Young offensive linemen lose their blocks despite good hand placement because their hands go passive at contact. The towel drill teaches active pressure: players engage a towel that crumples under force, building the feel and timing to stay locked in on run blocks.
One thing we're seeing at this point in the season is young offensive line athletes being thrown off of their blocks in the run game. It's not due to poor hand placement. Actually, the hand placement is really good. It's just a lack of active hands on contact. Let us show you here quickly what we call the towel drill that gives you a better visual we're referring to. In the run game, hands are good, good pressure, defender stops. Now your players are being thrown out the club. That's not what we want. You have to be able to feel the pressure. Now, how do we go about doing that? Active hands. Once you engage, the towels should crumple up a bit. Pressure, pressure, pressure. Now you can fight back into the block. This drill should help your players with the timing and most importantly, the feel of active hands in the run game.
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