Speed and Agility

Question
Im a sophomore at my high school and I plan on playing cornerback this incoming year. Im not as fast as I want to be, can you give me some drills that would help me gain more speed and agility.

Answer
Dear Terry:
REMEMBER ONLY A DOCTOR CAN TELL YOU IF THE PROGRAM YOU ARE STARTING IS TOO MUCH FOR YOU. You need to get your PARENTS, your COACH, and your DOCTOR involved.

1. GET YOUR PARENTS PERMISSION AND ASK FOR THEIR ADVICE. THEY CAN BE OF GREAT HELP TO YOU.

2. TALK TO YOUR COACH HE IS THERE TO HELP YOU. HE WANTS YOU TO SUCCEED. HE CAN GET YOU STARTED ON THE RIGHT PROGRAM.

3. BEFORE YOU START ANY PROGRAM MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR PARENTS PERMISSION AND YOUR DOCTORS OKAY.

REMEMBER ONLY A DOCTOR CAN TELL YOU IF THE PROGRAM YOU ARE STARTING IS TOO MUCH FOR YOU. IT IS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN TO BE SORRY!!!!!!!!!!

You want to be quicker than everybody else. Try basketball it will help you get into football shape. It will teach you how to run back, forth, and side to side without thinking about it. Basketball will also help your coordination, quickness, conditioning, and improve your foot work. This type of workout is especially good if you want to play half-back, defensive end, and or defensive back.

You also might want to add handball to your workout schedule. Just like in basketball, handball forces you to run back, forth, and side to side without having to think about it. You just react to the ball much like in football. Handball can be of great help, to a football player, for all the same reasons as basketball.

Try playing these two sports, as part of your routine workout, and you will get into fantastic football shape. You will also improve your coordination and reaction time. If you do not want to play basketball or handball try some running.

You want to be fresh in the fourth quarter when everybody else is exhausted. Start by running a 1/2 lap around the football field everyday. Be sure to sprint the last 100-yards of your run. This way you work on your wind sprints and long distance running at the same time.

After a week or so, when you feel up to it, add a half a lap to your workout. Keep adding a half a lap, every week or so, until you reach 3 or four miles per workout. Only workout once a day, you do not want to over do it. You want to build your body up not use it up. Be sure to drink lots of water, you will need it. And do not do all three work outs together. Just pick one and do it.

By the time you start football camp, you will be in the best shape of your life. TAKE IT SLOW. Do not push too hard and make sure that you get checked by a Doctor first.

Your friend, Coach Louis

PS
Here are some tips on how to read the offense.
If I were you I would work on my pattern reading.
Pattern reading is used mostly on the college and professional level. Only the top programs on the high school level use pattern reading. That is why some coaches stay away from pattern reading. They feel that pattern reading is for college football programs and up, therefore, too complex for the high school level.

Here is a simple system you can use to add pattern reading to your defense.

1. Spend some time looking at the game film of your next opponent and learn his play book.

2. Make a list of your opponents pass plays, and place the pass plays into three sets, short passes, medium passes, long passes, inside patterns, and outside patterns.

3. Now make these groups even smaller by dividing them into sub-groups that include passes by formation, downs, tendencies, inside patterns, outside patterns, and distance. This will give you an idea what to look for in every situation.

Here is a simple tip if you don't want to work that hard to read the offense. The biggest tip I can give you comes from the receiver himself. Watch the receiver carefully on the game films. A lot of the receivers make the same mistakes. When a receiver is running an inside pattern he will release inside shoulder of the corner back. When a receiver is running an outside pattern he will release outside shoulder of the corner back.

Here is where knowing your opponents play book comes in handy. Let抯 say that it is third and 10. And let抯 say that the receiver takes an outside release. You know that your opponent has three pass patterns they like to run to the outside. They like to run a 3-yard hitch, a 5-yard out, and 12-yard flag pattern. Can you guess which pattern they are going to run? The hitch and the short out pattern will not give them a first down but the 12-yard out pattern will.

Now that you know all this you can play the percentage game. The odds are now in your favor to make the big play. Here is where the pattern reading comes in.

Pattern reading is nothing more than a combination of landmark dropping and reading the receivers routes. In fact, defensive backs must know their landmark drops before they can move up to the pattern reading level.

A pattern reading is a simple read of the second receiver from the sidelines. For example, many teams, on the high school level, usually have their tight end run a short pattern while the slot-back will run a deeper route. By reading the tight end's pattern, you will have a good idea of what the slot-back is going to do. The same goes for the two receiver set. One receiver will usually run a short pattern while the other will go deep. If you know what combination patterns the two receivers run, by doing your homework, you will be waiting for the ball when it is thrown.

The information I gave you is gold and I hope you guard it well. I presume this answers your question. If not please let me know and I will do my best to help you.