What is a Stunt in Football (Full Explanation and Examples)

By Coach Martin | Miscellaneous

Defensive coaches always look for ways to keep the offense off-balance.

They can’t just have every defender cover the player they line up opposite of on every play. If they did, it would be easy for the offense to design plays to take advantage of this.

Similarly, it’s not a good idea to have all the defensive linemen and linebackers charge straight ahead on every play either, as it would be easy for offensive coaches to design blocking schemes to counter this.

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What is a Nickelback in Football? (Role and Responsibilities)

By Coach Martin | Football Positions

The nickelback was once a defensive player who would only see the field in obvious passing downs.

In these situations, the defense would sub out a defensive linemen or linebacker for a fifth member of the secondary.

This way the defense is able to protect against extra receivers on the field.

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45 Football Drills for All Ages, Skill Levels, and Positions

By Coach Martin | Football Drills

Having a list of effective football drills is important for every coach.

Football is a sport that, maybe more so than a lot of others, takes a specific set of skills that are unique to the sport.

While characteristics such as speed, agility and strength are all important, there are a lot of football skills that only pertain to certain positions.

That’s why in practice, youth football teams will start by breaking players into their certain positions for individual drills.

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What is a Slant Route in Football? (Full Explanation)

By Coach Martin | Football Routes

The Slant route is one of the most common passing routes in football.

It’s a quick-hitting route that is designed to create separation for the receiver from the defender soon after the ball is snapped.

The hope of the Slant route is that a quick completion is made to guarantee at least a few yards gained.

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What is a Seam Route in Football? (Full Explanation)

By Coach Martin | Football Routes

The Seam route is one of the most effective passing routes that can be run by an inside receiver in football.

Unlike some of the other basic passing routes, the Seam route refers to the position on the field from which it’s run rather than the actual route itself.

It’s a passing route that’s run “between the numbers” by either a tight end of an inside slot receiver.

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What is a Sluggo Route in Football? (Full Explanation)

By Coach Martin | Football Routes

The Sluggo route is a slightly more complicated passing route than the nine basic routes that are in the route tree.

That’s because the Sluggo route is what’s known as a “combination route”.

In essence, the Sluggo is a combination of two of the passing routes in the route tree — the Slant route and the Go route.

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What is a Drag Route in Football? (Full Explanation)

By Coach Martin | Football Routes

The Drag route is a short route over the middle of the field, much like a quick Slant route.

In some ways, it’s similar to a Slant in the way the receiver will break toward the middle of the field after taking only a step or two forward off the line of scrimmage.

In some ways, it’s also similar to a Dig route, in that the direction the receiver will run is more of a straight line from sideline to sideline rather than a diagonal direction.

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What is a Hitch Route in Football? (Full Explanation)

By Coach Martin | Football Routes

The Hitch is a short passing route.

In most cases, it will only be run about five yards downfield.

As such, it’s obviously meant to gain a few yards when the offense needs to move the ball.

The Hitch route is also a quick-hitting route. It won’t take long for the receiver to run it from start to finish.

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What is a Curl Route in Football? (Full Explanation)

By Coach Martin | Football Routes

The Curl route is one of the basic passing routes on the route tree.

It is a mid-range-depth passing route that’s designed to result in a relatively easy completion for the offense.

It’s not meant to necessarily gain a lot of yards, or result in a huge game-changing play.

Instead, the Curl route is meant to keep the ball moving down the field.

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What is a Post Route in Football? (Full Explanation)

By Coach Martin | Football Routes

The Post route is fairly simple to teach.

It requires receivers to have a lot of speed to create separation between defenders.

It also requires the receiver to make a nice cut move to fake out the defender, and keep him guessing as to which way the receiver is going.

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