QB Medicine Ball Warm-up
A few years ago I heard Michigan State QB Coach Dave Warner speak at the Glazier Clinic in Chicago. As with all the MSU staffers, Coach Warner gave a tremendous talk about the many concepts the Spartans run and some insight…
Systematic Method and Progression For Teaching The Clean
The clean and its variations are what many strength and conditioning coaches use to develop explosiveness in their athletes. One of the common errors I see when I visit with coaches and watch their athletes is a lack of a…
Cold Weather Tackling
It’s mid-December and for a lot of the country, it’s COLD! If you are still playing football (like the NFL) you know that the cold weather affects the game in any number of ways. As a former NFL special teams…
Evolution in Strength and Conditioning
This is going to be my 17th season as a strength and conditioning coach working with athletes and preparing them for the upcoming football season when we begin in January. There has been tremendous growth in the field of strength…
Importance of Relative Body Strength In High School Athletes
This generation of high school athletes is unique in many ways. One of the ways in which they are unique is their lack of strength in terms of relative body strength. This is a generation that for the most part…
Are We Teaching Speed and Quickness?
It has become somehow universally accepted that if you increase your strength and perform specific running drills, you will increase your speed and quickness. However, I have not seen any results posted after athletes undergo these programs. In other words,…
Quick And Easy D.O.B. Drill
In my opinion, there are three key components to playing excellent defensive football. When I work with my linebackers, everything we do in our individual periods is explained to them as “building a house”. The most basic, fundamental skills we…
Training Modifications Due to Injury During Football Season
Football is a collision sport, and it is inevitable that your team is going to have to deal with injuries at some point during this football season. Early in my career, I was very hands off with students who had…
Rob Taylor talks to Detroit Lions Strength and Conditioning Coach Ted Rath
Ted Rath is now in his fifth season as the strength and conditioning coach for the Detroit Lions. The previous two seasons he was an assistant strength and conditioning coach at his alma mater, the University of Toledo. Rath…
Lead Speed Option
On this play, I like to read the first defender passed the DE. This gives the QB ample time to attack the perimeter with force. The B-Back is looking for the first wrong color to block (make sure he does…