BACKFIELD BALL HANDLING

foreign [Music] thank you [Music] one of college football's most respected names is Floyd Ben schwarzwalter a hard-nosed soft-spoken gentleman who builds championship football teams at Syracuse University his ironsmen are a consistent power among the major Independents always in contention for sectional and National Honors Chief factor in the Syracuse success story is a devastating running attack a successful ground attack depends on slick ball handling here's coach schwartzwalder to show you how it's done in any variation of the T formation the first exchange is between the center and the quarterback constant practice makes this smooth and consistent the center whips the ball back with the laces turned up the quarterback must get a firm two-handed grip what are some of the things a quarterback can do after taking the snap if the defense permits the simplest thing you can do is run straight ahead on a quarterback sneak the second thing he can do is throw the ball a drop back pass to roll out or a little pop pass it's the linebackers are crowding him he can jump right up and throw a quick pop or he can fake a dive to the halfback and then throw a pop a third alternative is to pitch the ball to a half back the halfback flies a step then takes a quick pitch out and runs for daylight The Pitch Out gets the ball to the running back more quickly than a handoff so more teams are using it in a real game situation our quarterback does a smooth reverse Spin and releases a reasonably soft pass now he becomes a blocker helping to Spring his running back for a good long game simple Pitch Out has become more and more an effective play in the game of football another alternative the quarterback fakes the handoff actually shows the ball going into pocket and then keeps it himself good faking freezes the defense this becomes an option play and anything that has option in it is significant in football because the defense is forced to defend over a wider area now we come to a key fundamental in ball handling the handoff on a dive to the right half back for instance the quarterback steps right and sticks the ball into the pocket made by the halfback you stick both hands into the pocket going right you keep the left hand on the ball until you're sure the halfback is taking it then you continue to fake the halfback forms a pocket with his left elbow up and his right hand under the ball a handoff to the tailback works on the same principle common mistakes involve both the quarterback and the ball care the runner's elbow must be high enough to form a proper pocket and a quarterback must make absolutely sure the halfback has the ball before releasing it and the reverse back off the full back literally takes the ball in the exchange quarterback turns clear around and has moved beyond the point where the ball will be run this is very tight and effective ball handling another type of maneuver the reverse Spin and hand off we use the same exchange technique as we do on a dive plate quarterback and Spins and holds out the ball the fullback takes it from him this is a solid inside quickie there's nothing very tricky about it the simple handoff but this is basic ball Hamming you must be able to execute the basic fundamentals with precision cleanly and smoothly if your offense is to succeed against the enemy after you've mastered the fundamentals you'll be ready to move on to more complicated things before we do that though let's pay a visit to the familiar cooler for Coke that you'll find near many football locker rooms things seem to go better after bottle of ice cold Coca-Cola and it doesn't matter whether you're a coach thinking over a practice session or a player headed for the second half back to action now and to what we call our ride series any option play is important because it forces the defense to protect a wider and deeper territory our quarterback steps out with his lead foot then the other and then a hop landing on both feet he puts the ball into the pocket and keeps his eye on the defensive end if the defensive end floats he gives the ball to the fullback it's the defensive end closes down along the line of scrimmage the quarterback actually pulls the ball back out of the pocket and keeps it himself this is the second of the three options what makes the Syracuse ride series unique is that our quarterback makes three options separately he can give to the fullback he can keep or he can pitch to The halfback does the fullback know if he's going to keep the ball on the ride he does not both the quarterback and the fullback hold it and the quarterback decides to give or keep depending on what the defensive end does we figure if we don't know who's going to end up with a ball the enemy can't know either is the fullback going to get it and head up the field is the quarterback going to keep it is he going to turn the corner and run or Pitch Out to the trailing halfback if the halfback is phased in about five yards away and behind the quarterback he becomes a dangerous outside threat having three options gives our quarterback a lot of flexibility and it gives the defense fits connection with the ride series we have other plays the much publicized scissors starts out as a ride but ends up as a misdirection catching the defense out of position the quarterback fakes to the fullback with a half ride pulls the ball back and makes the front hand off to the wing back who is backed off with a snap from his flanking possession the wing back starts inside when the quarterback pulls the ball away from the fullback if we did nothing but run the defense would close up so the ride pass is an important part of the ride series we want the defensive secondary to think that the fullback's going to have the ball so we give a good ride and the fullback fakes into the line the better the job of Faking the longer we freeze the defense into position this is true on all offensive plays another effective pass in the series is the ride peel back quarterback fakes the ride to the fullback and peels back to the opposite side he has three receivers along in the Deep middle the wing back deep backside and the fullback who has continued through the line after the fake and cuts shallow to the backside long games like this start with smooth ball handling convincing faking and of course that important extra effort [Applause] a final play in this series is the ride pitch a quick ride to the full and a basketball two-handed pitch to The halfback another but a simple effective Series starts with a regular Pitch Out to the halfback we get some variation in the deception of this simple maneuver when the quarterback pitches back to the half back who then hands the ball to the quarterback as he comes by if the defense is plugged up the hole against a run inside and if the secondary has come up to help out we will find a receiver to open down field this is a modern variation of the effective old-time Buck lateral series off the single wing and of course we can vary this by having a quarterback peel back to the short side and making another counter-direction or misdirection play football of course is a game of deception at Syracuse we have been lucky enough to have a series of great running backs who could really move that ball but defenses can key on even the best of running backs you must have deception to get them running good Running Room if you can fool the defense for a split second as to who has the ball you've got a chance to go places taking the snap giving and holding a fake taking a handoff these are teamwork tools a good back must have a news the object of the offense in football is to move the ball downfield and over the goal line ball handling is an important part of that job foreign [Music]