In his weekly mailbag, Coach Bass tackles questions from first year high school and players and potential college players. If you have a question for Coach Bass you can email him at NFLAsktheCoach@aol.com.
Tre from Austin sent the following question:
How about some tips on receiving?
Hi Tre,
The first tip would be to understand exactly how to position your hands to catch any pass regardless of where it is thrown. For a pass that is below your numbers or being caught over your shoulder, you need to have your little fingers touching with your palms up. For any pass coming at you above your numbers you need to have your thumbs together, fingers spread, and wrist cocked slightly back.
In all situations, you need to reach out with both hands so that you can see your hands and the ball at the moment of the catch.
With your hands in proper position, the next tip is to completely focus on the flight of the ball, seeing it into your hands and making the reception. You have to block out all distractions and ignore the defensive players.
Once the ball is in your hands, you need to immediately secure it in the arm away from the nearest defender and burst up field.
Your priorities must be making the reception #1, securing the ball #2, and then gain yards and hopefully scoring #3, Coach Tom Bass.
Brian from Wesley Chapel sent the following question:
Dear Coach- They finally found my position: I am playing safety. I have problems staying with receivers, my back pedal, and tackling the running back. Can you please give me some tips on drills to improve my back pedal and tackling? Thank You.
Hi Brian,
A good back pedal involves having a good start where you push off your front foot, propel your hips back and step back with your back foot. Once you are moving back, you need to step back with each step allowing your foot to glide across the ground and not picking your foot up high.
Your arms should pump in a normal running motion, your hips should be over your feet, and your head and shoulders should always be in front of your hips.
Stay in your back pedal until you recognize the pass route being run by the receiver, or if the receiver gets within three yards of you forcing you to turn and run.
When you are tackling, try to remember these tips. First, break down, shorten your stride, widen your feet, and bend at your knees as you approach the ball carrier. Keep your back straight, head up and eyes open.
Be prepared for the running back to break in any direction. Take an open step with the foot on the side of his break [never cross your feet].
Tackle the ball carrier with the shoulder opposite the direction he is moving. Always explode off of the foot on the same side as the shoulder you will use to make the tackle.
Allow your head to move in front of the ball carrier, drive up and though his upper body, grab his jersey in both hands, and continue driving him back and to the ground.
Most unsuccessful tackles are the result of the player crossing his feet and not in position to react to another cut, bending at the waist and not at the knees, and lowering the head which is not only very poor tackling technique but extremely dangerous and should never be done. Keep working hard and I am sure you will see improvement in your play, Coach Tom Bass.
Harvey from Bowie sent the following question:
Hey Coach, I am an undersize nose guard, (5'7", 170 lbs) bench press 300 lbs., with good quickness. I am looking for advice on stunts that I can use to get past the much larger offensive lineman. We just had our first scrimmage and I pushed my larger opponent around pretty good clogging up some of their plays. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.
Hi Harvey,
There are two basic techniques that I think you should start to work on that should help your play. Both involve moving from a heads up position on a blocker to the gap on either your right or left.
The first is a "loop" technique where you take a quick lateral step with the foot in the direction of your movement. You should stay low and keep your shoulder square to the line of scrimmage. You second step, with your other foot, needs to be a lateral step so that you are in a good balanced stance. From here you have the option of pursuing down the line on your side of the ball and charging directly into the backfield.
The second technique is the "slant" technique. Starting in the heads up position, on the snap, you now take an angle step into the gap with the foot opposite the direction you are moving. As you make this step you need to bring your arm on that side of your body hard across the offensive player in a rip motion. Try to stay low as you move across the line. Your second step, with the opposite foot, should be straight up the field so that you are in a balanced position to move in any direction. With this technique, you will usually end up pursuing the ball carrier on the offensive side of the ball.
Keep up the good work; you are playing a position that sees a lot of action, Coach Tom Bass.
Bob sent the following question:
Hi, I am starting as Free Safety for my freshmen football team and I was wondering if you have any tips on being a good Free Safety/ D-Back?
Hi Bob,
Free safety is a great position to play on defense and can offer some unique challenges. First of all you are in a great position to see every thing that is happening by the offensive team. The challenge is to stay back and be sure before you commit in one direction or the other.
Second, you are the furthest from the action at the start of the play. The challenge is to understand that often you will be the last defender between a ball carrier and your goal line so you must maintain control and balance at all times.
Third, you will often be asked to serve as the quarterback for the defense, making certain your teammates are lined up in the correct position and that everyone is on the same page. The challenge is this requires you to study, know, and understand the total defensive scheme and structure in order for you to properly direct the other players.
Learn your assignments completely and then gradually try to learn what your teammates are supposed to do, and work on becoming the best tackler in the secondary, Coach Tom Bass.
Aaron from Valley Center, California sent the following question:
I need to get better at run blocking on the offensive line. When I run block I get a great initial pop on the defensive lineman but after that I am quickly shed away. I need some tips to prevent this.
Hi Aaron,
Losing contact with a defensive player usually is the result of having your feet too close together and not maintaining a wide base. If you are taking extremely long strides or if you have a narrow base, you will not be able to maintain contact or have good balance and it will be easy for the defender to shed your block.
Make sure you are exploding off of the foot on the same side of your body as the shoulder you are using to initiate the block. This will usually be on your second step, the first step being a short positioning step forward with your other foot.
Work on keeping your feet slightly wider than your hips, never cross your feet, keep your shoulders square, stay low, and take power steps driving each foot hard into the ground once you have contact and are moving the defender back off the line, Coach Tom Bass.
Coach Tom Bass, the technical writer and advisor for USA Football is a thirty-year NFL coach who has authored several books, including his latest, entitled, Between the Lines, which discusses and illustrates all the positions on a football team for 7-11 year olds. Book ordering information can be found on CoachBass.com. Coach Bass is happy to personally autograph his books to you.