Conditioning: Dot drilling

Conditioning is meant to increase speed, endurance, and reaction time on the football field. This drills intention is to help quickness and accuracy on the field which will reduce errors and increase the chances of great plays. Setting up this drill is very simple, you will need five markers placed about a foot apart in an x formation with one of the dots being in the center surrounded by four other dots in a square formation.

The player will start by placing a foot on the back two dots and then jumps together to the middle dot and then out separating his legs to the outer dots, much like you would see in hop scotch. Next the player will jump touching each dot with on leg only, and then switch using the other leg. The next step is jumping on all five dots with both feet together. The last phase is really returning to the original starting phase of jumping together and apart, however this time the athlete will change directions after they have jumped to the outer dots. Because this drill is intended for accuracy and speed, it is recommended that players start out slow and deliberate and then speed up to their maximum time.

Some fundamentals of ball security

A team that prevents fumbles is a team that wins. Nothing is worse for your offensive team then turning it over carelessly to the other team in a fumble. A great way to teach tight ball security is with four points. The first point is the claw, meaning that your fingers are wrapped over the tip of the football. Second, wrap your forearm completely around the football. Third point is to have the ball held tight against the bicep to prevent defenders from punching up through from behind. Fourth, pull the football up and tight against your ribcage closing the gap on the football from all four sides. Practice holding the football and having defensive players try and knock out the football by any means possible. As your ball carrying continues to improve you will insure less turnovers and greater success on the field.

Practicing the Hand off

Because hand offs are such a vital part of a running offense, running backs should practice hand off skills every day. This drill requires more than one player; it starts off with two lines, line A and line B, the front of each line facing each other a couple of yards apart. At the coaches signal player A leaves line A running with the football towards line B. In sync with that first player, a second player leaves line B, when they meet player A passes to player B. At this moment another player leaves line A and accepts a handoff from player B. The motion should be constantly moving from one line to another in this drill, almost like a juggling pattern. Practice this drill every day to ensure that your running backs are effective on their hand offs.

Conditioning: Quick step crossing

Conditioning in football is meant to help you react quickly on the field moving in a variety of directions. The point to this drill is having players practice quick directional changes on the field. The drill takes place in small four corner area that you can draw out or use the lines of the field. Once a players positions themselves in one of the corners they will proceed to jump from one corner of the area to other in either a patterned function or randomly. Some of the variations can be on legged; either right or left, or changing the order those players will perform the drill.