how to improve wide receiver skills

Wide receivers, tight ends and running backs have to possess strong hands and coordination to routinely catch a football. The wide receiver drills below are a good starting point to developing those skills. Take advantage of the opportunities you receive by catching every ball that comes your way. For that reason, to become the best receiver, you need to build a great relationship with your quarterback. I play on the freshman team and there are some 200+ pound guys playing. Also, you can create a rapid fire where you give the quarterback several balls and work your way down all your receivers. Footwork Being a great receiver requires impeccable footwork, which is why we put a huge emphasis on developing footwork techniques. Plus, as you become fatigued, your reactions and decision making will start to slow down. From a combination of physical attributes, flair, and understanding of the game, the wide receiver position is perhaps one of the most challenging ones to master on the pitch. I'm an incoming freshman and I'm 155 lbs, 5' 11 feet tall. Subscribe Share Add to MyCast Is This Your Podcast? How do I avoid man coverage playing football? 0. The drill can … Wide receiver is one of the most glamorous positions in football, but success doesn't come easy. In the same vein, once you catch the football, you need to be aggressive to run over any obstacle that stands between you and that end-zone. Here are some suggestions for improving your chances of success. Get your partner to hold both tennis balls in their hand up above their head and ask them to intermittently drop them one at a time, at random intervals. -- and it requires a lot of work. Football at its heart is all about outstrategizing your opponents, and sure all these guys have pace, power, and flair, but what they have above everything else is good footballing knowledge. I am okay at football but I wanna be BETTER If you guys dont mind, plz tell me what I can do to improve my football skills during the summer? This one is very easy to work on compared to the others. The two coaches share six essential drills for wide receivers. its about ways to improve your wide out skills. And in football, acceleration is everything. Wide receiver drills Flag football is a high-speed game where the clock rarely stops and players are always on the move—especially wide receivers. Most receivers will slow down to take a catch or will need to jump, but the best ones are those who can make the catch and get back up to top speed instantly. Before you can become a good wide receiver, you'll need to research and understand the different wide receiver positions, like split end, flanker, and slot back. This is a footwork drill Ohio State does daily. Wide receivers, and also small people tend to have more speed which you can burn the cornerbacks and safetys. Tight ends need to be able to play as a lineman and a receiver. If you are fast you could play wide receiver, but I would start lifting weights before high school. You still need to have that instinct. By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. 1. Wide receivers and tight ends are the principal players who catch passes in American football, although running backs also are used extensively in every passing offense. To become a great wide receiver, like Edelman, you need to work on your acceleration firstly. One player to model yourself on is the Kansas City Cheifs’ Tyreek Hill. The coach and the QB will design and choose the routes. Flanker. Doing several 20 to 30 yard dashes in a row will improve your ability to catch passes. Beckham Junior is well known for his incredible one-handed catches, showing how soft his hands are to take the ball at top speed. Catching the ball sounds simple enough. So now you’ve got a good understanding of what physical attributes you need to become a great wide receiver, I’m going to run you through some technical skills you’ll need. Give 100% on each play. On the slant route the football is probably not going to come right to you but above you or in front of you. You are built like a lineman but if you are fast and have good hands, you can do a tight end's other job as well. This is the fastest way to improve. Keep your chest big and pointed outward. We’ll start with one of the most essential skills, which is having soft hands. By using our site, you agree to our. And he’s shown through a combination of pace and power that size doesn’t matter. Wide out skills . Focus on the ball all the way to your hands. Watch the ball until it reaches your hands, especially if you are catching over your shoulder. The receiver has to be fast and strong enough to break through a jamming opponent at the line and quickly get open for a pass. wide receiver skills . For advice about catching the ball with "soft hands," keep reading! To avoid man coverage as a wide receiver, you have two options. - TheChampLair.com, That’s why it’s so important to focus on catching ability and developing what many call ‘soft hands.’ To become the best receiver, you essentially need to be able to catch a. ; you need to have cushioned hands to collect the ball’s impact. We know ads can be annoying, but they’re what allow us to make all of wikiHow available for free. 4 skills wide receivers need to create separation at the line of scrimmage. wide receiver skills. A good wide receiver can track the ball all the way into their hands with their eyes. A complete wide receiver knows how to play with and without the ball. and pick the featured episodes for your show. A receiver on the line of scrimmage split one or more steps outside the tackle. It's a tough job -- even a little dangerous! 