Catch and tuck

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American football drill · Under-7 and up

Most dropped passes in youth football are caught with the chest, or caught while the receiver is already looking for the next defender. This drill puts the catch on the move, on the shallow cross that every flag playbook runs, and makes the receiver finish it: hands, eyes, tuck, then turn upfield.

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Time
10 minutes
Players
2 or more: a thrower and a line of receivers
Equipment
  • 4 cones
  • 3 or 4 balls
  • A coach or a quarterback to throw

Setup

  1. Put a cone on the line of scrimmage for the thrower and step them back five yards.
  2. Line the receivers up on a cone 12 yards to the thrower's left, on the line of scrimmage.
  3. Put a cone five yards downfield in front of the thrower: the receiver crosses over it.
  4. The receiver runs the shallow cross, catches the pass in front of them, tucks it, and turns upfield past a last cone 10 yards on.
  5. They jog the ball back to the thrower and join the line on the other side, so the next round crosses the other way.

Coaching points

  • Catch it away from the body, hands in a diamond with the thumbs and first fingers touching for a ball above the chest.
  • For a ball below the waist, turn the hands over: little fingers together.
  • Watch the ball into the hands. Look away before it is caught and it is not caught.
  • Tuck it straight away, high and tight against the ribs, before turning upfield.

On the run sheet: Hands out in a diamond, watch it all the way in, tuck it high and tight, then turn upfield

Progressions

  1. Throw it slightly behind or slightly high, so the receiver has to adjust.
  2. Add a defender trailing the cross who may pull the flag the moment the ball is caught, and not before.
  3. Run it from both sides and make the receivers catch going left as well as right.

How it runs

The receiver comes across the field five yards deep on a shallow cross, which is the route a young quarterback can complete because it is short and it is moving across their eyes. The coach throws it in front of the receiver, chest high. The receiver reaches for it with the hands, watches it all the way in, and only then tucks it and turns upfield. The animation shows the whole of that: the cross, the throw, and the turn after the catch with the ball carried away upfield.

Start with the receivers walking the route. The catching part is easier to fix when nobody is sprinting, and the speed comes back quickly.

Why it works

Catching on the move is a different skill from catching standing still, and the shallow cross is where most young receivers drop it, because they are already thinking about the run after the catch. Making the tuck a separate step, before the turn, fixes the order. In flag it matters twice over: a defender may pull the flag as soon as the ball is caught, so a receiver who turns before they have it has lost the yards and the ball.

The mistakes to watch for

Trapping the ball against the chest instead of catching it with the hands. Turning the head upfield before the ball arrives. And carrying it out in one hand like a loaf of bread, which is how it gets knocked loose.

More American football drills

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