2 End Zone Drills for Receivers
When i was younger I would love to practice getting both feet inbounds while making catches. We used to practice using street curbs and then we’d fall into the grass in front of the sidewalk. It was fun. Soon we started practicing the back of end zones at local high school fields and that was more fun and it was there that we first tried all the stuff that we had seen Lynn Swann do successfully for the few seasons that he actually played in the NFL. Great receiver, not a hall of famer, but that’s another topic altogether.
Here are 2 drills that coaches can use that can help receivers improve in a couple areas:
1. Push Up Drill: Receiver get knocked down all the time at the line of scrimmage or are distracted and have to recover to make a play on the ball. This drill helps with that and here’s how it works. The player lies on the ground with a coach to one side of him. When the whistle blows the coach tries to hold the player down and make it difficult to get up. Once up the player has to go around that coach before he goes upfield to catch the ball. The ball should be thrown at 10-15 yards. Great for teaching the kids to get past an obstacle and still catch the pass.
2. Over the shoulder drill: We did this drill in the back part of the end zone with the idea being that the receiver will learn to catch the ball while looking back toward the field of play. This is done with a qb and receiver at about the 20 yard line depending on player age and arm strength. The receiver should not practice this drill full speed as the point is to focus on the body control. The qb needs to learn to throw this ball to the outside shoulder of the receiver with the receiver focusing on turning the head correctly as well as the shoulders and arms.
Both are effective simple drills that players and coaches can use to get better.