3. Be physical. Listen to wide receiver skills. Can someone help me get bigger and better within the next seven months? The hands drill is often used in football tryouts to test the catching ability of players. Please help us continue to provide you with our trusted how-to guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker. The ball is not very heavy: "soft" hands will be able to control and contain the ball no matter how hard or how far it's been thrown. Good for all ages. Your feet should be a little more than shoulder width apart, with your toes pointed inwards. When the ball isn’t in the air, it becomes a wide receiver’s duty to saddle up and take on blocking roles. What football position should I be if I'm small? A great receiver is such a complicated combination of traits—agility, body control, strength, quickness, soft hands, physical stamina, concentration, focus, toughness, pride, eye–hand coordination, vision and intelligence. But to improve your thinking while you’re fatigued, try running drills that require you to run long distances while carrying out problem-solving drills too. I am pretty fast at running but I dont think if that is enough. 1 . Check out the video below for an example. He has to break through and past opponents at the line The flanker is on the same side as the tight end, lined up just like a split end but a step or two behind the line. In this guide, I’ll share my top tips on how you can become a great wide receiver. Elimination Drill They will have good footwork to evade defenders and run into space away from tacklers. View all episodes. Receiver is what they call a "skill position," and there's some glory that comes with it, but you have to be pretty tough to withstand the physical abuse that accompanies the position, too. If you’re looking for inspiration on how to run with the ball in hand, check out how Jerry Rice used to run with the ball in hand. He lines up in the backfield between the split end and the tackle. You could tear an ACL or break a bone. By Duncan james Hogg . The receiver prejudges the topic as too boring or difficult to understand and … I'm also tall but fairly thin. A cooper run is good (10mX10m square which you run around for approx. Learn about the different wide-receiver positions. Measuring Throwing and Receiving Skills. Sure, having a bit of beef helps you barge defensive backs out of the way, but explosive strength and power are way more important than being 6 feet tall and bulging with muscles.Take the Patriot’s wide receiver, Julian Edelman, for example. Develop "soft" hands. To create this article, 56 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. By Will Heckman-Mark ... Riley recommends the ladder drill as a way to improve lateral footwork and practice exploding with the first step. All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. While speed gives a receiver the ability to break away from the defensive backs covering him, there are several other skills that a receiver must develop in order to become successful. The receiver has to be fast and strong enough to break through a jamming opponent at the line and quickly get open for a pass. Fatigue will cause you to make errors, and as soon as you become tired, you might lose a yar that could have helped you make that all-important touchdown pass. Slot back. But persevere because once your hands are in sync with what you see on the pitch, you’ll dazzle defenders and selectors with your ability to react to situations and pluck passes out of the air. Football is a team sport, and sometimes the best players are those working under the radar to help give their teammates an advantage. “Technique whips talent.” When catching the ball, always look, catch, tuck, cover, and roll your head over the ball. Standing at 5’10” tall and 198lbs, Edelman does not belong to the league’s largest players, but he is undoubtedly one of the best. They are all able to read the game, pick holes in the defense, and know their quarterback’s next move to predict where the ball is going on the next play. They are tall, short, lean, fast, and quick. Use stick moves with your routes to create separation. Verify your account. To improve your speed and acceleration, incorporate more explosive power workouts into your training sessions. We’ll leave the powerlifting to the linebackers. The receiver is intimidated by the position or authority of the sender, resulting in a tension that prevents effective concentration on the message and failure to ask for needed clarification. I’ll walk you through how you can switch-up your training sessions to improve your physical and technical skills and what you should be doing to improve your game management skills. Hill has an outstanding ability to pull away from defenders, a fantastic 40-yard dash time of 4.29 seconds. First, the receiver group needs to understand the importance of their alignment in spread formations. And it was no wonder why people called him Megatron, as he literally ran over defenders to score many touchdowns for the Detroit Lions. Plus, more often than not, you’ll have to factor in conditions like snow, rain, and wind, which will all make it way more challenging to catch the football at top speed. This article has been viewed 184,218 times. Flanker. wide receiver skills wide receiver skills • By Duncan james Hogg • • By Duncan james Hogg • The mirror drill can help you work on engaging your defender and disrupting their attempts at stopping the run. When moving at high speed, your ability to catch footballs is significantly reduced compared to when you’re standing still. In other words, provide a "cushion" for the ball as it arrives. I suppose the most crucial part of this position is being able to catch the football. Always stretch before playing to prevent pulling or even tearing a muscle. To develop strength and power like Megatron, get yourself in the gym and try working on some high impact weight training sessions. On the hitch route expect the ball right after you turn around. And like I always say, rather him than you right! Your job as a receiver is to find space on the pitch and free yourself up to take catches and gain yards, and your ability to assess where that space is and run into it will help you beat your opposition and take more catches. It’s no doubt that the wide receiver is perhaps one of the most popular positions on the pitch. Going into big collisions, you need to know that you can push the other player over with your power; otherwise, you’re going to get flattened. Visit Podcast Website. Wide Receiver Catching Drills and Skills to Improve Football Skills and Abilities. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. 10-20 minutes and count your laps). In this guide, I’ll share my top tips on how you can become a great wide receiver. Let’s firstly take a look at some of the physical attributes you’ll need to become the best pass receiver. So you’re emphasizing reaching for the ball as opposed to letting the ball come into your chest. It’s all about thinking clearly under pressure and when you’re out of breath! Fitness is everything as a wide receiver. The hands form a cone enabling the receiver to catch a higher percent of their passes. Once you have learned about these, develop a workout routine that improves your speed and agility. Learn the route tree (your team's numbering system for calling pass plays). All you need to do is try to catch them as they fall. The more you understand them and their moves, the more touchdowns you’ll score. 1 easy tip for helping receivers catch balls over their heads. Calvin Johnson, aka “Megatron,” was perhaps one of the most aggressive and physical wide receivers the NFL has seen in the past ten years. A "highest point" drill that helps receivers pull down difficult catches under pressure... and win more 50/50 balls for your team! Practice catching, speed, agility, tackling, and reading plays. Do I pick my own routes or does somebody tell me to run a specific route? If you can’t catch the ball, then you can’t score? THX PS: Plz also give me some "defense" tip A long, arcing pass will arrive on a downward trajectory, and you may need to catch it while looking over your shoulder or even looking above and behind your helmet. You have to make plays. It can take years for a wide receiver to master this craft because of the details to it, which is why we help athletes develop the necessary skills as soon as possible. References. The best wide receivers in the league all have belting pace and acceleration. To emulate Beckham Junior’s soft hands, get yourself on the training pitch, and start taking hard catches from your quarterback or even turn up the speed on your ball machine. “As a wide receiver, you need to do a little bit of everything well,” says Roy Holmes, C.S.C.S., performance specialist at EXOS. Reinforcement: Bag catching drills. Wide receivers work through agility bags, keeping their leverage low while making the proper plants before catching the ball and exploding upfield after the catch. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. A receiver on the line of scrimmage split one or more steps outside the tackle. Issue: Not running through the catch. Look at the ball until it's safely in your hands. This article has been viewed 184,218 times. With that in mind, my top piece of advice to help you become a great wide receiver is to watch more football games to improve your understanding of the game, how defenses line up and how other players capitalize on holes in those defenses. How To Play Fantasy Football & How Does It Work. There’s no point in expecting others to block for you when you won’t block for them. Be sure to share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Defensive backs are out to hit you hard to dislodge the ball and stop you from scoring. wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. Split end. But it doesn’t stop there. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. % of people told us that this article helped them. You have to be able to take a hit, sometimes when you're off-balance and vulnerable. So to become the best wide receiver possible, you need the endurance to outlast your opponents and operate at a high intensity late on into the match. Every time the ball is thrown to you, catch it. https://football.calsci.com/Positions6.html, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaXn_Oncc6U, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0gxiYU4jLg, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-_JRyoAfCw, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_receiver, consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. For example, you might run three laps of the pitch, and your coach might then ask you to run to a series of colored cones in a specific order. This section will cover our top 25 wide receiver drills, including proven techniques for route-running, ball-handling, pass-catching, and blocking. [1] X Research source Split end. You will have to know them and be prepared to execute them all. Catching is an important part of being a good wide receiver and a good cornerback/safety. Once you catch the ball, you need to evade defenders and run into space, and reading the field; you’ll be able to run to where your blockers are