5 Reasons Your Defense Is Giving Up Big Plays

1. Misalignment
One of the biggest reasons defenses give up big plays is misalignment. When your defense is not properly aligned, offenses can easily outnumber or out-leverage you to either side, creating instant
advantages. Never allow the offense to outnumber and /or out-leverage you to any side.

Coaching Points:  Practice alignments every day – Ensure players understand leverage and spacing – Alignment should be automatic and fast.

2. Poor Pursuit Paths / Lack of Swarm
Bad angles turn small gains into explosive plays. When defenders take poor paths to the ball carrier, they lose leverage and allow cutbacks, bounce-outs, and extra yards after contact. Contain players need to set the edge, wall players / pursuit players need to run track the near hip of the ball carrier- pursuit inside to out.

Coaching Points: Set the edge and force the ball inside – Pursue inside-out with a near-hip aiming point – Do pursuit drills every single day – Swarm the ball carrier with multiple defenders

3. Too Static / Not Aggressive Enough
If your defense is predictable, offenses will pick you apart. Sitting in the same looks and not applying pressure allows offenses to get comfortable and execute without stress. Don’t stay in the same alignment and don’t attack the same gaps with the same defenders. Mix it up and keep the offensive line guessing.

Coaching Points: Mix up fronts and coverages – Bring pressure consistently – Force the offense to react to you – Use defensive line movement (STEM)

4. Eyes in the Backfield
Getting caught watching backfield action leads to blown coverages. Linebackers and defensive backs bite on play-action and defensive backs lose receivers, resulting in wide open plays.

Coaching Points: – Maintain eye discipline – Read your keys and trust your assignment – Understand down and distance – Don’t get nosy in the backfield. If you’re playing man coverage, eyes on your guy!

5. Not Creating Turnovers
If you’re not taking the ball away, you’re giving the offense more opportunities to create big plays. Turnovers shift momentum and stop explosive drives. Many youth football defense don’t force any turnovers. When I say force turnovers- that means stripping the ball or getting an interception- not receiving a botched snap from the QB/ C.

Coaching Points: Emphasize stripping the football – Attack the catch point aggressively – Turn every play into a takeaway opportunity – Build a takeaway mindset into your defense.

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How to Teach Press Man Coverage in Youth Football

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10 Ways to Maximize Press Man Coverage in Football

1. Confidence
2. Leverage
3. Feet
4. Off-hand Jam
5. Shadow
6. Quick Jam
7. Tracking Football
8. Practice/Reps
9. Play the Hands
10. Eyes

 Maximize Press Man Coverage

1. 1. Confidence / Attitude. Your CBs need to be tough kids, especially mentally. They need to have extreme confidence and enthusiasm. They must be able to recover from any setbacks or plays they give up. We have a motto we use it’s called “reload”! We use the work reload after we give up a big play or have a setback. Put a confident kids at your CB position.
   2. Understand receiver alignment. If the receiver is cheating his split out wide, odds are he is doing this to give himself room to run a route towards the inside. So make sure your CB takes away the inside shade of the receiver, forcing an outside release. If the receiver cheats his split in, that means he wants to either run a crossing route or some that goes outside. Slot receivers are difficult to cover because they will make the CB have to defend outside, inside, and vertical releases. However, you still want your CB to take away any inside releases.
   3. The CBs feet should be parallel, and they should lean on the balls of their feet with chest over your feet. The CB should also bend at the knees and waist. Hands should be up and ready to jam. Make sure your CB isn’t off balanced because he is making sure his chest is over his feet.
   4. Off-hand jam. The CB must take two quick bounce steps (not jumping high) while keeping their eyes on the midsection of the receiver. Whichever way he releases, jam with your off hand. For example- if the receiver outside to the CB’s left, the DB will jam with his away hand, which would be his right hand. This will avoid getting their hips locked.
   5. Do not duck your head. You never want your CB to duck their head or lunge at the receiver when he goes to jam. Shadow box the receiver with your feet. Get hip to hip with the receiver once he commits to his release.
   6. Quick jam. Have your cornerback off hand jam the receiver after he make his first step. This is a good tactic because it will eliminate missing your jam (trying to engage first) and it will force the receiver to show his route. This is why you should teach your kids to bounce step and then shadow.
   7. Watch the eyes. When the ball is in the air the receiver’s eye will widen (for when you are trailing). When the receiver’s head turns to look for the football that’s when the defensive back’s head needs to turn and look for the football. If the CB’s head turns too early to look for the football he will slow down and lose his hip to hip leverage on the receiver.
   8. Practice. Practice. Make sure you commit practice time to press coverage. You can do receiver vs. defensive back periods. You can also do an individual period with your CBs and you can have them work on these techniques against each other. Make sure you practice jamming receivers against inside, outside, and speed releases.
   9. Play the hands. When you are beat or your defensive back can’t find the football, he needs to play through the hands of the receiver. When the receiver is about to catch the ball his hands will come up. Teach your CBs to play through the hands.
   10. Don’t get caught peaking into the backfield. This is particularly important on the youth football level. So many time you’ll see kids get caught peaking into the backfield and get beat. When you are playing press man coverage your CB’s sole priority is to cover that receiver wherever he runs. You must be careful because some receivers will fake like they are going to block, then they will release on a pass pattern. Eyes should be always be on the receiver.

