DC-What is the "Frog Drill"

It's actually called "frog race" and it builds power and explosion. Just have kids hop like frogs. This race is very critical to a successful offensive line. Key points are to keep both feet together on each jump and jump for distance, bending low at the knees. There are two ways to position the hands. One is keep them on the knees and the other is to keep them on the ground in front of you. I start kids out with hands on knees and then progress them to hands on the ground. There is an advantage and a disadvantage to frog racing. The advantage is that it allows players to work out of a low stance - and (as we all know) low man wins. My offensive has NEVER run up against a defensive line it couldn't beat. And most teams are bigger than us. Here's why kids need to frog race. When you walk, you don't walk with your knees bent. You walk upright. Therefore, you don't walk with "power" as you do when you climb stairs and your legs bend at the knees and thrust your weight upwards to climb the stairs. As a result, kids have very poor leg power strength. You can spot this three different ways. First, hold a frog race. Kids with weak quads simply won't be able to do it (This will include about 25% of your players). Second, if you place a player with weak quads in a three point stance and tell him to "fire off" - he'll stand STRAIGHT UP and then go forward. A 3 point actually slows him down in firing off. Third, to find two players with weak quads run "Sumo drill". Pretty soon, a weak quad player will meet a weak quad player. And when the block each other, they'll both STAND UP, lean into each other, and their feet won't move. Stalemate. They each have UPWARDS force - but not fORWARD. So both players move straight up and then are stuck in the "slow dance" position.

To get maximum benefit, do not frog race your entire team at once the first time, but go two at a time (Usually on "no pads" week). That way you can correct each player's form (Both feet togerther, deep, long hop). Once they all have proper form, run them all at once. But if you start out running them all at once, first time, you'll have bad form all over the place and you can't get it corrected. Although it's getting late in your season to start frog racing your team now, you can at least test the theory out. Form 2-3 lines and have your kids frog race 10 yards, feet together each jump, long and low. You're best blockers will be able to do it. Your worst won't. By teaching my kids how to do it, ALL my kids become my best blockers - via my "12 Perfect Blocks" drill. So here's what happens. My "frog hoppers" come to the line, trained for "12 perfect blocks". My opponent is facing me with kids who have such weak quads they must first stand up before firing out. As the ball is snapped, my boys are firing out as theirs are standing up. Result: we knock them on their ass. We can usually go an entire season without a defensive lineman making a tackle or have a running play go for a loss.

Now! A WARNING! A frog jump places stress on the knee. The heavier the player, the greater the stress. This weight may be fat or it may be muscle. It doesn't matter. It's still weight and that results in stress. It's possible for a boy's knees to start to bother him - particularly if he's going through puberty - from doing this race. When I mean "bother him", I mean after the race and into the next day. Such a player should be excused from frog racing as DAMAGE is occurring. I avoid this by keeping the race very short (27 yards max) for ALL ages. This is usually too short of a race for the knee to be stressed. None-the-less, in the 12-13's I still keep an eye out for signs of one of these boys limping - And kick him out of the race (Some of them you have to kick out. Running backs greatly benefit from this race and the ones who want to become HS backs will play in pain. You can't allow that. This isn't the NFL.).