Motivating Youth Players To Play O Line

We lost our first game of the regular season today, 18-13. Three touchdowns to two. Our defense, which was strong, gave up only three plays all game, including a touchdown on the first play of the game, and a fourth-and-ten touchdown on the second-last play of the game. Our defense was whatever the opposite of bend-but-not-break is. But my big concern was not our defense – we can train for that – but our offense. Specifically, our offensive line.

Everyone wants to play defense. I remember when I started out playing youth football, I preferred defense over offense. Part of it was that it is more fun to tackle than to block. Part of it, though, is that if you mess up on defense, most football defenses defend in depth, so as a weaker player, there is someone stronger behind you to back you up, to make the tackle if you miss it. A defensive break-down is a team failure rather than individual. On the other hand, on offense, if you miss your block, your man will get through and make a tackle in the backfield; and then the coaches and player who got tackled can assign you the blame. It really is easier to run the ball than block.

So on our team, all the offensive linemen want to play defense. At practice, the players always want to scrimmage on the defensive side of the ball. During today's game, Coach Johnny was asked by a player in the offensive huddle when he was going to get to play defense. There is no doubt that players today – just like me 30 years ago – still want to play defense. But as Coach Johnny pointed out, if all we play is defense, the final score will be 0-0, and we won't get anywhere.

When I got older, I came to prefer O to D, but I must admit that I did prefer defense until about 7th or 8th grade. And if I am honest about it, it's not that I liked playing offensive line, it's that I liked playing fullback and center, where I got to handle the ball. But offensive linemen know that they toil in obscurity, only getting noticed when they make a mistake. Who would want to play there, where there is no chance of glory? Even the most obscure defensive player has the opportunity to make tackles and make a name for himself. So how do we get players to embrace playing the offensive line?

The NFL has it worked out: they pay them. A lot. Over a quarter of an NFL team's payroll is dedicated to offensive linemen. We who have seen "The Blind Side" know that the left offensive tackle is one of the highest paid players in the game. Of course, we can't do that in youth football.

So what can we do to (1) motivate our offensive linemen, and (2) teach our offensive line to play? The internet is full of advice on the latter. One brief page by John Reed is his ideas about the types of blocking that work well in youth football (http://www.johntreed.com/block.html). On the other hand, there is a dearth of information on the former, which I might argue is more important. For $39.95 you can buy Dave Cisar's DVD "Developing a Dominant Offensive Line Play in Youth Football – Step by Step" (http://winningyouthfootball.com/offensivelineyouth.php), which may or may not include the motivational aspects of the offensive line, but before I shell out $40 for a DVD, I'd want to know if it will work with 6, 7, and 8 year-olds. Youth football goes all the way up to 12, 13, and even 14 years old in some places, and there is a big difference between coaching 7 year-olds and 7th graders.

The only thoughts that come to mind are to (1) put our best players on the O line, and (2) select our captains from the offensive linemen. As I said earlier, running the ball is, in fact, easier than blocking, and since our running backs aren't going anywhere without good offensive line play, it makes sense to put dominant players on the line to open up holes for weaker running backs to run through. A practice or two, and we should have our second string ready to start in the backfield behind a first-rate offensive line. We tried a new guy out in the backfield on Thursday, and he picked it up quite quickly. He is not as quick, and he doesn't know the system yet, but he's a lot further along than a player who has practiced just one day on the line.

Lacking ideas for improving the prestige of the offensive line, we can perhaps choose blocking schemes that work with weak blockers. I'm thinking (1) wedge blocking, or (2) severe angle blocking. Neither of these schemes require the blockers to block one-on-one. And wedge blocking seems to produce some long plays, too. I've never coached the wedge, but it seems to get good reports in my readings online about youth football at the lower age levels. Some YouTube examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeQNxBsL8fw, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5v042kpVRw, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRq-H2LpPps.

I’m not saying we have to adopt these ideas – or even that we should – but they're the best ideas I’ve got right now. I expect us to be a championship team this year, and I think we can, but it's not going to be easy for either us or our players. Today was a wake-up call to all of us.