Stalk blocking is one of the hardest techniques to master in football. It requires blocking defensive backs or linebackers in the open field and anticipating where the running back might run.
In this article, we will show you stalk blocking drills that you can do with your youth and high school football team that will help them instantly become better blockers.
Stalk Blocking Drills
We’ll break down each drill above and explain why teaching from the ground up is necessary when teaching stalk blocking.
Wide Base Approach Drill
This stalk blocking drill is from the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The purpose of this drill is to run forward as fast as possible. When the player is 2-3 yards from the defensive back, they should begin widening their base. The reason you want your players to widen their base is so they can move laterally and make an effective block.
If their feet are too close together, they will have no leverage to withstand any type of force when the defensive back tries to shed them.
Hand Fitting Drill
The hand-fitting stalk blocking drill teaches your players to properly fit their hands to the defensive back as they change angles. There are four main types of angle stalk blocks:
- Head-on
- Left
- Right
- Crackback
In crackback situations, it’s important to teach your players how to block the defender safely without drawing a penalty. This is where we teach “Airplane” blocking. The wide receiver (WR) will put his hands out to the side as if he’s mimicking an airplane and safely cut off the angle of the defensive back.
This will help you to avoid illegal blocks that will penalize your team.
Chaos Drill
The chaos drill is designed to help your wide receivers maintain a wide base when facing physicality from defensive backs.
Defensive backs are taught to push, pull, and be violent with the wide receiver. In this drill, you will learn to maintain balance, leverage, and grip on the defensive back while chaos ensues.
Lead Blocker Drill
This drill comes from Coach Eddie Rodrigues. Coach Rodrigues took a popular tackling drill and made it into a blocking drill.
Every player has an assigned cone to go around. The defensive player is going to run around the cone and try to shed the offensive player.
The first offensive player is the blocker, while the second player is the pass catcher. The pass catcher must read the stalk block from the player in front of them and run to the open space accordingly.
Stalk Block After Catch Drill
This stalk blocking drill takes what we learned in previous drills and applies them to real-life game scenarios.
The play starts by running any pass play in your playbook. Once the ball is caught, the other 2-3 players turn into blockers and need to run as fast as possible to stalk block an opponent.
This drill will help your players run full speed to block someone so they can help out their other receivers. These types of drills will help your players to run to the ball carrier after the ball is caught.
Inside our membership vIQtory Pro, you’ll find exact instructions and tutorials on how to turn average wide receivers into dominant targets that can win vs any coverage.
To learn more about wide receiver techniques, read these articles next:
How To Coach Wide Receivers (Complete Guide)
How To Coach Wide Receiver Route Running
How To Coach Different Types Of Catches