A Dissection of a Series (Part Four)

Offensive linemen

Dive/Trap

I've been referring to this as the "Dive/Trap" for a reason. Let's be honest, without some killer offensive linemen, most youth offenses gain precisely squat on the dive play. It typically relies on man-on-man blocking, and without the mechanical advantages to drive physically superior defensive linemen off the ball, your offensive line is at a disadvantage.


However, there are some reasons to run a pure dive with base blocking. This took me a long time to understand, but here's the basic gist of it: when you angle block all the time, defenders learn to expect the assault to hit them from an angle, and set themselves to repel your charge back along that same axis of inertia. Well, if he's going to be kind enough to try to angle himself away from the play, we can help him with a simple explosive base block that stays low and gets into his hips, driving him out even more.