TEACHING THE DOUBLE TEAM COMBO BLOCK

By TIM KEPPLE, OFFENSIVE LINE COACH/OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR, IMMOKALEE HIGH SCHOOL, IMMOKALEE FLORIDA

I would like to start by thanking Immokalee head coach Jerrod Ackley, the Immokalee principal Mary Murray and Assistant Principal Jim Ragusa for their great support. We teach this technique to our offensive linemen when we want to keep them square on the double team before getting off to the next level. This is not the type of double team combo blocks we use on our outside zone plays, which is a separate teaching progression.

1. Teaching the Double Team

The biggest problem with most double team blocks is getting split by the defensive lineman. We emphasize getting and keeping our hips together. Additionally, I put a high priority on keeping the man side leg up.

Progression:

1.Gallop

2.Gallop with resistance

3.Hip slam with shield and gallop

4.Hip slam with shield and gallop adding a defender for resistance

Gallop:

I was introduced to this technique 3 years ago and started teaching 2 years ago. We get much better movement off the line of scrimmage with this new technique. The best way to describe this technique is to think of the knights from Monty Python on their imaginary horses galloping through the forest (only with a flatter back). One leg is up and that is the strong leg (man side leg is up). The back leg is for pushing, you are not going to go real fast with this technique but you will have more power. Each lineman will learn to gallop with either leg forward and either leg as the push off leg. Once the players have learned the basic movement we move on to the next step.

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Gallop with resistance:

The next step in the progression is learning to gallop with some resistance. At first I use a player holding a shield. He will give the two linemen working somewhat in conjunction a little resistance. For this part of the progression I am mainly interested in getting movement with a proper galloping gait.

Hip Slam with a shield and gallop:

We start the next progression on air. I stand behind the linemen and on my command they move their feet so that the hips come together. As they start to move I place a shield between their hips. They squeeze their hips together and with the shield leg up, they must hold the shield between their hips and gallop for five yards.

Hip Slam with a shield and gallop adding a defender for resistance:

The final part of this progression is to add a defender. We first have the defender use a shield for light resistance. As the offensive linemen become more proficient at the drill the defender will give greater resistance up to the point of live contact. We still insist on keeping the shield held between the hips.

2. Teaching the double team to the combo

Once the double team part of the block is learned we now move on to the combo block. We will still use a shield to hold between the hips for the double team part.

Combo progression:

Gap defender and gap linebacker

Gap defender and movement from gap linebacker

Shade defender and offset linebacker

Shade defender with slant movement and offset linebacker with and without blitz

Gap defender and gap linebacker:

In order to perfect the foot movement we first put the defensive lineman in a gap between the offensive linemen. We do this to facilitate the movement of both offensive linemen to get to the proper blocking position. In the past on the inside zone I had both linemen step the same way. For example on a zone right play all the offensive linemen would step with their right foot. On a gap defensive lineman one man would take a larger step and the other would take a replacement step. I now allow the linemen to take steps that put themselves in the best position possible to handle to double team. Versus a gap defensive lineman the outer most man might take a step with his inside foot whiles the inner most lineman is stepping with his outside foot. They bring their hips together as I push the shield between their hips. They must hold the shield as they drive the down man. The first part of this progression is to drive the down man into the linebacker. I ask the linebacker not to move during this part of the progression. In an ideal world we would love to drive every down lineman into the gap fitting linebacker. We know this rarely happens, but it does give the lineman an ideal idea of getting GREAT PUSH on the down defender.

Gap defender and movement from gap linebacker:

The next step in the progression is to use movement from the linebacker. I (and most of the O-Line coaches I know) hammer home the point “four hands on the down man four eyes on the linebacker”. I do for the most part still use hands as the primary contact point, teaching a strong punch with the palm of the hand. I will also sometimes use a lazy forearm as a point of contact, however, that is not the point of this particular article.

While both offensive men are double team driving the down lineman they are watching the linebacker. One of the linemen will come off to block the linebacker and the other will take over as a single blocker on the defensive lineman. I am still using a shield between the hips for this phase of the drill.

Shade defender and offset linebacker:

As we move on to the next drills, we shade the defensive lineman and the linebacker. The linebacker shade varies depending on the particular play we are working on. For example, on the inside zone the LB may be in a slight shade on the second lineman. If we are working on the power play we might move the linebacker into a Backside linebacker area. I coach the “linebacker” (we service ourselves in all these drills) in movement whether it is for a zone play, isolation play or power.