to help you gain more yards. Play with confidence and don't back down. They all study plays, know each other’s favored routes, and know their teammates’ capabilities. Wide Receiver Drills Effective wide receivers need to have great hands, great feet, and a great feel for the game. This isn’t a skill, per se, but is perhaps one of the most essential traits of a good receiver. Smart made it a point to say he could improve as a blocker, as all young wide receivers can. The thing is, I'm still beginner material. I play sometimes with my friends, but I'm no professional. I mean, who doesn’t want to get all the glory, catching deep throws to run in 80-yard touchdowns? New, 2 comments. As most coaches in the NFL say, a wide receiver who can’t catch is a cornerback or a defensive back. To create this article, 56 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. But to become the best wide receiver, you need to be strong and aggressive, both to bully defensive backs and protect yourself on the pitch. Alignment. Source by hoov45 Odell Beckham Junior is perhaps one of the best catchers in the League. April 19, 2020. its about ways to improve your wide out skills. Keep a wide base. Receivers come in all sizes and shapes. Their cohesion and ability to read each other’s movements on the field is perhaps the best in the NFL and is probably partly why the chiefs have been so successful in recent years. Another option is for the QB to send you on a quick pass that will trick the cornerback or safety to run too deep and you will be open for a short pass, like curls, hooks, or slants. To excel as a receiver, a … If it's a bad throw, dive for it. ©Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved. For aggression, head over to the training pitch and start by improving your confidence in the collision on the tackle pads, and work your way up to completing full contact tackle drills. Start listening. Looking for an opponent before you have full possession of the ball often results in an incomplete pass. Cornerbacks have to be fast and agile like wide receivers but also have to be smart and strong. Wide receivers in RPO and up-tempo style offenses need to have a great understanding of their responsibilities. Take a look at the relationship between Chief’s QB Patrick Mahomes and wide receiver Tyreek Hill. How do I get my wide receiver coach to notice me? Reach Drill. If you're worrying instead about the defender, you hurt your chances of a completion. Bend your knees so that you can sit back into your stance. Develop the ability to catch all kinds of passes. In 2011 Pirolli was a receiver on Kutztown’s historic PSAC conference championship team. When he’s not at his desk, he’s either kicking a footy around with his mates, watching his beloved football team Everton or is hacking around the golf course. With 36 career touchdowns and 6822 running yards, Edelman is one of the sport’s most successful running backs. Wide receiver drills often miss the mark, because coaches do not always take the time to teach their athletes how to catch the ball properly. Jan 21, 2015 - Football wide receiver training drills help to improve your catching skills. It’s an excellent drill for emphasizing reaching for the football. Get with your quarterback if you can, but even playing catch with non-football players can improve your coordination and catching abilities. A "bullet" pass will come in straight and hard from a short distance. In 2015, The Kutztown offense broke the school record for total offense. Don't try to show off or make flashy catches. Whether you’re a running back, defensive end, or wide receiver, getting that extra yard over your opponent can mean the difference between a touchdown and a missed tackle. If you're fast, you should definitely be a tight end. Circle Drill The Wide Receiver Circle Drill is designed to improve player quickness and reaction to the ball. Typically the good wide receivers aren’t the strongest players on the pitch. Here are some great ways to improve your wide receiver skills this year and become the best player on your football team: Play catch a lot -- It sounds obvious but so many players don't practice catching footballs. After that, just practice plays over and over again with your QB to make sure the play you're running is perfect. Between them, the pair have a whopping 19 touchdowns in the last two seasons. Make sure to bend at your waist, not at your back. Spotify. wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. Wide receivers get tackled a lot. It’s that footballing awareness that is why they are perhaps the best receivers in the business. What are some good stamina exercises in addition to jogging? To carry the ball and gain yards immediately. For example, run sprints from a standing or press-up position to improve your stride length, and include high knees or hill sprints into your workout to enhance your explosivity off the ground. Good teams score touchdowns because they work well together. Learn the ins and outs to this wide receiver drill and add another skill to your on-field abilities. During a game the battle between the receiver and the defender is not only physical, but it's also. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 184,218 times. Which position would I be good at? This is a skill you'll develop as you gain experience and confidence. People often think of the physically gifted size and speed phenoms like […] Wide receivers like Julio Jones, Devante Adams, and Tyreek Hill are the best at what they do simply because they understand the game. 3 Drills to Make Better Wide Receivers. 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