The inside zone play has been a staple of our offense for years. The inside zone is a downhill, attitude run, where you want to create vertical displacement of defenders.
How many times have you called a run concept, only to have the back not see the crease? Or, how many times have you given up a TFL on a run through because one of your offensive linemen did not see the backer run through? The V Drill helped us eliminate many of these mistakes and enjoy much more success.
On the inside zone, we are going to use zone combination blocks. A zone combination block has 2 offensive linemen responsible for a down guy to a linebacker. We are going to get hip-to-hip and create movement on the down guy, with our eyes on the linebacker. Our offensive line must have great eye discipline to see the movement of the backer.
When we install inside zone, we like to scaffold our instruction. We start with individual drills, then we work in pods. When we work in pods, we will have drill we call the V Drill. We start with the OL working the drill in indy, through a teaching progression. Next, we move to a group POD, where have a running back working with 2 offensive linemen. We will have 2 defensive players, 1 down guy, and one linebacker.
While this is happening, the running back presses the heals off his combo block. As the backer fills, he puts his foot in the ground and works opposite. He must press the heels before he makes his cut. We don't want him to cut too early, as this puts the offensive line in a bad position. We want the running back to keep his shoulders square on the drill and burst vertical once he makes his cut.
The key to this drill being successful is the defense giving a good look. We want the defensive linemen to give resistance, but to remember this is an offensive drill. We want the linebacker to fill tight. We want him to take a 2 count before he fills. This allows the 2 linemen on the combo to establish their fit and create movement. As we get more experienced, we can add to the difficulty of the drill.
This is a great way for us to teach the inside zone with our offensive line, while also working with the running backs on vision. We get to work several skills that are important in the teaching progression, so this can be a successful play.
Key Coaching Points For The OL
Every rep we are going to be providing feedback. This is feedback where we are using one of our coaching cues, or asking our players to "coach themselves" and tell us what they need to improve. They will respond with one of these coaching cues. We have a couple of coaching cues were are going to use every time we do this drill.
"Get HIPPO", which means get hip to hip, is something you will hear every rep. Below is an example of getting hippo. The combo on the left is working to get hip to hip. The combo on the right is leaving too much space.
"Four Eyes To Backer" is the next most used coaching cue. We are reminding them to get their eyes on the backer they are working to. Sometimes you hear "2 Hands on the Man, 4 Eyes on the backer."
"Deliver the down guy" is a cue to remind them not to chase the 2nd level player. Drive the down guy into the backer.
"Don't hog the block" is a coaching point we use to remind them of their hand placement. We don't want our inside hand across the midpoint of the defender. Both players hands should be on the inside of the breast plate.
And of course, the classic, "Finish" which is our cue to bring our hips forward and climb the defender to get him on his heels.
Running Back Coaching Points
For the running backs, we are reminding them to "Press the Heels", which means we want them to get to the heels of the OL before making a cut. If they make their cut before they get to the heel line, the linebacker is going to react before the two linemen have delivered the down guy to the backer. If you are struggling with your inside zone, it is often because your back is making his decision too deep in the backfield.
"Patient to, Explode Through" is another key coaching point for the running back. We want them to be under control as they press the heels of the OL. They are doing this as they are gradually gathering speed to explode as they make their cut. If they re too fast into the OL, they again make it tougher on their OL.
"Keep Your Eyes Up"Your back will never be able to hit a hole he can't see. You have to coach your back to keep his eyes up as he presses the heels. Eye discipline is the number one reason players miss giant holes in games. Coach them on it in practice.
We also coach the heck out of ball security. If you want to see some ball security drills you can actually use, here is a video I put together on YouTube.
OL Teaching Progression
When we initially teach the drill, we will pre-fit our offensive lineman. They will be hip to hip, each blocking 1 half of the down guy, with their eyes on the backer. They will work vertical, closing space between the down guy and the backer. I will then give a command for the backer to move downhill to one side or the other. The offensive line then works their take/overtake. As we initially work this drill, we do not have a running back in the drill. Everything is very controlled as we improve our technique and understanding of the concept.
Before we progress to take overtake, we teach our OL how to get into a hip to hip position, or what we call HIPPO. We work a jam stem, where the two lineman are taking their first step to into a position to get hip to hip. our offensive line to take what we call a "Jam" step to get hip to hip. They are going to work on closing space. If we are struggling with our combos, it is usually one of two things. First, we are allowing too much space by not getting hip to hip. Second, one or both OL do not have their eyes on the backer. We constantly reinforce "4 Eyes to Backer."
I love this drill because it fits our inside zone concept. We use this not only for inside zone, but for any of our gap scheme concepts where we are going to slow rotate combos to backside backers. This drill gives us tremendous mileage, and helps us in many ways. When we added the V Drill to our offensive practice schedule, we saw a huge increase in our yards per carry, yards per game, and explosive runs. I highly recommend fitting this drill into your offensive practice schedule.
Game Planning Resources
A few years ago I was speaking at a clinic about our game planning and an FBS coordinator asked me after the talk to go through what we do. I shared with him our offensive game planning resource and he used it through the spring. He emailed me back that it was a game changer. It was an honor to have him use these documents. After speaking at clinics and hearing that more coaches didn't know where to start, I decided to make these available.
When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation!
Last year I got hooked up with CoachTube, and put together three courses for offensive football coaches. I put together two courses on RPO's, and a course on Building An Elite System of Communication. All of these courses will help you to score more points!
https://coachtube.com/users/coachvint
The course on communication gives you a detailed approach to your gameday communication. I give you a system and a process to improve the quality of conversations, leading to improved play calling on game day. This course has received outstanding reviews from coaches at all level of football. A coach with multiple state titles told me this course helped them to be much more efficient and explosive this season.
My two RPO courses take you through a systematic process of installing RPO's into your offensive system. RPO's put the defense in conflict, forcing them to defend all 53 yards of width and all 6 skill players every single play. I not only give you a system, but I teach you the methods to develop your own RPO concepts.
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