Football Lineman Drills

Many of the offensive lineman drills ask the lineman to practice to keep their balance throughout the play. To do this one of the great football lineman drills is simply to ask the lineman to run in place with short choppy steps. They should have their butts out over the heels of their feet, their knees should be bent slightly, and their hands should be out in front of them.

This football lineman drill can be built upon by having the offensive lineman hold weights while they run with short choppy steps. Then they can thrust the weights out when the whistle blows. They can do this drill for about twenty seconds at a time.

Defensive lineman want to always move forward but not so fast that they can be easily directed away from a play by the offensive lineman. For this reason, one of the football lineman drills should ask the defensive lineman to practice exploding toward the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped.

This lineman drill can be built upon as well. Players with blocking shields should line-up on the other side of the defensive lineman. At the snap of the ball the defensive lineman should fire off into the blocking shield. The defensive lineman want to work on getting up into the shield. This will help them learn to get up under the pads of the offensive lineman.

Another drill that can be done with the blocking shields is for the defensive lineman to practice spinning off of the offensive lineman. Once the offensive lineman gets used to being bull-rushed or run into, he'll start trying to absorb the hit and he'll do this by trying to initiate the contact. That's when the defensive lineman can spin right off the block and go around the offensive lineman. Also, the defensive lineman can try a swim move as well. The swim move is when the defensive lineman raises his arm and brushes the offensive lineman away from him as he goes by. The swim move basically takes the momentum of the offensive lineman's block and uses it against him.

There are many great football lineman drills that can be used in practice to teach both offensive and defensive lineman how to play their respective positions. Most of the offensive lineman drills teach a player how to keep his balance while using leverage to block the opponent. Most of the defensive lineman drills teach the defender how to use his own leverage against the opponent and how to use the opponent's actions against the opponent.