Description

Jay Long, Head Coach, Chadron State

Full video on Glazier Drive:  Teaching Your O-Linemen a Progression on How to Stay Low

OVERVIEW

This transcript is from an offensive line coaching clinic walking through a progressive teaching sequence called the "power walk circuit," designed to teach O-linemen proper leverage, movement, and drive-block technique using a "silverback" body position as the foundation.

PHASE 1: THE SILVERBACK POSITION

The base teaching point is a low, powerful stance ("silverback position") — pad level down, chest/pec on the knee, elbows pinched in tight to form strong "triangle and arch" shapes. Linemen move at a 45-degree angle rather than pushing defenders straight back, since defensive linemen are too skilled to be moved backward directly. The key movement cue is driving the second step up through the crotch, which generates the walking/driving motion. Base width matters — feet should track like railroad rails; too narrow causes tipping, too wide limits mobility, and too much weight on the toes causes falling forward.

PHASE 2: PUSH THE CAR

Once players can hold and move in the silverback position, they progress to "push the car," where a defender sits back into a "wall sit" against the blocker (defender facing away, so he's forced to sit into the block rather than stand up naturally). The lineman's job is to maintain low pad level, tight elbows, and square shoulders (never turning the shoulders, which is described as a cardinal sin in zone-blocking schemes) while walking the defender out. The coach stresses coaching the "dummy" defenders as much as the blockers, and highlights that this drill format (small group boxes) maximizes reps and minimizes standing around during limited practice/indy time.

PHASE 3: WINDSHIELD WIPER

This final phase corrects poor head placement/aiming points. If a lineman's head ends up on the wrong side of the defender after his steps, he "rips" his head across to the correct (playside) aiming point — compared to a wrestler's duck-under — timed with his third step as part of the drive.

COACHING NOTES

• Individual players are called out by number with specific technique feedback (good pad level, base width, hand/elbow placement).
• The system is built to be teachable to all experience levels at once — clips show veteran, all-conference players next to first-rep freshmen ("the good, the bad, the ugly") within the same drill.
• The coach emphasizes repetition efficiency: using grouped box drills to keep every player working simultaneously rather than standing in line, which matters given shrinking practice/indy time as a head coach.

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