WR blocking

[SoTexasHusker]

What are reasons:

My theory, DBs don't respect or fear the speed/routes so they can sit and the run keys longer.

Fins some speed and burn them deep, plants, and good man beaters and they will have to backpedal or open their hips inviting some blockingyo work.

Thoughts?

 

[Alaskajohn]

What are reasons:

My theory, DBs don't respect or fear the speed/routes so they can sit and the run keys longer.

Fins some speed and burn them deep, plants, and good man beaters and they will have to backpedal or open their hips inviting some blockingyo work.

Thoughts?

I am kind of thinking the culprit is that kid we have coaching our WR group. Just a hunch....

 

[solesrfr]

C

 

[pitch]

What are reasons:

My theory, DBs don't respect or fear the speed/routes so they can sit and the run keys longer.

Fins some speed and burn them deep, plants, and good man beaters and they will have to backpedal or open their hips inviting some blockingyo work.

Thoughts?

In the past few games CBs are sitting because we haven't thrown deep routes much. We did against the likes of Northern Iowa and UTEP, but we pulled back against better competition.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I am kind of thinking the culprit is that kid we have coaching our WR group. Just a hunch....

You mean the kid who was a backup college qb 4 years ago?

 

[Bigger Ed]

You mean the kid who was a backup college qb 4 years ago?

But he's a coachable coach.

 

[Ackos]

If they havnt fixed by now, it aint getting fixed

 

[HuskerBred]

I’ll give us a breather from picking on the WR coach — without really knowing what we’re talking about — to point out that the blocking on the perimeter by WRs is about as difficult as it gets. Huskers were spoiled for decades by wideouts who blocked first, second, and third — and then ran a pass pattern a few times per game. And some of the better receivers were terrific blockers too.

Three factors make it a chore: 1) you’re in space; 2) the guys getting blocked are often the best athletes on the field; and 3) the blocks generally need to be held for a longer time. When I watch the tape, guys are being “grabby” when they start losing contact. What I’d like to see the WRs do (and the TEs on the edge) is not worry about direction and focus on contact. If the guy wants to go left, take him left at 100 mph. Don’t try to do anything else with him because you’ll lose him and start clutching. Just make contact, stay squared up, and dance with him close until the whistle. Let the ball carrier figure it out.

 

[the fountainhead]

I’ll give us a breather from picking on the WR coach — without really knowing what we’re talking about — to point out that the blocking on the perimeter by WRs is about as difficult as it gets. Huskers were spoiled for decades by wideouts who blocked first, second, and third — and then ran a pass pattern a few times per game. And some of the better receivers were terrific blockers too.

Three factors make it a chore: 1) you’re in space; 2) the guys getting blocked are often the best athletes on the field; and 3) the blocks generally need to be held for a longer time. When I watch the tape, guys are being “grabby” when they start losing contact. What I’d like to see the WRs do (and the TEs on the edge) is not worry about direction and focus on contact. If the guy wants to go left, take him left at 100 mph. Don’t try to do anything else with him because you’ll lose him and start clutching. Just make contact, stay squared up, and dance with him close until the whistle. Let the ball carrier figure it out.

Sounds well thought out. Odd for this message board.

 

[Brew City Husker]

I’ll give us a breather from picking on the WR coach — without really knowing what we’re talking about — to point out that the blocking on the perimeter by WRs is about as difficult as it gets. Huskers were spoiled for decades by wideouts who blocked first, second, and third — and then ran a pass pattern a few times per game. And some of the better receivers were terrific blockers too.

Three factors make it a chore: 1) you’re in space; 2) the guys getting blocked are often the best athletes on the field; and 3) the blocks generally need to be held for a longer time. When I watch the tape, guys are being “grabby” when they start losing contact. What I’d like to see the WRs do (and the TEs on the edge) is not worry about direction and focus on contact. If the guy wants to go left, take him left at 100 mph. Don’t try to do anything else with him because you’ll lose him and start clutching. Just make contact, stay squared up, and dance with him close until the whistle. Let the ball carrier figure it out.

Our outside receivers are 6’4” 220 and they are outstanding athletes. Any inability to block is either from effort or ignorance(they don’t know how), each of which reflects poorly on the coaching. Last year we were hearing good things about the physicality and blocking of Malachi Coleman. Alex Bullock has shown that he can block on the perimeter. If we aren’t getting what we need from our 6’4” 220 guys maybe we need to look at other guys to do the job and create some motivation in our transfer/6’4” 220 crew by introducing them to the bench.

