The coach speaking is referred to as "Coach Benke", who is the Arlington ISD Impact Coach of the Year.

Introduction and Background

• Coach Benke has been at Arlington Seguin for five years.
• Before Seguin, he was at Bixby High School in Oklahoma.
• He played at Tulsa from 2011 to 2015.
• At Tulsa, his head coach was Coach Blankenship, where they ran the Morris or Malzahn offense. In his final year, Coach Montgomery, who came from Baylor, ran the Briles system.
• Before the coach arrived at Seguin, the program went 1-29 from 2017 to 2020, but the team is now 19-19 over the past four years.
• The Seguin program has sent over 12 offensive linemen to college, who still come back to the community to work out and teach the current players. They recently hired a former Seguin player who played in college to be the assistant offensive line coach.
• The goal of the presentation is to share "nuggets" of information, such as drills or off-season methods, that can be implemented into a viewer's program. The speaker acknowledges that not everything they do at Seguin (a 5A school where the smallest starting offensive lineman will be 6'3", 300 lbs) will be applicable to all programs.

Off-Season Development

The presentation discusses year-round offensive line development, focusing on four periods:

1. Right After the Season (November/December)
   • Player Evaluations: Every kid completes an evaluation sheet, taking about 15 minutes, to discuss what they were good and bad at, what they need to improve on, and their goals. Coaches are encouraged to listen to their players' feedback.
   • Scheme Evaluation: The staff evaluates their scheme by breaking down all plays and every snap of the year to see what worked and what didn't. For example, running a play 120 times for an average of two yards per carry should be reconsidered.
2. Winter
   • Second Sports: The speaker strongly emphasizes playing second sports, as the best offensive linemen often play them. Out of 15 highly-rated offensive linemen in Texas, only one was football-only. The speaker's college-bound offensive linemen show a similar trend, with 89% playing a second sport, including track (shot and discus), wrestling, and basketball. Playing multiple sports helps to develop different skills.
   • Lifting: The winter is focused on lifting and eating weights four times a week. A typical hour period is split with 45 minutes of lifting and 15 minutes of agility work, with no extra conditioning.
   • Lift Emphasis: Beyond core lifts (bench, back squat, front squat), the program emphasizes single-leg, single-arm, and grip work (like farmer's carries, plate pushes, and pinches). The logic is that an offensive lineman is never just bench pressing or squatting; they need to use one leg or one arm, such as for a single-arm punch, and be able to reset when knocked off balance.
3. Spring
   • System, Not Offense: The philosophy in the spring is to "throw everything against the wall and see what sticks". The speaker advocates for having a system, not an offense, to adapt to the kids they have. They run inside zone, outside zone, pin-pull, GT counter, ISO, and trap. This evaluation gives the staff a good base to narrow down to their strengths in the summer and fall.
   • Reps and Development: Every player, including the ones, twos, and threes, should get the same number of reps. Coaches should develop every player in case of injury.
   • Position Versatility: The speaker moves players around in the spring, having everyone play every position, especially center, to avoid being pigeonholed to one kid who can snap. They have "snap school" every Monday where every offensive lineman works on snapping.
   • Routine and Leadership: The spring is used to develop a routine, as "repetition is the mother of skill". The program uses player-led workouts, where the players run through drills and practice with the script while the coaches oversee.
4. Summer
   • Conditioning: The summer shifts to conditioning a little more to get into game shape. They still lift four days a week but add agility stations and conditioning.
   • Cardio Club: To address the size and lack of shape of some players, the program implemented a "Cardio Club" (similar to a college system) where offensive linemen must complete two 20-minute cardio sessions a week. They have to send a picture of their watch or the bike timer to the coach.
   • Opponent Prep: During the skills and drills portion of the summer, they prep for opponents, focusing on one scheme a week (e.g., wide zone versus odd front, even front, and "amoeba" defense) and hitting every look. The coaches don't tell the kids they are prepping for a specific team, but rather a look or front.

Drills and Coaching

• Drill Matrix: The speaker creates a drill matrix (run/pass, pre-practice) to record all their drills and what they work on, which helps in the season to select specific drills for problem areas.
• Pre-Practice: The pre-practice routine includes five sets of drills, two of which are picked daily, to wake the players up and develop good alignment movement patterns. Drills include speed ladders (one foot in the hole, hops, power shuffles, in-and-outs with hands) and the L-drill (kick to a shuffle).
• Pass Game Drills: Goals are to teach basic movement patterns (kick, power shuffle, post), get a high volume of reps, and use realistic situations. Examples include:
  • Kick and shuffle with a medicine ball on the ground (to focus on staying low and keeping the chest up).
  • Partner strikes (focusing on punching).
  • Zigzags (working a kick to the right and a shuffle to the left with two medicine balls).
  • Mirror drill (one player on offense, one on defense, working to stay in front with good leverage and posture).
• Run Game Drills: Goals are to teach the scheme, emphasize feet and hands (feet get you in front, hands control), and work leverage, strain, hip level, and finish. Examples include:
  • Using boards every day, often slowing it down with three whistles for first step, second step, and finishing all the way through.
  • Striking.
  • Using a crawler sled to work striking, shooting hips, and extending to finish a block.
• Grading Tape: The coach uses Hudl to create custom columns for left tackle, left guard, center, right guard, and right tackle, and types individual notes for each player. This allows players to see their coaching points when they watch the film. Since many players are busy with visits and camps, they send out the graded film and notes on Hudl instead of meeting in person on Saturdays.