Pitch sweep

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American football drill · Under-9 and up

The sweep is the first run most youth teams put in, and in flag it is the run that works, because a defence that cannot block cannot hold the edge for long. This drill teaches the three parts that make it work: a receiver who takes the corner defender away, a pitch the back can catch on the run, and a back who turns up the sideline instead of drifting out of bounds.

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Time: 10 minutes
Players: 3 at a time: a quarterback, a back and a receiver
Equipment: 1 or 2 balls
6 cones

Setup

Put the quarterback four yards behind the line of scrimmage, with the back three yards directly behind them.
Put a receiver wide on the side of the sweep, 18 yards from the quarterback, on the line of scrimmage.
A cone on the line of scrimmage, ten yards in from the sideline, marks where the back turns up.
On the snap the receiver runs off the corner, the back opens towards the sideline, and the quarterback pitches it.
The back catches it, gets to the edge, and turns up the sideline at the cone. Swap sides after every rep.

Coaching points

Back: open to the sideline and gain a little depth first, so the pitch arrives in front of you and you catch it running.
Quarterback: a soft, underhand pitch, chest high and slightly ahead of the back. Not a throw.
Receiver: run off the corner as if it were a pass, then break inside. The defender who follows you is not in the way.
Back: get to the edge, then turn up. A sweep that keeps running sideways ends out of bounds behind the line.

On the run sheet: Back opens and gains depth, pitch it soft and in front, receiver clears the corner, back turns up the sideline

Progressions

Add a defender at the corner who has to choose between the receiver and the back.
Add a fake: the quarterback shows the pitch and hands it off inside instead.
Run it the other way with the back on the other side, so it is not a one-direction play.

How it runs

The receiver goes first, running hard at the defender on the corner as if it were a pass and then breaking inside, which takes that defender away from the sideline. The back opens flat towards the sideline, so the ball can be pitched in front of them, and the quarterback tosses it underhand. The back catches it running, without slowing down, gets to the edge and turns up the sideline. The animation shows that order: the receiver clearing, the back opening, the pitch arriving as the back gets to it, and the run up the sideline.

Check your league's rules before you install it. Some flag rule sets allow a pitch behind the line of scrimmage and some allow only handoffs; where only handoffs are legal, run the same sweep with the quarterback handing it off and the back taking it wide. A sweep is a run, so it is not a legal call inside a no-run zone.

Why it works

A flag defence has no blockers to beat, so the edge is held only by a defender's angle. Getting the ball wide quickly, with the corner defender pulled away, makes that angle very hard to take. The pitch is the reason the back can be at full speed when the ball arrives; the receiver's route is the reason there is space when they get there.

The mistakes to watch for

Pitches thrown hard, or behind the back. Backs who drift wider and wider and never turn up. And receivers who jog off the corner because they know it is a run, which tells the defender exactly that.

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Page updated 29 October 2026 · American football play designer · All drills