I’m coaching 10U and will be working heavily with the OL this season. I have experience pulling since I played OG in the Wing T in HS, but I was looking for some opinions about pulling OGs at the youth level. We See a ton of 5-3 and we are an I formation based team, mostly ISO, FB dive, Counter, Toss. I was thinking about pulling the PSG, if he’s uncovered, on the Toss to lead. I’d also like to add a Power play and I’m debating if I should pull that BSG to wrap or just release him to try to get a LB. If you have done this and have any tips I’d appreciate it, if you tried it and weren’t successful I’d like to hear that too and what you did instead.
My son and I coached a 10u team last year. We had no issues at all pulling BSG and tackle on power. We have been been pulling at least a guard since we've been running the DW at 7-u. Just have to put the work in to get it right.
I will tell you this , there are some great coaches on the forum that can really help with how to get it done, not matter what system you run.
Good luck Coach
I ran the Single Wing at 8U the past two seasons and I pull the backside guard on almost every play. I'll continue to do the same (plus tackles or ends) when I switch to the shogun Double Wing this year.
I'll defer to the other coaches on here about the best way to teach pullers. However, I will say that you should do it, at any level of football as long as you're comfortable teaching it. I was comfortable doing it because I played offensive guard back in the Stone Ages when the triple option was all the rage.
Coach Terry
Fight 'em until Hell freezes over, then fight 'em on the ice -- Dutch Meyer
My son coached for me a couple of years ago and he told me he counted me calling power to the right side on 15 consecutive plays. I was not counting my play calling but I strongly believe that if a play is working, keep running it.
Off tackle power is our bread and butter. We always pull back side guard on power. Sometimes we move our back side guard to play side and pull him from there on power. Sometimes we pull play side guard or tackle on sweeps.
If you install a power play, I think you should pull the back side guard. You just have to adjust the depth of your tail back deep enough to allow the guard to get in front.
I use the track and kick out blocking scheme (similar to the JJ Lawson and Jack Gregory schemes) on my powers. I teach a karaoke pull with my guard staying square and getting up field tight behind my play side down blocks.
If you are interested in specifics about how I teach power, I would be happy to answer any questions.
I’m coaching 10U and will be working heavily with the OL this season. I have experience pulling since I played OG in the Wing T in HS, but I was looking for some opinions about pulling OGs at the youth level. We See a ton of 5-3 and we are an I formation based team, mostly ISO, FB dive, Counter, Toss. I was thinking about pulling the PSG, if he’s uncovered, on the Toss to lead. I’d also like to add a Power play and I’m debating if I should pull that BSG to wrap or just release him to try to get a LB. If you have done this and have any tips I’d appreciate it, if you tried it and weren’t successful I’d like to hear that too and what you did instead.
Theoretically on power I'd rather have the front side guard release in front of the rest of the OL on that side. It would give him a shorter path to a LB and should make more space.
However, with 10Us my experience is that it's hard to get them to connect with a 2nd level block like that. Therefore I'll have the play side G pull and lead. He has a longer distance to go that way, but that way you make the LB come to him, and if you practice running with a lead blocker, your runner should be better able to make hay that way even though the space is less.
The question is what to consider "uncovered" against a 5-3. Is your C able to handle a DG to that side, either by crabbing or staying on his feet? He may be better to the left side than the right or vice versa, depending on his handedness and whether the DG is expected to slant or shades in a direction. You may want a firm rule or rely on a call for responsibility for that block.
i guess my biggest concern is that a lot of teams in my league love blitzing the A Gap and with my C and OT covered, I don’t really trust them to get down and cover that open gap. I was thinking I could just drill the OGs to stay if they see the Mike creeping up to blitz. Am I missing something?
Our standard rule for our PSG on most plays is to step with his inside foot to catch a slanting Nose, if the nose doesn’t slant his way, he continues on to cutoff the Mike. If the Mike is a stud and he misses him, he goes to the backside Backer. If the Mike is creeping in his Gap he takes him, most likely with a shoeshine. BSG is a similar inside release before working to the backers. I think if I wanted to pull, i would tell them they have the Mike by either shoeshine if he blitzes or pull and wrap.
Does that sound concrete enough?
I don’t teach defensive fronts or alignments to my O-line. I use a combination of severe angle blocking and wedge blocking for most of my plays and I use some simple rules such as ON-AWAY for ISO plays.
For Power, the play side of my line blocks down to the puller building a TKO (track and Kickout) wall. My FB kicks first defender outside of my wall. The back side guard pulls and leads up around the wall. Back side End/Tackle hinges or reaches to fill for the puller.
The primary rule for each of my linemen: Allow no inside penetration.
