How To Play Guard In Football

Step 1

To play guard in football you need to be quick, fast, strong, have endurance, and a hard nosed attitude. The better you are in each of these areas the better your performance on the field will be.

Step 2

So, as a guard you have multiple duties that you have to preform. You have to be able to run block, and pass protect as an anterior linemen. Your primary concern will be controlling the A or B gaps depending on the play. You will also pull from your position and turn into a lead blocker in some given situations. You will primarily be blocking defensive linemen or going down field to block line backers.

Step 3

To run block you need to work on your speed and agility. The quicker you can reach your gap or blocking assignment the better. Work on getting quicker feet by doing plyometrics. You should also work on your stance. You should take an athletic stance with feet shoulder width apart. Then lean forward will squatting and place your hand on the ground. You want to hold your weight on your hand. You don't however want to place to much weight on your hand so you fall over. The better your stance is, the more explosive you can be out of your stance.

Step 4

Passing blocking follows the general guidelines as run blocking. You will have a gap assignment to protect. As soon as someone enters this area you block them. However where this can differ is the type of stance and foot movement you take. The stance is nearly the same except you don't want to place a lot of weight on your hands instead, put more weight on your heels. You do this so you can easily shuffle your feet. When you run block you want to drive your opponent away from the ball carrier. While you pass block, you want to form a pocket around your quarterback. To do this you need to give a little ground and ride the defender out. This may take some practice but these are the general guidelines to playing guard.