Here’s a great video explaining the off-hand jam…

If you are a press man coverage defense you need to practice these techniques. Playing man coverage is a ‘dudes game’. If your athletes are better and more physical than theirs, then you will probably thrive in press man coverage. If you aren’t dripping with talent, then maybe press man isn’t for you. However, if you implement these 10 ways to maximize press man coverage in football you will always play solid press coverage or at least be disruptive with your press man.

See Also: Pass Coverage Resource Library 

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Defending Four Verticals in Youth Football

In reality shutting down the Four Vertical concept is not overly difficult. The most effective way to defend the passing concept is to put two Safeties deep and have the Cornerbacks play a sag man coverage against the #1 receivers. The effect is a four wide net that the receivers can’t get past. The major issue with this is that you are putting at least 6 defenders deep and wide (assuming you cover the flats with two defenders) which leaves only 5 defenders to stop the run. The effect is that the offense can take advantage of your lack of numbers in the box and run the ball for long gains.

To stop the run the traditional answer is to roll down a Safety to cover the flats so that you can use another linebacker in the box. This gives you six defenders in the box which should be enough to stop the run if the offense splits four receivers out wide. The issue with rolling a defender down though is that now your Safety is forced to defend both receivers running up the seams which leaves the Quarterback an easy decision.

Related Content: 4 Vertical Passing Concept 

In order to effectively stop the Four Verticals concept, without sacrificing stopping the running game, the answer is to teach the Alley players to play through the number two vertical on their way to the flat. When these Alley defenders read pass they must get their eyes immediately to number two. If number two is running a vertical route they will stay with him and get their eyes out to number one. If the number one receiver is running vertical they can continue to stay with the vertical route from number two and force the Quarterback to make a perfect throw. If the number one receiver runs any in breaking route they will come off the number 2 receiver to defend it.

In the end offenses rely on a numbers game to attempt to stretch the defense out horizontally and vertically. When an offense is able to successfully stretch the defense horizontally and vertically the defense is in trouble. They have to find a way to constrict the offense and use their own rules and routes against them. By teaching the Alley player to wall and carry, a defense is able to do just that, and as a result win the numbers game.

Related Content: 4-4 Stack Defense in Youth Football 

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Teaching the Rip Move in Youth Football

The thing that allows the Rip move to work is the defenders physicality. In order for the defender to successfully rip through a block he must present enough of a threat of destroying the block the blocker will load up and attempt to throw a physical block. If the blocker doesn’t have to worry about being physical in his block than he will sit back and adjust to the rip. This is why we always talk to our players and tell them that their primary block destruction move must be to press the blocker. By pressing the blocker they control their leverage and set up the rest of their moves.

The other issue that comes from the Rip move is the timing of the move. If the defender rips too early the defender will simply cut off the block and go opposite of where the defender has ripped. Again this is why we teach our defenders to press any blockers and then resort to the rip move when the runner has committed either inside or outside of the block.