Attached is a pdf excerpt of how I run power from my Nuts and Bolts Clinic explaining how we run power from our base single wing formation. You can use the same concepts from the I formation. You would just be short one blocker but you could have a bootleg or play action threat that I do not. I believe I could explain it better in a phone call. If you want to talk, let me know and I will PM my number.
i guess my biggest concern is that a lot of teams in my league love blitzing the A Gap and with my C and OT covered, I don’t really trust them to get down and cover that open gap. I was thinking I could just drill the OGs to stay if they see the Mike creeping up to blitz. Am I missing something?
What size splits does your team use? I ask because shoe-to-shoe splits do a great job of neutralizing blitzes, because there's no hole for them to go through. It also gives your pullers less distance to travel.
I'm a huge proponent of the blocking scheme that @32wedge uses for the Power play!
Fight 'em until Hell freezes over, then fight 'em on the ice -- Dutch Meyer
I’d also like to add a Power play
Hi Coach
I coach 3rd & 4th graders. We're a wing t (buck and belly team) our guards pull, trap, log, the works.. Centers, Tackles and TEs mostly down block. Buck short, HB gets the ball, is C-gap attack off-tackle, to the TE and WB.
some yrs we only have one effective pulling G, if so, he comes from the backside and kicks out the DE. FB fills for the BSG. If we have two mobile Guards, we kick-out the DE with the PSG and the BSG, turns up the hole and leads the HB. HB is taught the BSG is his personal Body Guard, and cut off his block.
Last yr we were more Belly than Buck-short, but most yrs Buck-short is our bread and butter.
Umm.... why does that 6 ft tall 9 yr old have a goatee...?
I've coached pulling with the UBSW and the Power T and had no concerns about young athletes (9+ yo) executing. My MS team runs Flexbone Triple Option 5th thru 8th grade.(
) which has alot of pre snap recognition by the OL and QB. Young players are smart as far as grasping the how and why so like every other aspect it comes down to getting them comfortable and confident. IMO.
We See a ton of 5-3 and we are an I formation based team, mostly ISO, FB dive, Counter, Toss. I was thinking about pulling the PSG, if he’s uncovered, on the Toss to lead.
--I'm assuming your "Toss" is a sweep(?) Nothing wrong with pulling a PSG, but you've got to know how you're going to fill for the puller. Also, the success (or lack thereof) regarding pulling is less in the scheme and more in the teach of the fundamental. It's not a difficult teach at all, yet many coaches will spread their o-linemen too far apart, start them too close to the LOS, or teach ineffective or innumerable checkpoints for the players to concern themselves with. "Pulling" is running and any kid can do that.
I’d also like to add a Power play and I’m debating if I should pull that BSG to wrap or just release him to try to get a LB. If you have done this and have any tips I’d appreciate it, if you tried it and weren’t successful I’d like to hear that too and what you did instead.
--"Power" to me means pulling at least two o-linemen from the back side. Releasing him to a Linebacker isn't "Power." I don't send my o-linemen to "2nd level" because I don't like the athletic mismatch. I'm not sure what you'd like tips on because I have no idea what "Power" looks like to you: what the assignments are, what blocking scheme you use, whether you use 2 or 3-point stance (which dictates depth)...
--Dave
"The Greater the Teacher, the More Powerful the Player."
The Mission Statement: "I want to show any young man that he is far tougher than he thinks, that he can accomplish more than what he dreamed and that his work ethic will take him wherever he wants to go."
#BattleReady newhope
i guess my biggest concern is that a lot of teams in my league love blitzing the A Gap and with my C and OT covered, I don’t really trust them to get down and cover that open gap.
--Blitzing the A-Gap isn't a concern when you're down blocking. There's no reason a Tackle (at any age) can't cover the A-Gap on a down block provided your splits aren't outrageous and you aren't crowding the LOS. From a fundamental-design aspect, the biggest problem I've seen from players attempting to pull at the youth level is that they are split too far apart and are too close to the LOS. Another lineman cannot cover that gap because their coach has given them a poor leverage angle.
I was thinking I could just drill the OGs to stay if they see the Mike creeping up to blitz. Am I missing something?
--Well I certainly wouldn't teach that, if you paid me to. First, your judgment and your player's judgement can vary greatly on what he "should" do. And what if Mike blitzes without creeping? What if you (the coach) see Mike creeping but the player pulling doesn't? A down block takes the guess work out of it and you're setting up your player for failure if he guesses wrong. Don't make this out to be harder than it is. Pulling is simply an assignment; not a read. If you assign him to pull, assign another player to cover.
--Dave
"The Greater the Teacher, the More Powerful the Player."
The Mission Statement: "I want to show any young man that he is far tougher than he thinks, that he can accomplish more than what he dreamed and that his work ethic will take him wherever he wants to go."
#BattleReady newhope
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