Wide receivers need speed and good hands to outrun defenders and catch the ball. This document recommends several drills to improve hand-eye coordination, quick reaction time, and breakaway speed. The drills include over-the-shoulder catches using smaller balls to focus on hand-eye coordination, sprinting between cones while catching balls thrown from different angles to improve reaction time, single-leg juggling of medicine balls for balance and coordination, and weighted sprints using a weighted vest to build breakaway speed after the resistance is removed.

1. Wide ReceiverWorkouts
Wide receiversneedspeedtooutrundefendersandgoodhandsto catch the ball.Receiverswhoalso
spendtime developingtheirhand-eye coordination,quickreaction,andbreakawayspeedwill become
dominantattheirpositions.
Addthese drillstoyourtrainingtobe aheadof the competition:
Over The ShoulderCatchesWithOne Hand:
Place twoconesfive yardsapart witha coach, manager,or anotherreceivertothe rightor leftof the
cones.Onthe coach’ssignal,sprinttothe cone and catch the ball withthe handon the opposite
shoulder.Forexample,if the throweristothe right,catch withthe left.If the throweristo the left,
catch withthe right.
To develophand-eyecoordinationdonotuse a football.Use asmallertennis ball,racquetball,orgolf
ball.Byforcingthe receivertocatch a smallerobject,itmakesthemfocusonthe objectas itgetscloser
and comesintotheirhandsforthe catch developinghand-eyecoordination.
Performtoboth the rightand the leftsides.
Four Corners Quick ReactionCatches:
Thisis an excellentteamdrillthatdevelopsquickhand-eyereactionandforcesthe receivertohave his
handsreadyto catch a ball.Use smallertennis,racquet,orgolf ballsforthisdrill.
Place fourconesin a square five yardsapart. Place teammatesateach cornerwitha ball.Onthe
coachessignal,sprinttothe firstcone.As the cone is approached,spintothe outside of the cone
towardsthe cone diagonal at45 degrees.Handsshouldbe readytoreceive the ball thathasalready
beenthrown.Afterthe ball isthrown,dropiton the groundand sprintto the nextcone repeatingthe
drill.Performateachcorner of the circle.
Performonboth the rightand the leftsides.
Single Leg Medicine Ball Juggle:
Standingonfoamboard or softmat, develophandeye coordinationandbalance bytryingtocatch and
tossback 1-2 poundmedicine balls.
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2. WeightedSprints:
The average football playisfourto sevenyardsinlengthanda receiver’sbreakawayspeedisthe first
tenyards of acceleration.Weightedsprintsdevelopbreakawayspeedbytrainingthe bodyusingheavy
resistance.The body’smuscle memorybecomesusedtothe resistance sowhenthere isnoresistance,
youbecome faster.
The besttool forweightedsprintsisthe SpeedSacbySKILZ.The “Sack” can be filledwith30lbsof sand
or gravel,dumbbells,orplatesupto100 pounds.The surface isalsomade so that itwill notdamage
playingorpractice fields.The waistbeltalsofitssizesupto48” waist.
Beginbymeasuringoff 40 yards usingtwocones.Attachthe SpeedSacto the waistand sprint40 yards.
Immediatelytake the beltoff andrun40 yards withoutresistance.Recover2:00 minutestoemulate the
time betweenfootballplays.
Performtensprintswithresistance andtensprintswithoutresistance.
I wouldlike tothankSKILZfor allowingme touse the SpeedSac.