Stem the route
Why it works
A defender plays the route he expects, so a receiver who spends three steps selling the wrong one buys separation without being faster than anybody. The cone at ten yards turns that into something measurable rather than something a coach says.
Run it
10 MINSix reps without a defender, then six with. Stop at ten minutes. Run both directions across the session, because a receiver who only ever stems outside becomes readable to anybody who has watched him twice.
Say this
“Sell the stem with your eyes before your feet.”
The head turns outside early so the defender's hips open the wrong way.
“Same speed in, same speed out.”
The break happens without a gear change that gives it away.
“Plant the outside foot at the cone.”
The break is made off one hard step at a fixed landmark.
“Look for it as you come out.”
The head comes round immediately so the ball can arrive on the break.
Good looks like
- The defender's hips open outside before the receiver reaches the cone.
- There is no visible change of speed at the break.
- The break happens on one planted step at the cone, not over several.
- The head comes round within a step of the break.
- Two yards of separation exist at the moment the ball arrives, not before or after.
The mistakes
Running the stem with the head straight ahead, which sells nothing. The feet go outside and the defender never believes it, so the break gains no ground.
Say: “Sell the stem with your eyes before your feet.”
Slowing down to turn. A receiver who decelerates into the break tells the defender it is coming and gives back every yard the stem bought.
Say: “Same speed in, same speed out.”
Rounding the break over three steps. A rounded route arrives a yard late and two yards wide, and the throw that was open when he left is not open when he gets there.
Say: “Plant the outside foot at the cone.”
Finishing the break and then looking, which is half a second late. In flag that half second is the difference between a catch and a defender arriving with the ball.
Say: “Look for it as you come out.”
Drop the cone to six yards and walk the stem, then jog the break. At half speed a young receiver can feel what selling a direction means before he has to do it at full pace.
Let the receiver choose in or out after he reads the defender's hips at the cone, and make the quarterback read it with him. Now the stem is a genuine question rather than a rehearsed shape.