Sideline Catch Drill is a free football drill on FantasyHQ’s Football Coaching hub for high school work. It covers Breaking Down the “Sideline Catch” Running Back Drill: with purpose, setup cues, and coaching language for youth and high-school staffs.
Sideline Catch Drill is part of FantasyHQ’s free football drills library.
Focus: High School.
Inside: 1 drill progressions.
How to run this drill
Sideline Catch Drill is built for youth, high-school, and volunteer coaches who need clear drill language — not a random cone circuit. Beginners can install the first progression; experienced staffs can layer competition.
Read the purpose once, then walk the setup on air before live tempo.
Demonstrate one clean rep so players see landmarks, pad level, and finish.
Run short competitive periods — quality reps beat long lines.
Close with one coaching cue players can repeat in the huddle next period.
Progressions
Breaking Down the “Sideline Catch” Running Back Drill:
Full drill
In today’s video blog post, we are talking about an excellent sideline catch drill for running backs. In this running back drill, we are going to focus on teaching the receivers to catch a ball on the sideline.
The receivers and the running backs will run this drill, and we’ll use cones and a trash can (or barrel) to constrain the area the backs have to run in and simulate a tight sideline. And we’re trying to get them comfortable with catching the ball in tight conditions, coming under control quickly and dragging their feet to stay inbounds.
Breaking Down the “Sideline Catch” Running Back Drill:
The running backs are going to be catching a lot of passes in your offense. So we want to make sure that they can anticipate the sideline, use some body control and stay in bounds. And then the next thing you’ll do is ask them to go up the field if they can.
In this drill, you’ll catch the ball and try to keep your body in bounds and get up the field – you don’t want your momentum to take you out of bounds.
Be sure to switch this drill and have your players work both sides – first going to the right, as you see in this video, and then working to their left and catching the ball.
By moving the trash can a little closer, it becomes more challenging. They have less time to recuperate and get their feet down. So you want to run this drill in phases, starting the cone back and then getting tighter.
Use a toe drag if necessary, and run this together with the running backs and the receivers for body control.
The quarterback is standing 10 yards away for a high amount of reps – you can also have two quarterbacks doing this.
Try to get the trashcan in as tight as you can. And the better your athletes get, the closer and tighter they can successfully do this move.
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Coaching tips
Keep one cue per rep so kids hear the same language every time.
Film the first live set; pause on footwork and finish, not just the ball.
Pair this drill with a matching play install so practice transfers to game day.
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Sideline Catch Drill is a free football drill on FantasyHQ’s Football Coaching hub for high school work. It covers Breaking Down the “Sideline Catch” Running Back Drill: with purpose, setup cues, and coaching language for youth and high-school staffs.
Who should use this football drill?
Sideline Catch Drill is built for youth, high-school, and volunteer coaches who need clear drill language — not a random cone circuit. Beginners can install the first progression; experienced staffs can layer competition.
How do I run Sideline Catch Drill in practice?
Read the purpose once, then walk the setup on air before live tempo. Demonstrate one clean rep so players see landmarks, pad level, and finish. Run short competitive periods — quality reps beat long lines.
Is this drill free?
Yes. Browse FantasyHQ football drills, youth plays, and coaching guides free on Football Coaching.
What progressions does Sideline Catch Drill include?
This page includes Breaking Down the “Sideline Catch” Running Back Drill:.
Sideline Catch Drill is a free football drill on FantasyHQ’s Football Coaching hub for high school work. It covers Breaking Down the “Sideline Catch” Running Back Drill: with purpose, setup cues, and coaching language for youth and high-school staffs.
In today’s video blog post, we are talking about an excellent sideline catch drill for running backs. In this running back drill, we are going to focus on teaching the receivers to catch a ball on the sideline.
What you get
Practice drills with setup notes, youth play diagrams ranked easy to hard, FLAG and tackle coaching guides,
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