In Let’s Talk Football, Coach Tom Bass brings his 30 years of NFL coaching experience to USA Football. Email Coach Bass your question.

James sent the following question: 

My son is a 10^th-grader and an offensive lineman. He is a good blocker but still growing into his weight and not the fastest kid around. He has the most trouble against speedy defensive ends and linebackers. What are some things he can do this summer to improve his quickness – both getting out of his stance and in getting to second-level blockers? Thanks.

Hi, James.

Most offensive linemen eagerly become involved in their teams’ offseason weightlifting program, so I’ll focus on activities that are not directly weight room connected.

From a non-football standpoint, what I asked my young offensive linemen to do away from the field was to learn to jump rope and set aside 20 to 30 minutes each day to practice jumping rope. This is an individual activity that is low cost, can be accomplished at a variety of locations and does not require any extra equipment once you have purchased the jumping rope.

Next, if there was the opportunity, I really liked them to become involved in playing racquetball or hand ball. Both of these activities require players to quickly change direction and keep good body balance. They learned to anticipate the proper angles to take to reach the best point for the next shot. They must back up, move forward and shift laterally to the right and left.

A number of my players also found that enrolling in some form of martial arts class helped them to better perform once the season got under way. Since this would involve an added cost and can require a great deal of time, it might not be a good idea at this stage of your son’s development.

The next area that I would work on is having him analyze, with your help, all the blocks that he will be required to accomplish for his position. Once this list has been compiled, you will want to determine what his first step will be for each block.

You can then spend time on a drill where you call out the block, he gets into his stance and on the snap count he quickly takes the proper first step needed to make the block. This should be a short power step that positions him to block a defender.

Initially, you might want to include a drive block (forward step with back foot), angle block (angle step to the inside with the inside foot), hook block (lateral step to the outside with the outside foot) and a pass protection set block (inside step with inside foot or kick back with outside foot for wide fast outside rusher).

As you do this type of drill, I find that it is a great chance to have the player visualize and verbalize what the defender will be doing, what his movement might be and to learn to adjust this first step to be in the most advantageous path and position to make the block. This type of mental exercise works equally well for a blocker when the assignment calls for him to block a defensive lineman or a linebacker who may be moving on the snap.

Kicking back as a first step in pass blocking with the outside leg provides the blocker with the needed momentum to move quickly back off the line of scrimmage and be in position to successfully block any outside speed pass rusher deep past the spot of the where the quarterback will be setting up to throw.

Blocking on the second level is greatly aided when the blocker understands the play being run, the action and movement by the backs behind him, the defense being run and the reaction and potential movement the linebacker might make as the play unfolds. The blocker needs to always think in terms of where the defender may be moving, not where the linebacker initially lined up, and thus be able to adjust his path to make the block.

The next drill the two of you can do is a cadence drill where you take the snap count and have your son try to focus on the cadence, anticipate the actual snap count in the cadence and begin that first step of his block as the snap count is starting to be said, not waiting until the entire word is spoken.

The more the two of you can do these sorts of drills, the better it will be for your son as he prepares for next season. In any player’s formative years, it is important that he works on developing his balance, body control, strength, speed, quickness and muscle and mental memory training.

James, I feel it is great that you have this desire to aid your son as he begins his football career. Good luck to both of you, and I sincerely hope I have given you some ideas that you can use.

Coach Tom Bass

Coach Tom Bass, a 30-year NFL coach and a  technical writer and advisor for USA Football, also is the author of several football coaching books, including "Play Football the NFL Way" (St. Martin's Press), the only authorized NFL coaching book, "Football Skills and Drills" (Human Kinetics) and "The New Coaches Guide to Youth Football Skills and Drills" (McGraw Hill). If you would like to order a personalized autographed copy of Coach Bass' books, copies of his printed “In-Depth Coaching Clinics” or “NFL or College Sport Maps,” visit www.coachbasssportmaps.com.