The Morningside Method: Building a Cohesive, Dominating Offensive Line

Jay Schlicte put together a highly valuable, must-watch instructional video on building a cohesive offensive line that can come together and dominate the line of scrimmage! In a video presentation that doesn’t cut any corners, Schlicte draws upon his NAIA National Championship experience with the Mustangs and lays out his ‘battle plan’ for how to mold an offensive line that achieves its mission within the offense.

Building A Cohesive Offensive Line

Schlicte begins this informative video session with an in-depth discussion on offensive line philosophy and the key tenets you need to stress when building an O-line group to serve as a cohesive, functioning unit that plays off one another’s strengths.

Coach Schlicte outlines important offensive line points of emphasis as it pertains to building a philosophy that brings the position group closer together, including the S.T.E.P. process and the five core values stressed daily to offensive linemen – which include: communication, family, passion, responsibility and toughness.Schlicte then highlights an important discussion on the ideal traits of an offensive lineman and an outline of the mindset and approach to coaching this group of players, as well as the importance of both mental and physical mastery of the techniques required for each member of the O-line and how it relates to the overall function of your team’s offense.Next, Schlicte showcases an important look at the off-season training program for Morningside offensive linemen and covers an overview of O-line specific weight-room training guidelines they follow to build up the physical characteristics needed to execute the offense.

Offensive Line Drills

The next section is extremely valuable, as Coach Schlicte shows off four of his favorite offensive linemen drills that he uses regularly to develop the technical skills and muscle memory of the O-line group. Schlicte reiterates the key fundamentals skills that offensive linemen need to possess to have success in any offense.Each drill is thoroughly explained by Schlicte, as he shows video clips of each offensive line drill done during a Mustang practice, all while providing you detailed explanations, important coaching points-of-emphasis and key teaching notes. A terrific follow-up occurs when Schlicte uses game-film video clip examples that illustrate how these practice drills have practical applications to actual live-game situations – which helps to reinforce and hammer home the point of doing each drill on a daily basis.The four offensive line drills shown in this section of the video -- with practical applications accompanied by live-game video examples – include: 

1) ‘Fit-Progression Drill,’ 

2) ‘Step-Punch-Drive Drill,’ 

3) ‘Pass-Pro, Down-The-Line Drill,’ and 

4) ‘Pass-Pro, Twist-Pickup Drill.’

No matter the type of offense you run, this is a must-watch offensive line video for coaches of all levels of competition. No other position group relies on one another more than offensive lineman, and Schlicte provides highly valuable insight for coaching this unit to new heights!

Coach Rating: 5 Out Of 5 Stars.‘This is a great video. Concise and to the point. Efficiently providing offensive line fundamentals and the fact that he shows great examples of both drill work and practical applications with game footage is awesome.’

60 minutes. 2022.