Role of Offensive Guard in Football

Series Summary

Modern American football began in 1874 and has since been a popular sport for competitive teams of all ages. The excitement of a Monday night gridiron game works down from the bright lights, over a roaring crowd, and through the voices of top sports announcers like the late Howard Cosell or John Madden. In fact, football is now the most-watched sport in America, easily beating out America’s national pastime, baseball.

The object of the game of football is to advance down the field into the opposing team’s end zone. This is called a touchdown and is worth six points. There are other ways score in football, including two-point conversions and field goals. The team with the most points when time runs out wins.

In this free instructional video series, learn how to play offensive guard. Understand how the game works, with an introduction to the basic rules and objectives, as well as a rundown of the offensive and defensive positions on the field. Lessons also include skills and techniques for beginner offensive and defensive players: how to carry the ball, throw a pass, block effectively, punt, and make a solid hand off.

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Sean Hobson, for Expert Village. What we want to talk about is the importance of the guard on the running play. The guard is going to have a lot of different styles of blocks in order to free up our runners. Sometimes they'll be asked to block to the inside for a run that's going around them (video demo). See how he's getting to the inside of the play on that inside shoulder to open up a block. He can also do the same thing to the outside shoulder. That's called an outside block. So, he's got an inside block, he's got an outside block on run play. There's also something called the drive block. The drive block means he'll try to get heads up on somebody and drive them straight up the field. Remember, also, our guards will have an important job on run plays where they will pull out. When we pull the guard, this guard will take one step out and go 90 degree angle down the line of scrimmage and he'll become a lead blocker on this play. The guard has several different jobs in blocking against the run. He has the inside, the outside, he has the drive block, and he also pulls out and is a lead blocker."