That's why you gotta catch it with your hands.
Originally Posted by: nerdmann
So I'm watching my nephew at football practice last night and another parent comes up next to me and we start talking about playing WR. "when I was coaching I always told the kids to try to cradle the ball in their arms just as it hits their chest because its a bigger target and the ball won't go through their hands. I don't know why everyone tells them to catch with their hands?" I just said I don't know.
I also noticed one kid, a WR lined up EVERY SINGLE PLAY at least a yard offsides, sometimes even two. Granted it wasn't on a lined field but he would break the huddle spread out wide, walk up to the line of scrimmage, look down the line and take a step or two forward. I think what he was doing was lining himself up with the ball and the receiver on the other side who was always a yard or two behind the LOS. I was standing about 5 yards in front of the line so I had to walk back a few times just to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. Sure enough, every play he was offsides. The coaches didn't say a word. I casually asked the chest catcher dad if that was his kid, #40, and he said "no, my kid is the QB" so I said "just watch #40 and tell me if I am seeing things or is he lining up offsides on every play." He watches a few plays and says "yeah it looks like he might be but I can't really tell because of our line of sight and there are no lines on the field" After practice I see chest catcher dad walking off the field with offsides WR #40. I wonder if I put my foot in my mouth. Maybe he was just telling the kid about it. Luckily I never really said anything bad about the kid, I just pointed out that he was offsides on every play so if he corrects the issue no harm done.
After what was an apparently bad night the night before my nephew caught the only two passes thrown at him last night and he made nice catches with his hands out in front and made nice turns up the field. It was just offensive drills without a defense so who knows but at least he caught them which he wasn't doing the night before.