THESE TWO DRILLS are designed for practice days when you don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to individual drill work (10 minutes maximum).
Both drills cover six key areas in the allotted time frame: loosen the hips, feet and train the eyes; release and escape repetition; top of the route body posture and cute repetition; ball catch repetition (coach controls the type of throw in the drill); catch, tuck and run repetition; and ball security repetition.
DIAGRAM 1: Carioca, Snap Turn And Tap Drill. WRs face away from coach and carioca and run 10 yards on coach’s command. WRs snap and turn at 10 yards, run toward sideline in anticipation of ball.
The WR catches the ball first, then work on keeping both feet in bounds with a toe-tap technique. You also can incorporate a catch-and-turn option by throwing the football earlier, allowing the WR to gain his balance and turn upfield (this is called the “Fight The Sideline Vs. Turn And Tap Drill.”
DIAGRAM 2: Release And M Drill. WR works escape move on large dummy bag with hand attachment (work feet and hand movements). After release, get back upfield vertically to first cone, sink your hips with your good posture, run curl route around cone. Coach (or QB) throws ball, WR catches and tucks.
WR jogs back to coach, tosses him the ball, then gets back into drill and bursts to next cone sinking his hips again with good body posture. Runs a comeback/out route around cone. Coach throws the ball, WR catches, tucks, turns upfield and runs.
Two other WRs or managers have two stand-up dummys or shields. WR in drill lowers his pad level and splits the defenders while protecting the football with the proper ball security techniques.