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THREE-BALL DRILLS FOR WIDE RECEIVERS BY KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY WIDE RECEIVERS COACHES MATTHEW PIROLLI & STEVE HECK
Notre Dame
Villanova
Mini Villanova
Three-ball drills we have done almost every day were: Notre Dame, Mini Villanova and Villanova. We break our ball drills down into how many catches the wide receiver is getting in that given drill. You can find other ways to break them down; this was just easiest for us. The Notre Dame drill is one we use to focus on our wide receivers footwork and knee drive in and out of cuts. The take-off cone should be about 5 to 7 yards away from the cones the wide receiver is attacking. Having one cone at the start, the other three should be arranged with two in line of the starting cone but about a yard or so apart. You can make the distance between these cones larger or smaller depending on how well your receivers perform the more you do the drill. The last cone should be off to the side of the furthest cone. The wide receiver will get a good take off attacking the cone furthest from him. Once they reach that they should breakdown and very tightly work around the cone going inside toward the cone behind them, as they work around that cone should then break off to the one off to the side then break back towards the sideline or where they began. Based on where the coach stands this can either be a sideline toe-touch catch or an over the shoulder fade ball scenario. The Notre Dame drill is one that only involves one ball so in our experience this is one you let the group leader take control of during individual periods. Maybe as the coach you run this one in the offseason during free time after workouts so players get familiar but after that players should be able to control this one on their own. I have found that the older guys teach the young guys and no one slacks off because they all want to get something out of the drill. It doesn’t take a ton of space to set up and is a quick-hitter. For the ball circuit, it is important to have drills that offer various challenges to players in terms of top end footwork, hand and eye preparation and ball skills. Also, try to find drills that are relatively easy to set up. The VILLANOVA drill is a 10-yard box that requires three footballs and three cones/chutes. A coach should manage any ball drills that require three or more balls. The receiver takes off from the sideline running toward cone/chute one where he breaks down and makes a 45-degree curl break and catches ball one. It’s very important to emphasize tucking the balls away in multi-catch drills. After the catch, the receiver flips the ball out of the drill and makes another 45-degree cut. There is no ball at cone/chute two. As the receiver heads to cone/chute three he will make a 90-degree dig or out type break catching and tucking ball two. The final phase of VILLANOVA entails the receiver making a speed cut around cone/chute one to receive a boundary awareness catch for ball three. It is critical to make sure the sideline area is cleared of equipment and players. Coach the receiver to focus on the ball and FEEL the sideline. To save time have any players who are not running through the drill help track down the footballs. Our final drill will be Mini Villanova, this is another quick hitter but has two catches instead of just one. Mini Villanova is an 8 x 10 yard rectangle that requires two footballs, a pop-up dummy, a cone and a hula hoop. The receiver takes off towards the pop up and runs back in a 45-degree curl catching ball one. After a catch and tuck that mandates the receiver seeing himself tuck the ball away, he heads toward the cone. Like the Villanova drill, there is no ball thrown at the second break point. Emphasize arm activity and knee expression on the exit of the break. As the receiver heads toward the hula hoop he’s coached to make a tight speed cut arc around the hoop. Emphasize arm activity as the receiver makes the speed cut. Ball two will be an obstructed view, sideline catch, with the pop up serving a dual role in this drill set up. We want the receiver to lose the ball for an instant while he must also gauge his own proximity to the rapidly approaching sideline. This is a drill student interns or players could manage with some prior tips from the WR coach. Anytime we are introducing a new drill we will go through a dry run pre-practice shake down to make sure everybody sees the drill.
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