Trucking in football refers to the act of running right over a defender that is attempting to tackle you. The idea behind the term is that you ran them over like a truck. Running backs are the position most likely to truck an opposing defender though it can be done by any ball carrier.
Where Did The Term Come From?
Though the term trucking may have been used before video games came along it gained popularity from the Madden video game. In this game, “trucking” is one of the attributes of the running backs in the game.
The players with a higher trucking rating were more successful when they attempted trucking opposing players. In most cases, it is power backs that had the ability to truck players consistently in the Madden Video games.
How To Truck Someone In Football
Now that you know what this term means you may be itching to learn how to do it.
Low Man Wins
The first thing you need to know about pulling off a successful truck is that you need to be lower than your opponent. The saying “low man wins” is popular in football for a reason. If you are going to effectively run over the nearest defender you need to establish a lower center of gravity than him.
You can do this by dipping your hips and shoulders just before you make contact.
Push With Your Legs
The next step needed to pull off this maneuver is to push with your legs. The legs are where you are going to generate the power to run the defender over. As much as you may like to think your upper body can pull this off, it is the legs you should be using for power.
Utilize Speed
One final thing to remember when trucking a player is to utilize speed. It is nearly impossible to truck a player from a stand still so adding some momentum to your hit is going to help. The faster you are going to easier it will be to truck you opponent as momentum is on your side.
Do Not Lead With Your Helmet
One more thing we must include in this guide is that you should not lead with your helmet. Due to it’s effectiveness many players utilized the crown of their helmet in order to truck defenders. Now a days it is understood that this sort of action can have serious effects on your health.
When attempting to pull this maneuver off be sure to lead with a shoulder so as not to injure yourself or the opposing player.
