Tools of the Trade: 2-Man Pods for IZ/OZ

Last year, I was put in charge of an OL that never had run zone blocking properly. They had been a Jet/Rocket Wing-T type of offense previously, so Inside and Outside Zone and the technical aspects of the plays were foreign to them. The year before, they were supposed to be running zone blocking, but the technique was not being properly taught. They were use to the routine of sled, chutes, then the group/team part of practice (no real zone blocking technique being developed). Don't get me wrong, there is a time and place for sled and chute work, but these guys were seriously lacking technique due to it being a new offense for them and many were first time varsity guys with zero varsity minutes in a game. So I did some research and development my own little drill to help work the technical aspect of the IZ/OZ, but also have them work in real time situations against real opponents. I used what a lot of OL coaches call "Pods".

Pods are groups of 2-3 OL that will square off against 2-3 defenders in a multitude of situations set up by the coach. Some coaches will use 3 OL like a center, guard, tackle or a center with two guards. I felt it would be more advantageous for us to use 2 OL since 99% of all combinations in zone blocking involve only 2 OL.

I next developed a sequence of defensive alignments that would represent the majority of looks that my OL would see and have to block. I would start with the DL on the outside shoulder of one of the OL and the LB is inside shoulder of that same OL. Then, I would have the DL head up on that same OL with the LB stack over top of the DL. Finally, I would put the DL on the inside shoulder of the same OL with the LB on the outside shoulder of the OL. Once we went through that progression, we had the DL switch over to the other OL, following that same progression, but now running the blocking scheme the opposite way with the OL having opposite roles.

Here is a picture of the basic alignments I would take the OL through:

I would have the OL rotate from the offensive side, to the defensive side, to the back of the line after each alignment. We would go rapid fire through this and usually had 2 groups going at the same time (I would run the upperclassmen group and my assistant OL coach would run the underclassmen). We made sure that we could get through every alignment and progression for both IZ and OZ in about a 15 minute period.

For the IZ progression, the goal was to get push on the DL and get to the LB as fast as you can. So when we had an outside shade with a LB, our goal was to drive the shade with the covered OL and the uncovered OL stepping hard, anticipating an inside stunt by the DL, and then working up to LB. With the stack, the goal is to double the DL up to the stacked LB. If the DL slanted, the OL to the slant would pick him up and the other OL would spike the DL and work up to LB. Finally, with the inside shade and LB outside shoulder, the covered OL is taught to post the DL to give time for the uncovered OL to get there and then work to LB. The posting of the DL also allows for more movement of the DL, which means more room for cutback by the RB. This would all be repeated with the DL and LB being aligned on the other OL and the play direction going the other way.

Here is a diagram of the IZ progression:

For the OZ progression, the goal, if you are covered, is to reach the DL and work up to the LB (the uncovered OL will work to overtake the DL, so you can work to LB). If you cannot reach the DL, you run him and the uncovered DL will work to LB, We want the ball to go to the outside so we need to reach and cutoff the DL/LB. If they are fighting outside, we nee to run with them to occupy them and give the back a running lane. So that is basically the progression with the OZ in pods. The covered OL is looking to reach and work up to LB, while the uncovered is work to overtake the DL. Notice that with the inside shade, the covered OL does not post the DL. Most times we see this alignment, it is to the backside of the play. So we will tell our OL to reach and overtake the DL, but if you cannot reach him, then try to cut him. Alex Gibbs is a big proponent to cutting the backside of the OZ play, so that is where I got the idea of cutting a shade backside like that. To help develop that technique, I would give a shield/pad to the DL in that alignment and allow the OL to work his cut block on the shield/pad.

Here is a diagram of the OZ progression:

There are many things that I love about this drill:

First, I can go at any level of hitting or speed that I want to and you get great work out of it. If you have no pads on and its a walk through pace, it is a great teaching tool for footwork, aiming points, and overall techniques. You can go 1/2 or 3/4 speed to get a great warm-up for the day and still focus on the techniques involved. If you need to light a fire underneath your OL or have a gut check moment, I ramp it up to full go and I tell both sides of the ball to make people look silly. It really can become a slobber-knocker and give you a great look at who is ready to play ball.

Secondly, I can address the skills or techniques, worked on by using sleds or chutes, in this drill. Sleds are great for timing of the get-off, pad level, and foot firing/driving. I can work on all of that against a real opponent who is not flat like a pad and can move/adjust to your block. I like the more realistic fit-up in the pod drill versus a sled. As for the chutes, I may not have boards involved like the chutes, but the players can tell you right away that their feet were too close. The players know when it happens, because they fall of their block easy or they do not get the guy moving.

Thirdly, I can work stunts and blitzes into the progression, which prepares my OL for almost any situation. In the summer, I will start with the defense being static the first couple of times we run the pod drill. After that, I tell the defense to start to slant, stunt, or blitz either on their own or based on where I tell them to go. I feel like with the different alignments and stunting/blitzing prepares my guys for anything. Great example of this preparation was our Week 6 opponent last year. We were expecting a 4-3 defense with a monster back sitting in a B gap. We came out for our first series and they were in a straight 3-3, blitzing just about everyone they could find. Our guys did a great job of picking up every blitz/stunt and our RB had one of his most productive games of the season.


Side Note: Now that I am coaching for a Wing-T team, I am thinking about adapting this for our backside reach block scheme that we run with a lot of plays. The scheme would be basically like running an OZ progression. Something to ponder...

Hopefully, this helps some of you that are looking to run zone blocking and need a drill to help teach/develop the techniques of zone blocking. Please leave a comment below on your thoughts on the drill.