Most people don’t realize all the fundamental things that go into a pass reception. I use the analogy of playing wide receiver to flying an airplane. In flying a plane you have 3 elements – the takeoff, the flight itself, and the landing.
The takeoff for a wide receiver is the stance. I teach the pigeon toe stance. This prevents any “false steps” and gets the weight on the ball on the lead foot. The WR should have a good forward lean, head over chest and chest over toes. Hand placement should be above the waist. This will help when facing hard leverage. The analogy I use is that you never go into a fight with your hands by your side.
The next phase is the flight. For wide receivers, we use a combination of releases based upon hard or soft leverage. We train our players with four hard leverage releases.
Hard Leverage Releases:
• Slam Release
• Freeze Step
• Angle Release
• Cloth Rip
SLAM RELEASE - WRs should use a forceful strike with both hands. The contact point will be the chest plate of the defender. Then they will take the best possible release based on the progression of the route either inside or outside.
FREEZE STEP - For this release, WRs will put three steps down before taking any vertical release. The key to this release is to get the defenders to be on their heels before they can shoot their hands on the WR, which freezes the defender. We teach “the head is attached to the feet” when putting three steps down.
ANGLE RELEASE - This release is for any type of slant concept routes. WRs will take three hard outside steps to widen the leverage to give them room to get “back under the route”.
CLOTH RIP - Very similar to the slam release, WRs will be forceful with their hands. They will grab the defenders cloth. The aiming point is just above the armpit of the defender. Once they grab cloth, they simultaneously use the other hand with a rip technique or a pin and punch.
Soft Leverage or Attacking Over Hanging Defenders:
• Skin Swipe
• Leverage Release
• Take Release
SKIN SWIPE - This is used vs. overhangs looking to use the funnel technique. When we watch film as a unit, I want our players to visualize the concept of what overhang defenders are trying to accomplish (disrupting route stems). They are looking to funnel you to the strength of the coverage. Once an overhang defender stops his feet (dead feet) he will then shoot his hands. We look to combat this by getting on the defenders toes as soon as possible, causing “dead feet” and “catching his hands”. Once the defenders feet are dead, I tell our receivers the defenders “hands are going to shoot”. Our WR’s hands must be thrown simultaneously with the defenders in a swiping down movement while we get “skinny hips”. This gets the defenders’ hands away from the WR’s body while giving the defender less of a target to contact. In addition, this will cause the defender to lose all leverage at route break points.
LEVERAGE RELEASE - The leverage release is used at the top of any hitch curl concept when the defender is squatting on a WR and when we must sit the route down without any option attached to it. WRs must be physical at the top of the route. On contact, they will aim for the inside shoulder pad and make contact with the forearm and shoulder. They will “sky out” with the shoulder and forearm in a very aggressive upward motion maintaining low pad level. When teaching the leverage release, make sure your wide receivers know they DON’T want full arm extension. This is what the referees are taught to look for when calling offensive pass interference.
TAKE RELEASE - This release is used vs. cover 2 when the WRs must widen the corner. They will not take any vertical stem steps and immediately depart for an aiming point of three yards from the boundary to elongate the corner. If the corner has outside position pre snap, they will aim for his outside shoulder and incorporate the “skin swipe” technique.
Proper technique for break points are the most significant part of the “flight phase”. Proper body mechanics and position is a must. WRs must come out of breaks as quickly and efficiently as possible. They should keep their arms moving to create an illusion of speed while keeping low pad level and having a balanced forward lean. They should NOT raise their pad level at breaking point nor drop their arms. DBs are taught to read these two factors.
For the ‘landing’ itself, WRs must remember three points:
• Stack the defender whenever possible, always knowing the defensive coverage and find open windows.
• Use proper hand placement when catching balls (Above waist – thumbs and pointers create triangle; below waist – pinkies together; side – inverted triangle thumbs and pointers).
• “Pluck and tuck”. Your WRs should be reminded constantly to catch and secure the football. One move and get north and south!
These are some of the important points of playing on the perimeter. I try to build a toolbox for my wide receivers, going over every possible scenario that they will see on game day. This way there is no hesitation. Give them every answer in that toolbox and let them have a safe flight!
About the author: Joe Osovet joined the CW Post staff last fall as wide receivers coach. He previously coached for 15 years at Nassau Community College and worked first there as a position coach before becoming offensive coordinator. Osovet played WR for both NCC and Northeastern University.