game. Here are a couple of very basic drills that can prove very effective in putting together an efficient and dangerous punt block/return unit.
The first is a “Pin Drill,” designed to represent players blocking the man across from them to set up a return. This is an easy drill to set up, requiring a scout player to simulate a man on the front line of the punt protection, and a cone/landmark for that player to “cover” an imaginary kick. The return team player lines up in the gap outside the scout player. The scout player should take three vertical kicks backward, then release to his landmark to cover the kick, as the return team player attempts to impede his release and prevent him from covering downfield (Diagram 1A).
Pin Drill, Part I
Coaching Points for the Pin Drill for Punt Return Players:
• Attack opponent’s upfield shoulder, striking with hands.
• Drive feet on contact, disrupting opponent’s release.
• Upon release, open hips and maintain leverage to return side.
• Run with opponent’s hips, drive-blocking him away from the return.
Another very important coaching point for the return team player in this drill is to get off the ball with speed and attack the gap, simulating an aggressive rush with his first few steps. This will keep the punt team player honest in protection so he can’t release early. After that, it’s simply about engaging the punt team player with leverage to the return side, disrupting his release to the kick and running with his hips downfield.
There is a second phase to this drill involving a scenario when the punt team player beats your player and recovers to his landmark. The return team player should NEVER chase his man, but rather run to the returner (represented by the cone which is the scout player’s landmark) and attempt to “fly by” his man. If this technique is executed correctly, he can disrupt the coverage player from getting to the returner without ever having to touch him (Diagram 1B).
Pin Drill, Part II
Coaching Points for this phase of the Pin Drill for the Punt Return player:
• Do not chase – sprint directly at the returner (cone).
• Beat coverage player to a spot and run by him. You are setting a moving pick with your body by cutting him off from the returner.
• Do not get hands on or clash pads with opponent.
The second drill is a half-line block/score drill. I prefer it to be run with two whistles to get the timing right, but it is not a requirement. The drill requires an entire half-line of scout players for the punt team, with four return team players lined up in each gap, and a scout punter in the backfield. The scout team players will simply take three kicks and stop. One of the return team players is pre-determined to block the punt (the first whistle player), and must work proper technique, bending his angle to the block point and taking the ball off the punter’s foot.
The other three return team players (second whistle, which should be blown almost immediately after the first) will rush their gaps and adjust to the blocked punt. The first player to the ball has “dibs” and should always scoop and score, bending at the knees/hips and putting his pinkies to the turf. The other two return team players, upon seeing their teammate scoop the ball, must “peel back” and block the most dangerous players. This is essential to ensure that you capitalize on the blocked punt and don’t miss an opportunity to score. It helps to assign two scout players to turn back and run to the ball when they hear the kick blocked and to give the peel back players a target (Diagram 2).
Half-Line Rush Drill
Coaching points for Half-Line Rush Drill:
• On the first whistle, the assigned player rushes the gap and bends at an angle to the ball to block the punt.
• On the second whistle, three assigned players rush the gap and spring to the football.
• The ball belongs to the first player to get his hands on it. The first player to the ball should then scoop and score.
• As soon as a teammate scoops the football, everyone else peels back to block.
About the Author: Mark Theophel was recently named the defensive backs coach at Hartwick College. He previously served for four years at Becker College as co-defensive coordinator, linebackers coach, and special teams coach. Theophel played for four seasons as a linebacker while an undergraduate at Hartwick.