I would first like to thank the AFCA for giv-
Selling the vertical
ing me this wonderful opportunity to
share some of my thoughts on wide receiv-
er play with so many great coaches. I
would also like to take time to recognize
the great group of guys that I work with at
Northern Illinois University, and the 2002
Mid-American Conference Coach of the
Year, Joe Novak.
What I would like to discuss is what we
at Northern Illinois University believe to be
the keys to playing the wide receiver posi-
tion in our offense. The topics that I would
like to cover all build on one another with
one being no greater than the other.
The topics I would like to discuss with
you are:
1. Stance & Start
2. Route Expression
3. Release Techniques
4. Ball Catching
5. Perimeter Blocking
Stance
We teach what we call an aggressive
stance. Our stance is aggressive in pos-
ture. We teach a staggered stance with our
inside foot up with approximately three feet
of lateral separation from the back foot.
The front and back knees should be bent
with a majority of the weight on the front
foot. There should be a slight forward bend
at the waist with the hands raised protect-
ing the chest splitting our vision between
the defender and the ball.
There is not a specified percentage of
weight that is given to the receiver to have
on his front foot. Instead, we instruct the
receiver to try to push the front toe cleat
through the ground while doing the same
with the front toe cleat on the trail foot. By
doing this we create a balanced stance for
the receiver and puts him in a position were
he can explode off the line of scrimmage at
the snap of the ball.
The key coaching points of the stance
are we want to start in our ending position,
thus reducing false steps and wasted
motion. For a good solid stance, the receiv-
er has his hands up with a slight forward
lean at the waist. His feet are approximate-
ly three feet apart so he will not false step
on the release. His vision is split between
the defensive back and the ball.
Start/“Drive”
This is what we term the “Drive” phase.
In this phase, we want we want to explode
off the line of scrimmage like a sprinter run-
ning a 100-meter dash.
Wide
route, the wide receiver must close the
cushion of the defender forcing him to get
Receiver
out of his back pedal.
This is the reason that we emphasize
the forward lean, knee bend and the press-
ing of the front toe cleats in the ground to
generate more vertical drive off the line of Play the
Hu ski e W ay
scrimmage. We term this phase the drive
phase to build a mental picture for our
receivers sprinting down the field. We
emphasize keeping a proper body lean in
order to be able to breakdown, cut and
accelerate out of routes at or near top
speed.
The key coaching points of the drive
phase are to explode off the line of scrim-
mage, concentrate on maintaining forward
body lean throughout the route, and to
attack and close the defensive back’s
cushion throughout the route into the break
point.
Route Expression
Our offense relies heavily on our
receivers getting good vertical stretch, run -
ning precise routes, and being able to cre-
ate separation from defenders by transi-
tioning in and out of breaks quickly. We
emphasize to our receivers that we want to
drive in and run out of cuts. What this
means is that we want to get to top speed
as soon as possible once the ball is
snapped.
As we reach our break point, we want to
“snap” our chest down over our toes while
keeping our eyes up staring through the
defender. The snap aspect of the break-
down phase is used to redirect our momen-
tum from going forward to going down into
our break point. It is key to keep the head
and eyes up to maintain body balance and
to keep the defensive back from jumping
the route. We use the angle cut drill
(Diagram 1) and the five-yard finish cut drill
(Diagram 2) with our receivers.
Diagram 1: Angle Cut Drill
Purpose: To demonstrate the proper
body position to get in out of cuts at differ-
ent angles.
 Procedure: Players line up at first cone.
On coach’s command, player reaches
cone, they should begin to drop their hips
and butt while pumping their arms to quick-
ly decelerate and explode to the next
cone.As the player drives to the next cone,
he will have to adjust body position to “run
in and out of cut” defending on angle of the
next cut.
Diagram 2: Five-Yard Finish Cuts
Purpose: To demonstrate to the players
the correct way to run in and out of a cut
without taxing their legs.
Procedure: Players line up five yards
from break point in two-point stance. On
coach or quarterback’s command, the wide
receiver runs to breakpoint (five yards from
the start).
Coaching Points: Instruct players to
get good push off the line. You want to
emphasize the aspect of running in and out
of cut, pumping arms and exploding out of
cut to keep separation, while locating the
ball.
As the wide receiver snaps his shoul-
ders down, he should begin to drop his butt
and drive his plant foot into the ground
making sure to keep it within the framework
of his body at all times. The plant foot is
defined as the foot opposite of the direction
that you wish to break. The wide receiver
should concentrate on maintaining arm
movements that simulates the movement
used when running, which we term “bang-
ing the drums.”
