Blocking Tutorial

BLOCKING 101: WHAT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO DO

How to legally block: In this 13 second clip we see a great example of proper blocking and pass rushing technique from Shane Akannam in red, and Curtis Teague in blue. Contact is initiated with hands, no contact is made above the neck or below the waist. Shoulders, elbows, and forearms are never used as a way of making contact. Curtis maintains a wide base and proper hand placement to keep Shane at bay. As Shane attempts to gain outside leverage on his way to the quarterback, Curtis gets his outside hand on Shanes outside pec (thats Curtis's left hand on the right side of Shane's chest) and his inside hand on Shane's inside bicep  (Curtis's right hand, shanes left bicep). Once Curtis establishes this position theres really nothing Shane can really do. He's stopped cold. All of this takes place within the first second of the video. And all if it is within the confines of minimal contact blocking in touch football. Shane extends his arm legally and hops around before eventually disengaging completely to reset. Despite being built like a carbon copy of Deacon Jones, he does not resort to bull rushing or head slapping. Shane knows the only road to the quarterback in touch football is through working around blockers, not pushing through them.

In our final video, below, we see Shane fight through what may have been a missed holding penalty by #9 John Watt, and he does so without drawing a penalty on himself by doing anything outside of the limited contact parameters. John attempts to gain the same leverage Curtis had by using proper hand placement on Shane's pec and inside arm. Two things are working against John here, however, and his pass block rep ends up in a sack for a loss. Let's take a closer look at what happens. 

John Watt's first problem is he is not as big as Curtis Teague, so his arms are not long enough to make up for any mistakes against an opponent like Shane who, again, is built like a prototype NFL defensive end. 

Shane plays possum for two full seconds then explodes. His first stride is outside. He then sells an inside move but he's quickly coming back outside. John engages Shane and does do a pretty good job of getting his hands in proper position on Shane... or does he? Left arm on right bicep ✅ right arm on left pec ✅ ...WRONG ❌ 

John's technique is backwards. He should be using his outside hand to engage Shane's outside pec and his inside arm on Shane's inside arm, but he's doing the opposite. This is very bad. As a pass protector, you don't want to be any wider than the outside pec because the rusher can beat you with hand leverage from his outside hand, which we see here. And you also don't want to be tighter because the rusher can simply knock your hand down to get the edge.

John's second mistake on this play is he, unlike Curtis, gives up his base to engage Shane. This occurs at exactly the 0:04 mark. John wants to get two hands on his opponent, but has to contend with Shane's longer arms, and hops into a flat footed stance to do so. Within a second, Shane, using only his hands, is driving right through John. 

They lock up briefly in what may or may not have been a hold. Regardless, John does well to release it quickly and avoid a flag. But Shane, who has kept his outside hand leverage, now uses it to get around John and is able to bring down the quarterback within a second of doing so.