We begin our rip move progression by teaching it from a Press position. We have our players take on a block with their inside foot forward and pressing the chest of the blocker with their inside arm. This allows them to keep outside leverage. As they are driving the blocker back they need to get their eyes on the ball carrier. Once he commits they are clear to rip.

Related Content: 10 Fundamentals of Defensive Line Play 

The major coaching point for us to have the rip move start with the non-ripping hand. If the defender is going to be ripping to his left, then his right arm will rip through the blocker. This means that he needs to start the move with his left arm. He must press his left arm first to open a space. Once he has pressed the opposite shoulder he is free to rip through with his arm.

The second coaching point we use is to get the hips through. We want the defender to rip and get his hips clear of the blocker. We teach this by telling the defender that he needs to step with the ripping side foot all the way through to the heel of the blocker. This will put him in a situation where his hips are through and he is in a position to make a play.

The rip move can be an effective move but it’s critical that it is combined with the pressing block destruction. This allows the defender to put the blocker on the back foot and control contact.

Related Content: Coaching Tips for Defensive Line 

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Teaching Defensive Back Stance and Backpedal with the Throttle Drill

The Throttle Drill is a great drill to teach defensive backs to stay low in their backpedal and maintain great posture and position throughout the drill. In the drill the players will be working on their backpedal across various speeds. The key to this drill is that the players must keep their body in the same position the whole time they do the drill.

Related Content: Press Coverage Technique | Bump and Run 

The Throttle Drill is done with as many lines as needed all in a great stance with their eyes on the coach. On the Coaches command, we normally move the ball to signal the start of the drill, the players will start to backpedal with their eyes on the ball the coach is holding. The ball represents the throttle and can change their speed. So as the coach moves the ball down, the players will slow down their backpedal, and the further up the coach moves the ball the faster they will backpedal.

This is a great drill in teaching players how to stay in a great stance throughout their backpedal. When teaching defensive backs, one of the major issues is that they tend to sacrifice their technique as the backpedal quicker. The effect is that their hips get higher and they can not make the break that is required to react to a receiver’s cut as quickly as the should be able to. By slowing down the backpedal and then speeding it up players can work on adjusting their speed while keeping their body position in mind.

Related Content: Defensive Back Stance 

There are a million different backpedal drills that coaches can find to work with defensive backs. The key to using these drills effectively is to have a specific reason for why you are doing it and make sure the players know the skill they are developing. When players know the skill they are developing it allows them to focus their energy into making sure that portion of the drill is excellent.

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Cloud Coverage Cornerback Drill

In this drill the Cornerback will start about 5 yards in front of the player that is acting as the receiver. The Coach will line up behind the CB and tell the receiver which way he will be going. As the player releases off the line, the Cornerback will look to keep outside leverage and collision any outside release while keeping his eyes in at the Quarterback.

There are a couple of key points that the coach needs to watch out for to ensure that athletes are getting the most from the drill. The first is the technique of the Cornerback when the ball is snapped. Most Defensive Backs get the idea that they must backpedal right at the snap of the ball pounded into their head. In this drill though, the CB actually wants to maintain his ground. Because he is responsible for the Flat he does not need to backpedal at the snap of the ball. While he doesn’t need to backpedal out he does need to get his feet moving slightly. We tell our Cornerbacks to get into a position where they have the balls of their feet lightly on the line. This gives them a reference point on where to stay, while also teaching them the proper technique.

Related Content: Understanding Cover 2 Zone 

The second major coaching point is based on teaching the players how to make contact with the Cornerback. The goal is to reroute any receiver to the inside. When the receiver releases outside the Cornerback will use his feet to get into a position to keep the receiver between himself and the Quarterback. As the receiver continues to push towards the outside the Cornerback will take two shuffle steps before returning back to his zone. If the receiver makes an in breaking route the CB will stay with him for two shuffles before returning to his zone. This helps ensure that if it is a double move the Cornerback still has the ability to collision him and help the Safety get over the top of any vertical route.

The final coaching point is getting the Cornerback back into a position to defend his passing zone. After the Cornerback shuffles with the receiver for two steps he will get back into his passing zone and look for the next potential threat. The key here is to give the receiver a last shove before settling into the passing zone and getting his eyes on the Quarterback.

