The â€œPunch & Driveâ€ Drill for Special Teams

The Setup:

1. Set up with 2 players facing each other, with the line between them.

2. The player facing the end zone is the offensive blocker/kickoff return personnel. The other player is the kickoff coverage player.

The Breakdown:

You have probably noticed that many times on the kickoff return, the unit gets their hands on the opponent, but they don’t want to move their feet. The kickoff coverage player’s main objective is to bowl over the blocker. In order to do this, the kickoff coverage player needs to be in a good fit position, he needs to move his feet upon contact, and at the same time he needs to drive his guy slightly up the field. We don’t care if he drives the blocker to the right or the left – we just want him to get the guy moving, with a focus on the fact that he doesn’t slip off.

If you are having a problem with coverage players slipping off, you can add this element into the drill. When this happens, you are in a situation similar to a punt return, which means your punt return techniques apply. The blocking player will continue his pursuit of the return player, and be ready to use his inside arm to wing it across the chest of the returner when the opportunity is presented.

If the blocker gets to far ahead of the coverage player, the blocker needs to react quickly and retrace to recover his blocking position.