Offensive linemen need their center of mass between their feet, aligned down the middle of the thigh, with pressure in the glutes and hamstrings. Common mistakes like leaning forward, bending knees too much, or shooting hips back shift your balance and kill your power. Use the thigh line as a visual check and feel the posterior chain load.
Chapters
Welcome back to O-Line TV. Today I'm going to talk to you about keeping your center mass, whether it be run or pass block. I'm going to have this monster Josh right here to demonstrate. Go Humboldt State! So we get a lot of questions about, especially at the end of the season, you know, players and coaches saying, my guys or themselves, I'm getting thrown off of blocks. Am I leaning too far in the run game? We'll start there. Am I leaning too far in the run game? I'm not able to shift my hips back. You know, I have to keep 30% of my weight over my legs. Let's not make this a math problem. You know, let's just keep math for the classroom. I think I heard that today from LeCharles Bentley, but let's just keep a good center of mass and don't worry about percentages and stuff for math. So in the run game, you see oftentimes offensive line athletes getting thrown off on their face. One, you're not bringing your feet, but two, you're probably not in a position to bring your feet. So if Josh is too far forward, in a strong run position, his knees are bent, he's really bending at the knee, he's being a knee bender, he's not able to put the right force we need and he will get thrown off because he's not able to put that horizontal force to the ground. He's more suited for going up and down. And it's just top-heavy. We're not using our insteps, we're on our toes. And then, you know, we often hear, "Am I need to shoot my hips back?" Well, go ahead and shoot your hips back and what can you really do? We're trying to drive defenders. He can't drive his defender. His center of mass is way too far back. He's not in his center of mass. We want the center of mass between our feet. So your hips are in a position where they're loaded. You feel it in your posterior chain, your butt, your hamstrings, your adductors. And if you look, even though with a stagger— go ahead, face— if you look, even with a stagger, his center of mass is between his feet. You know, it's probably at the top of this toe and the dead center of his instep in that left foot. So whether he's driving someone or getting in a position to drive someone, he's strong, he's stable, he's not going to tip left or forward or backwards, and he's using his posterior chain and he's putting force through the ground. And pass pro, same thing, you know, players are like, well, I started getting pulled and I try to bring my hips and I didn't bring my hips fast enough, and this is what's happening. We don't want to bring our hips. So we'll get— go ahead and get in a left or right guard stance. Face me. If Josh— this is a good way for a coach to see, you know, we have this shirt, this line in the shirt. We want that line coming right down the middle of his thigh. When that line is lined up with the middle of the thigh, more times than not your athlete is going to say, yeah, I feel it in my glutes, I feel it in my hamstrings. I feel it in my adductors. Now, and that's more important than— not always what you see is what they feel. So you see this, now ask them what they feel. But if Josh's— this line is coming forward, he's going to feel his— he's going to feel the pressure in his knees and his quads. His center of mass is too far forward for pass pro. And if he's too far upright, this line is behind this— behind his leg. It's nowhere near the middle of his quad. And this is what we're often told how to stop a bull rush. It just doesn't look safe. He didn't seem strong right there either. And we know by asking them or just seeing that line being too far, they're not feeling where we want them to feel. So don't get caught up in, am I too far leaned? Am I too far— am I not pushing my hips back? Am I not bringing them forward? Let's just make it simple. Keep your center of mass, keep your hips and the weight of your center of mass right between your feet. Whether there's a stagger or whether you're drive blocking someone on the run, keep that center of mass there. And in the run, bring your feet. And if you have perfect center of mass, but you're not moving them, you're not putting force to the ground, you will end up on your face as well. That's not a cure-all, you still got to do something. But, but just the point to take home here is keep that center of mass down the center. Don't push the hips back, don't worry about pushing them forward. Let's just start in the right position. You'll find that by the end of the pressure to pressure, you're normally, or more so than not, ending up in the right position. Hope this helps. Thank you.