Related Content: Cover 3 Cloud Zone vs. Trips Formation 

One of the things that makes this drill so great is that there can be as many groups going at once as you need. As long as they all are assuming they are on the same side of the ball and the receivers are running the same route you can space these out every 5-7 yards. This makes it a great drill to work on installing any coverage where the Cornerback will be working Cloud coverage.

The Cloud Corner Cover Drill is a great tool to work with the Cornerbacks to ensure that they are correctly reroutes all receivers. In the installation portion of the season it will get every player the necessary reps to learn the technique. During the heart of the season you can use the drill to go over the top route combinations of the opponent and prepare your players for the upcoming opponent.

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3 Things We Need To Do Better On Defense

1. Pursuit /Swarm to the Ball Carrier 

Last season we worked a ton on pursuing to the ball carrier and instilling the mentality that when we play defense all our defenders must be able to get to the football. We gotten a lot better at our pursuit, but it’s an area we still need to get better at if we want to play championship defense this season. As coaches, we have to do a better job of making sure the kids understand the importance of maintaining pursuit lanes and gang tackling the ball carrier. If we are able to get numbers to the ball carrier we will deter big plays, demoralize offense, and naturally generate turnovers. The fact of the matter is that if a player doesn’t have the ability and/or desire to get to the football then they will not be playing defense for us.  Pursuit angles are important, but the kids have to want to run to the ball carrier, a lot of it has to do with effort. This season we will be holding the kids accountable for their effort.

Pursuit Drill 

Related Content: Utilizing the Pursuit Drill in Youth Football 

2. Forcing Turnovers

Championship defenses do an excellent job of forcing turnovers. If we can generate 3 or more turnovers in a game we will have a great chance of winning that game. Creating turnovers is something that needs to be practiced. The art of creating turnovers is a combination of effort, technique, and mindset. First off, the kids need to understand the importance of turnovers. You have to make sure that the kids understand the importance of turnovers and put forth the EFFORT required to generate those turnovers (like getting to the ball carrier!). Secondly, there are several different techniques that can be used to force a fumble, techniques like the punch and club/rip. These are techniques that will be practiced daily. Lastly, the kids have to have the mindset that they will force a turnover this drive. They have to come into every game thinking that they will generate at least 3-4 turnovers. Every game that we generated 3 or more turnovers are games that we won.  Our goal is to generate 3 or more every single game.

3. Block Destruction/Beating Blocks

Block destruction is just as important as tackling. If you can’t beat blocks, you won’t be able to get to the ball carrier and make a tackle. As a team, we need to do a better job of beating blocks. We need to do a better job of maintaining leverage as we physically beat the block. We have to teach our defenders that they have to be violent with their hands. They just can’t try to go around the blocks, they must destruct them. We want our defensive linemen to dip and rip and we want our linebackers to shock and shed, while pursuing inside-out. Our linebackers understood how to shed the block, but we didn’t do a good enough job SHOCKING and then shedding the block.

Shock and Shed Drill

(See Also) 4 Things Championship Defenses Do Well 

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Developing a SWARM Mentality on Defense

It’s important to understand that it is getting getting players to the ball carrier is a fundamental aspect of successful defense, but gap integrity and pursuit lanes are just as important. You can’t just have your defense disregard their gap and pursuit lanes by just recklessly chasing the ball carrier. We want our players to get to the ball carrier through their pursuit lanes. We try to be disciplined and aggressive at the same time. We aggressively get to the ball carrier through our pursuit path. If our players take the proper angles and pursuit paths to the ball carrier they will be able to get to him.

Accountability: We demand at least 5 or more defenders around the ball carrier every play. We hold the kids accountable during film sessions, the tape doesn’t lie. I count how many plays in the game that we had 5 or more defenders around the ball carrier. It’s important that we track this so that we can see if we are getting better at swarming. This season we will great incentives for our defense, if 70% or more of our defensive snaps we had at 5 or more defenders around the ball we will do one less suicide on Friday (for example). I’m still trying to figure out some incentive ideas, so if you have any suggestions please comment below.

