Bubble Bounce Drill
Setup
Place one cone in the middle of the field placed five yards deep in the backfield where a ball carrier would begin the play. Place two more cones a few yards past the line of scrimmage towards the sideline where a linebacker and a defensive back would meet the ball carrier on some sort of outside run play.
Purpose
Teach ball carriers a simple but effective tactic to outmaneuver a defender in the open field.
When running towards the outside in the open field, the number one advantage that the defense has over the offense is that their angle of pursuit can force the offense to run out of room on the sideline. The Bubble Bounce move is a simple maneuver that creates extra space to the outside by allowing the ball carrier to force the defense to sacrifice their angle by slowing down to square up on the ball carrier.
Drill Description
Players begin running with a football to the outside of the field. They visualize a defender running with them to the outside, and square that defender up by changing their angle to momentarily run straight upfield, directly at the defender (represented by the cone). This is the “bubble” part of the maneuver.
Once the defender slows his pursuit to square up on the ball carrier, then the ball carrier simply does the “bounce” part of the maneuver by cutting back outside. Repeat the Bubble Bounce one more time before accelerating up the sideline.
Performing the Bubble Bounce is an effective way to teach beginner players how to manipulate the angles and speed of the defense while inherently creating extra space outside and down the sideline for them.