 

[CrabHusker]

I’ll give us a breather from picking on the WR coach — without really knowing what we’re talking about — to point out that the blocking on the perimeter by WRs is about as difficult as it gets. Huskers were spoiled for decades by wideouts who blocked first, second, and third — and then ran a pass pattern a few times per game. And some of the better receivers were terrific blockers too.

Three factors make it a chore: 1) you’re in space; 2) the guys getting blocked are often the best athletes on the field; and 3) the blocks generally need to be held for a longer time. When I watch the tape, guys are being “grabby” when they start losing contact. What I’d like to see the WRs do (and the TEs on the edge) is not worry about direction and focus on contact. If the guy wants to go left, take him left at 100 mph. Don’t try to do anything else with him because you’ll lose him and start clutching. Just make contact, stay squared up, and dance with him close until the whistle. Let the ball carrier figure it out.

We’ve got few different types of blocks we should be seeing from the WR’s and TE’s and unfortunately, we’re not good at any of them.

On the always popular WR or TE screen, they have to engage and stay close to the line of scrimmage early in the play, so we don’t end up with a penalty. That’s a lot harder than it sounds without holding, especially if the opposing DB is any good at getting off blocks. The other we really seam to struggle with is either WR or TE run blocking or edge sealing on perimeter running plays. Unless you’re going up against a much bigger man, this shouldn’t be as hard as we’re making it look. I’m not saying it should be 100% effective, but we take bad angles on blocks, use poor hand placement, are easily shed as blockers and occasionally try to direct….the wrong way. This is complicated by a RB room that doesn’t seem at all intuitive in finding holes, or cutting up the field. Lots of lateral movement, lots of TFL. The best blocking we see out of this group is down field after a pass is caught, but it’s still a work in progress.

I’m not going to blame the current staff for our two transfers not being good blockers, though it’s likely a trait that was on tape when we were looking at bringing them in. Besides them, we’ve got a lot of youth, much of it still growing into football at this level and into adult bodies. Coleman was likely our best last year and isn’t playing. Bullock looked pretty good in run blocking, but again seems lost on the screen or down field work. I don’t know if we’re just hyper focused on teaching other things, but this needs some time in practice in a big way, or the way we’re teaching it isn’t working. I will say blocking, like tackling, is a lot of want. You have to bow up and want to hit someone. That’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

 

[HuskerBred]

Our outside receivers are 6’4” 220 and they are outstanding athletes. Any inability to block is either from effort or ignorance(they don’t know how), each of which reflects poorly on the coaching. Last year we were hearing good things about the physicality and blocking of Malachi Coleman. Alex Bullock has shown that he can block on the perimeter. If we aren’t getting what we need from our 6’4” 220 guys maybe we need to look at other guys to do the job and create some motivation in our transfer/6’4” 220 crew by introducing them to the bench.

It’s a trade off. Bench the best receiving WRs for blockers? Or vice versa? It’s the same dilemma in the RB room. My gut tells me that a few of the four are not great at pass protection. Challenge to find a guy who does all of it well. I’d settle for the WRs not grabbing and getting the “cheap” holds.

 

[CrabHusker]

It’s a trade off. Bench the best receiving WRs for blockers? Or vice versa? It’s the same dilemma in the RB room. My gut tells me that a few of the four are not great at pass protection. Challenge to find a guy who does all of it well. I’d settle for the WRs not grabbing and getting the “cheap” holds.

The other issue we have is you swap out the better receivers for the better blockers on a run play……like we did last year….and even those watching and home have a really good idea what’s coming.

We just need to get better at it and make it harder for the defense across the board. It would open up so much in anyone’s playbook to flip those results.

 

[Brew City Husker]

The other issue we have is you swap out the better receivers for the better blockers on a run play……like we did last year….and even those watching and home have a really good idea what’s coming.

We just need to get better at it and make it harder for the defense across the board. It would open up so much in anyone’s playbook to flip those results.

Correct. You can’t telegraph your play call by your personnel.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

WR blocking really comes down to one thing: desire. The best WR blocker I had the pleasure to watch with my own eyes was 6-1 200lbs in pads and he blocked just as hard as he ran routes.

We need WRs who treat blocking just as important as they do running routes and catching, and unfortunately you can't teach desire.