Benefits of the SWARM Mentality

Prevents Big Plays 

The more defenders that are able to get to the football the less likely a running back will break tackles and gain big yardage. One on one tackling is difficult on any age level of football, so it’s important that defenders get to the ball carrier to help their teammates out. When you get a bunch of defenders to the ball carrier it will close down field space and you to smother the ball carrier.  When you are getting 5 to 6 defenders to the ball carrier every play, the defense will prevent the offense from gaining big plays. Developing the SWARM mentality on defense isn’t just about stopping the run, whether it is a run or pass, we demand all of our players run to the football. I don’t care if it is a 20 yard pass downfield, we want our players hustling to the football. The best way to deter big plays is having relentless pursuit to the ball carrier. 

Pursuit Drill (executed every practice) 

Pursuit Drill- Blitzes and Slants 

We also practice execute our blitz and slants during our pursuit drill.

(See Also) The Pursuit Drill in Youth Football

Frustrates the Offense

There is nothing more demoralizing for an offense than having a defense that is flying around are swarming your ball carrier. It not only frustrates the players, it frustrates their coaches as well. It’s not a good feeling when every single play there are 5 + defenders around your running back. It isn’t hard to frustrate kids and once they are demoralized they will not play well.  In youth football, so many offenses rely on big plays. The likelihood of an offense going 10+ plays and scoring is slim. When you make the offense have to drive the field it will only be a matter of time before they take a penalty, fumble, or make a mistake.  Don’t give anything easy.  

Generates Turnovers

The more defenders you have around the football the better chance you have at forcing a turnover and or recovering a fumble. When you have 5 defenders around the ball carrier you have defenders to secure the tackle, force a fumble (rip at the football), and recover the fumble. Generating turnovers is a numbers game. The team with more players around the football will have a better chance at recovering a fumble or getting an interception off of a tipped pass. How many times have you seen a tipped pass in youth football that falls on the ground or an offensive player is able to catch it? A lot I bet . A youth football offense will give you at least 4 chances (per game) to get a turnover because of a mistake they make (unforced turnover). If you instill the mentality to get to the ball carrier, swarm the ball carrier, and rip the ball out, then you will generate a ton of turnover. If you win the turnover battle, you have great chance to win the football game.

It’s Fun

The SWARM mentality is something that your players can own. It’s fun to play defense, it’s fun flying to the ball carrier, it’s fun forcing turnovers, and it’s fun frustrating offenses. It’s important to make the pursuit drill fun, have the kids flying around with energy. It’s important that all coaches share that same energy and enthusiasm. Celebrate plays that you had 5 or more players around the football. Celebrate the pursuit drill in practice, overtime it will be a drill the kids will actually look forward to doing.  Playing defense is fun and every player should want to get to the ball carrier and be involved in the play.

(See Also) 3-5-3 Stack Playbook

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Making the Strip Drill Applicable to All Positions

The heart of the strip drill is that the defender is going to try to pry the ball away from the offensive player. This will stay the same regardless of the position group doing the drill. The other thing that has to be emphasized is that they must secure the tackle before going for the strip. Many times defenders will sell out trying to get the strip and allow the runner to break the tackle and gain more yards. It must be clear to the players that they only go for the strip once the tackle is guaranteed.

Defensive Line

The first strip drill is for the Defensive line. In this drill the linemen will execute a pass rush move on a coach or player. After they complete their pass rush they will come to a coach or player positioned like a quarterback looking down the field. The position of the quarterback can vary depending on the skill you are working on.

The most common way is for the quarterback to be in the wind up portion of his throw. For this the lineman must chop aggressively downward with the arm that is closest to the ball while wrapping up and taking down the quarterback with the other arm. It is critical that the lineman takes the QB to the ground. By taking him to the ground he will not be able to recover and the offense will have to rely on offensive linemen to recover the ball. Many times the linemen aren’t looking at the ball which gives the defense a huge advantage.

