Pass Pro Indy Drills Part 1

A friend asked me for some Pass Pro Indy Drills so I am going to start filming a few that I do.

I do not do these drills every day.  Some of the film I put up will be us actually learning the drill.

Stealing Time for Pass Pro:

In my practice planning I put most of my offensive time into Indy time.  I am an OL guy and I need my Indy time to work through all of our blocks.  We are a run heavy team and that is our identity.  It is what we are good at so we do not spend a ton of our Indy time working Pass Pro drills but I try to steal as much time as I can to make sure I am working it.  Last season I was guilty about not working pass pro enough.  Now I make sure I include at least a little in every single practice.

I also try to steal 5-10 minutes segments pre-practice, and post-practice to get extra work in.  When we start working special teams I will use that time to get extra pass pro work in with the OL since the big guys aren’t usually on KO, KOR, or Punt.

Over the next couple weeks I will be posting video clips of some of my favorite pass protection drills.

Sled Punch:

We work flat down the sled, working to keep a good stagger, base and geenral pass pro demeanor.  As we shuffle through each bag, we get a Right hand punch, 2 hand punch, and Left hand punch on each bag.

We go down the line and can get a lot of kids moving at a time.  We all go right, and then we all come back to the left.

It helps to stay close to the sled so you have to punch, and kids can’t lean forward on the bag.

Medicine Ball Drill:

This is set up similar to a “mirror drill”.  I use cones/bags to make large gaps.  Players partner up across from each other and mirror one another.  The player holding the medicine ball controls the drill and the partner has to mirror/shadow them.  They will keep a good base, stagger, and pass pro demeanor while stepping side to side.  After a few steps they have to shoot the ball forward as powerfully as they can and snap the head back.

Most kids will want to snap the wrist out like a chest pass, or down like theyre shooting a basketball.  This flares the elbow out and weakens their punch.  We want to keep the hands and elbows in tight, and the thumbs up.  I have found that having the kids hold their hands out with thumbs UP for a second at the finish lets them see that they haven’t snapped their wrists and flared their elbows.

More Pass Pro Drills coming later this week!