Its been awhile........

Busy lives can often keep you away from the things you rather do or learn about.  Which has definitely been the case for me.  Believe me, i'd much rather be learning about coaching football than providing wonderful dining experiences to customer.  But enough with the excuses, this is football.

When I last wrote about my experiences I was going through each of the positions.  I am going to continue to do this, but I am going to skip a couple that I have the least interest in coaching.  Today I am going to talk about the receiver position.  This includes wide receivers and tight ends.  Now I have already talked about pass catching as being an essential skill in the game of football, so I am going to talk about the other elements of the positions such as pre-snap positioning, route running, and blocking.  All three of these skills along with catching the football are necessary to play this position.

Lining up before the snap

The receiver positions can be complicated in the sense that there are multiple types of receivers that are labeled according to where they line on the field.

X receiver is the player that is usually furthest away from the ball lined up on the line of scrimmage to meet the required 7 men on the line.

Y receiver is the Tight end position that usually lines up on the opposite line of the X receiver that can lines up in either the 2-point or 3-point stances.

The Z receiver is lined up on the opposite side of the X receiver on the other side of the TE and begins play off the line of scrimmage, but can line up inside the X receiver to turn into a slot (SL) receiver.

Route Running

Once the ball is snapped there are several routes the receiver can take to find an opening in the defense where the QB can get the ball to them.  The best way to simplify it is by assigning each route a number.  Using a passing tree simplifies the routes even further for beginning players because it gives you a visual to remember what each route does.  The even numbers represent  routes that lead the receiver to the inside while the odd numbers represent routes that lead the receiver to the sidelines.  Another use for the passing tree is to simplify the play calling.  If the QB or the coach calls a Z 8, then the Z receiver knows that he is running a post route.  The higher the number the longer the route.  7,8,9 are deeper routes that the receiver runs.

Run Blocking

One of the underrated skill a receiver needs is the ability to block down field for the ball carrier.  For the tight end position, players should practice blocking with the offensive linemen because they both positions start in the 3 point stance.  The wideouts usually block the defender directly in front of them but there are designed plays where the receiver block down on the defender whose has containment also known as a "crackback"