How Tom Cruise can make your running backs better (Featured)

Every running back's job is to put their foot in the ground and drive through traffic. What better way for a running backs coach to illustrate that than showing a clip of Tom Cruise literally driving through traffic?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhyLGjdBW98

Inside the Pylon has a great series on the techniques Penn State running backs coach Charles Huff uses to implore his players to run strong through traffic, centered around a drill that requires his players to sink their hips, which in turn allows them to lower their center of gravity and explode through a hole.

The shoot that they have to run under is used to make sure that the back drops his hips and roll his shoulders. Coach Huff believes that the single most important trait for a back is hip flexibility, or the ability to drop his hips and efficiently change directions and explode. He said, “a back that could sink his hips will always be in position to change directions or change the playing field aggressively and with balance.” You’ll notice Barkley naturally bends at the hips, giving him a low center of gravity. A key part of the drill is sinking the hips and then getting the shoulders, knees, and toes vertical to explode into the correct hole. When the back gets underneath the shoot he has to also roll his shoulder forward, which puts him in a position to deliver a blow.

And then show the clip to your players, if nothing else to amaze yourself at how old we're all getting when none of them know who any of the people in the clip are.

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