Most receivers will drop their arms or
stick them outside the framework of their
body, which slows the transition out of the
break and gives obvious clues that will tip
off the defender. During the breakdown
phase of the route we do not want to lose
much of the speed that we have built up
during the drive phase. Rather, we want to
downshift until we have our speed under
control to execute the cut allowing the
receiver to “run out” of the cut. The wide
receiver should begin to transition out of
the break once his plant foot is firmly into
the ground.
The arm opposite of the plant foot
should thrown back opening his shoulders
and snapping the “chin” to the quarterback
allowing the wide receiver to continue to
run out of the cut. To help our receivers with
the aspect of driving the plant foot and
“banging the drums” we use the four-cone
drill (Diagram 3).
Diagram 3: Four-Cone Cuts
Purpose: To demonstrate proper body
position to effectively run in and out of
break.
Procedure: Players line up at first cone.
On coach’s command, player runs a con-
trolled speed to next cone. As player runs a
controlled speed to next cone, they should
begin to drop their hips and butt while
pumping their arms to quickly decelerate
and explode to the next cone.
The key to this phase is the receiver get-
ting his chin to the quarterback. We believe
that by teaching this you force the receiver
to focus the eyes faster and keep and
maintain separation.
Release Techniques
When facing press technique, the wide
receiver must be able to execute an effec-
tive release. This release occurs on the line
of scrimmage, which we term as the prima-
ry release. When the defense attempts to
play press technique on a wide receiver,
they believe they are better than the receiv-
er. We teach our players to take this per-
sonally and attack them from the outset.
Our primary release we teach is the “chop.”
We teach this release to our receivers in a
three-step progression.
The first step in the progression is to
bring the back foot forward slightly past bal-
ance of the front foot and cross the line of
scrimmage. We then want to jab step with
our front foot attacking his leverage. We
refer to this as “inching up,” meaning that
we are inching up on the defensive back
with short, quick, aggressive steps to attack
the defensive back and get him off balance
and to force him to react to us. If done cor-
rectly the defensive back has to show you
something or he will get beat for sure. We
always want to be the aggressors.
The second step in the progression is to
locate the defender’s hands, and break and
control the post arm. We term the post arm
as the arm the defender will use to execute
the initial stab on the receiver. To be able
to control and break the post arm, the
receiver must get his eyes focused on the
defenders hands to identify which arm he
will use in the initial stab.
As we begin to break the post arm, we
want to use the arm to the side of our
release to gain control of the post arm. We
instruct our receivers to aim to gain control
of the post arm between the wrist and the
elbow. We use this as our control point
because this is the weakest point of the
arm. By gaining control at this point you will
be able to control and throw the defender
off balance.
In the final step in the progression, we
want to use the arm opposite of the release
to violently chop the “catch” arm of the
defensive back. We term the catch arm as
the arm the defensive back uses after the
initial stab has been given. This chop must
happen within the framework of the body.
We do not want to get over extended and
open ourselves up to the defender. After we
have executed this final phase we want to
establish our vertical line and get into our
route. By establishing the vertical line you
force the defender to open his hips putting
him into a trail position, thus leaving him at
the mercy of the wide receiver.
The key coaching point of the chop
release is to attack the defender with short,
quick, aggressive moves up the field. The
more aggressive we are the less aggres-
sive the defensive back will be.
Ball Catching
All receivers need confidence in order to
the catch the ball consistently under pres-
sure. Proper practice and preparation are
prime factors in developing confidence. We
teach our receivers that you always want to
catch the ball with your eyes first. Meaning
that, before your hands have a chance to
touch the ball, you must first locate it with your
eyes and track it all the way into your hands.
We teach our receivers that you want to
have “big eyes” focusing on the front point
of the ball trying to catch the “fat” of the ball.
We always want to attack the football when
it is in the air. This allows the receiver to
maintain the separation that he has worked
to develop. It is also important the receiver
tries to catch the football within the frame-
work of his body.
 By attacking the football in the air the
wide receiver will be able to accomplish
this task a majority of the time. By catching
the football within the framework of the
body it will allow the receiver to have a bet-
ter chance to run after the catch thus
increasing his big play ability. When the ball
is in the air the receiver must have the “my-
ball attitude.” This means that he is going to
do whatever it takes to make the catch,
regardless of what type of throw it is or
where it is.
When teaching receivers the intricacies
of catching the football, we give two basic
starting points. The first being if the ball is
from the numbers up, squeeze the thumbs
and forefingers of both hands together
forming a triangle. The second rule is if the
ball is from the mid-numbers or lower,
press the little fingers of both hands togeth-
er forming a cup for the ball. Some of the
drills that we do to improve our receiver’s
ball catching skills are the “picture catch”
(Diagram 4).
Diagram 4: Picture Catches
Four receivers pair up with four quarter-
back’s, facing each other about 10 yards
apart. The coach controls the drill with five
commands:
Ready: Alerts quarterback to get in a
throwing position.
