Progressing Collegiate Football Preparation Routines

Staying Hydrated

Dehydration should never appear on the football field if both the players and coaches have good habits. Make sure that during the football practice players have their water bottles handy and are drinking often. Water should never be used as a motivational or reward type basis. Keeping everyone happy and hydrated will go a long way to a successful practice.

Conditioning: Five dot jump

Conditioning is meant to increase speed, endurance, and reaction time on the football field. The intent of this drill is to increase accuracy, timing, and speed. The drill set up is a mat or place on the field with 5 dots about a foot away from each other forming an X shape, exactly in the same shape as you would see diamonds arranged on a number five card in a poker deck.

This drill begins with the player starting on two of the outer dots and jumps feet together to the middle dot and then out again to the edge dots separating their feet. Next proceed around the dots one at a time jumping with one leg only, and then change to the other leg. The next step is jumping on all five dots with both feet together. The last phase is really returning to the original starting phase of jumping together and apart, however this time the athlete will change directions after they have jumped to the outer dots. Because this drill is intended for accuracy and speed, it is recommended that players start out slow and deliberate and then speed up to their maximum time.

Gauntlet Drill for Ball Security

There is nothing more important for offense to learn great ball security. This of course is even more important for wide receivers and running backs as they handle the ball more than most. One drill that has been used several times to improve ball security is called the gauntlet drill. The point to the gauntlet drill is to have a player run through several opponents that try to dislodge the football. Each of the defenders can line up in any way making the ball carrier run any sort of patterns with the ball, the point is to pose a challenge to hold onto the ball. Run each of the gauntlet drills slow and then speed them up as each player gets better at effective ball security.

Ball handling Drill: Hot potato

Ball handling is one of the most vital skills that a player can have on the field, and this drills goal is to help players get a better feel and control for the football. Players will move the football from one hand to another hand around differing parts of their body. The drill starts with the head moving the ball in a circular motion from hand to hand, then proceeds to go under the arms, around the waist, then the knees, and finally through and in between the players legs.

In this drill the coaches responsibility is to observe the smoothness of the drill, and to also shout commands of body positions to move the ball around, and also to reverse the direction of the football. Changing the direction of the football ensures that they dont form a habit, and that they remained focused on the ball and controlling the movement.

We recommend that you end this drill by doing several football drops. This means that the player will drop the football and retrieve it again quickly. They also should rotate which hand they are using to pick it up so that you can increase ball handling with both.