Go: Quarterbacks release ball to receiver.
Catch: Receiver catches ball and holds
that position until next command.
Tuck: Receiver secures ball away and
keeps head and eyes locked into ball.
Toss it back: Receiver tosses ball back
to quarterback.
In this drill we emphasize the receiver
looking the ball all the way into his hands.
Upon the ball reaching the hands, we
instruct the receiver to firmly catch the ball,
looking at the position of the hands on the
ball all the way to the tuck position. This
drill allows the receiver to learn to track the
ball all the way into his hands.
Other drills that we include on our daily
catch routine are the over the shoulder
drill and the distraction drill (Diagrams 5
and 6).
Diagram 5: Over the Shoulder
Purpose: The purpose of this drill is to get
the receiver acquainted with catching the ball
over his shoulder using different methods.
Description: For best results, let the
players run into the end zone to place
emphasis on catching the ball for the
touchdown. Players start to run at half
speed toward the end zone looking inside
for the ball. The ball is thrown in a high arc
over the outside shoulder. the receiver has
to adjust to the ball by either fading with the
ball or turning his hips, shoulders and head
around to catch the ball.
Coaching Points: Emphasis is placed
on body control, quick turning of the head,
shoulders and hips and to keep the arms
up when turning around.
Diagram 6: Distraction Drill
One or two players are lined up eight
yards in front of the net facing each other
(one yard apart). The receiver runs about
three-quarter speed behind them and tries
to catch the ball in his hands. The two play-
ers in front, wave their hands in front of the
ball but do not try to touch it. This drill is run
from both sides.
Perimeter Blocking
Perimeter blocking at the receiver posi-
tion requires a want-to mentality. As we all
know, it does not take great skill to be an
effective blocker, rather it takes great
desire. We always talk with our players
about the difference between a good
receiver and a great receiver is their ability
to block. Good perimeter blocking will drive
the run game of any offense making it more
effective. It is most times the difference
between 20-yard runs becoming touch-
downs.
We teach perimeter blocking in a two-
step progression. The first part of the pro-
gression is what we term “form and fit.” In
this phase, we instruct our receivers to
begin to break down no more then two to
three yards from the defensive back. We
want to be under control in a good football
position allowing us to mirror the move of
the defender. Once we have come to bal-
ance we want to engage contact, and to do
this we use the base of our palms to strike
the breastplate trying to insert our fingers
under the defensive back’s armpits.
We always want to keep our headgear
below the defensive back’s, focusing on his
mid-section. We call this the proper “fit”
position. The second phase of this progres-
sion is the “fit and drive”, in this phase we
want to go with the momentum of the
defender. We will fight pressure with pres-
sure. Whichever way the defender wants to
go once we have properly established the
fit position.
We will use the defensive backs
momentum to the ball against him and
“drive” him past the play. Our blocking phi-
losophy is that we want to always maintain
contact with the defender using his
momentum against him. Thus allowing the
runningback to have clear running lanes to
make the proper cuts. Drills that we use to
drill our perimeter blocking techniques are
the mirror drill (Diagram 7) and the stalk
drill (Diagram 8).
Diagram 7: Mirror Drill
Purpose: To improve the ability of the
receivers to stay in front of the defensive
back they are supposed to block.
Description: Pair your receivers up
between the cones (which are 5-8 yards
apart). Let one receiver be the defensive
back and have the other one mirror him.
Let them go for 6-8 seconds, then switch
duties. The defensive back may turn his
hips and do everything to fake the blocker.
the defensive back might take one or two
attempts to pass the receiver, but should
step back as soon as he feels contact from
the receiver’s hands.
Coaching Points: The blocker should
always keep a good balanced body posi-
tion in front of the defender and never cross
his feet or turn his hips.
The blocker should have his hands
ready to fire out if defensive back tries to
pass him.
Diagram 8
Purpose: To teach and improve run
blocking of receivers versus defensive
backs lined up on them.
Description: Have a receiver lined up
on a given line of scrimmage and anoth-
er receiver lining up as a defensive back
about 6-8 yards deep in front of the
blocker. When the blocker takes off, on
command, the defensive back starts back
pedaling for a few steps, stops and
comes forward, trying to pass the block-
er. the blocker locks on the defensive
back and stays on the block until whistle
or command.
Coaching Points: Receiver has to take
off hard as if going deep to drive the defen-
sive back deep and to close down on him
as quick as possible.
Receiver has to watch the feet of the
defensive back. As soon as they stop, he
has to slow down and be ready for a move
by the defensive back.
In closing, it has been a privilege for me
to share some of my beliefs and thoughts
with you on wide receiver play and to rep-
resent Northern Illinois University. I hope
the thoughts that I have shared benefit you
and your football program. Thank you for
this great opportunity and best of luck in the
2003 football season.

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