The other scenario to work with the Defensive line is when the QB has not started the process of throwing the ball. Here the QB is holding the ball in front of his chest with both hands. In this scenario the lineman should come over the throwing shoulder and chop down and away from the QB’s body. The goal of this is to not only get the ball out and deeper in the pocket where the defenders have a better chance of recovering it. Again the lineman must make sure he secures the tackle with the hand that is not chopping.

Linebackers

The strip drill for the linebackers can take a variety of different forms but the majority of times it will not be in a pass rushing situation. Instead linebackers make the majority of their tackles in a confined space. As a result when they are working on strip drills they will use the stick and strip drill.

In the Stick and Strip drill there will have a ball carrier running at the linebacker. Once they fit up on the tackle they will look to get a hold of the tip of the ball and rip it back towards them. The important part of this drill is that the linebackers keep their feet moving through contact and while ripping for the ball. By keeping their feet moving they will continue to drive the ball carrier backwards and allow more defenders to join in on the tackle.

An important note on this drill is to make sure to use a progression. The best way to introduce the drill is when the defender is already fit up on the ball carrier in a heads up tackling position. As they begin to master the leg drive and rip from a fit up position slowly start moving them out of the fit up so they can work on making the tackle while getting the strip. Another important thing is to never run this drill full speed. By running the drill full speed technique suffers and both players are only focused on running the opposition over which increases the potential for injury.

Defensive Backs

Defensive Backs going for a strip is one of the most dangerous attempts at a turnover. This is because they make the majority of their tackles in open space where, if the ball carrier breaks free from them, there are no extra defenders to make the tackle. The other part of defensive backs is that they are normally the second man to the tackle on most run plays. So instead of working on a Stick and Strip they will practice the Second Man Strip.

In this drill the ball carrier and the original tackler will be fit up in a tackle with the DB about 5 yards away. The DB’s relationship to the tackle can vary as he will find himself in multiple different situations. As the DB arrives to the tackle he wants to use one arm to secure the tackle while grabbing for the ball with the other arm. Once he reaches the ball or the hand of the ball carrier he should rip outward to try and pry the ball loose. The phrase that we use is to “start the lawn mower.”

There are a few key coaching points with this drill as well. The first is that the second man wants to, if at all possible, join the tackle in a way that will force the runner backwards. This helps eliminate any extra yards. The second one major coaching point is for the second defender to make contact and keep running their legs. By continuing to run their feet they are hopefully pushing the runner back to their own end zone but also opening up the potential for a strip as the ball carrier has to fight harder to gain ground.

These drills are far from the only strip drills but they serve to teach position specific skills for situations that each position group will find themselves in. In the end each of these drills can be used for each position group but the key is to tailor the situation so that it fits what the players will be seeing in the game. The Second Man strip should look a lot different for the DB’s than the Defensive Line so that they can apply it to the game.

(See Also) Football Philosophy – Defense 

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Press Coverage Technique | Bump and Run Coverage

The first step of pressing a receiver is by setting up with great alignment. The ideal position of a defender who is covering a receiver is to be in between the receiver and the quarterback. When the defender is pressing he will align with inside leverage and force the receiver to go to the outside. This gives the defender a better chance at keeping himself between the receiver and the quarterback so he can make a play on any pass that comes his way.

The second element of a successful press is the defender’s eyes. A common mistake with young players is that they will let their eyes rise up to the head and shoulders of the receiver. This is a mistake because the receiver often uses these as a distraction and to fool the defender. Instead the defender must place his focus on the inside hip of the receiver. He should have complete focus on this point and allow it to dictate how he will react.

Related Content: Beat Man to Man Coverage 

The third element of the press is the contact stage. Once the receiver has stepped off the line it’s critical that the defender makes contact with the receiver. This will disrupt the timing and force the receiver to adjust his route. Many times coaches will tell their players to make contact in a specific spot. While there are spots that are better than others, I believe it is a mistake to have the defender focused specifically on hitting these spots. When it is in a kid’s mind that he must make contact on the receiver’s chest he is much more likely to raise his vision to the chest of the receiver. As he does that he opens himself up to the fake of the receiver. Instead I believe it’s better to tell the defender to keep his focus on the inside him and make contact with the core of the receiver. This allows him to stay focused on the inside hip and maintain good inside leverage.

The last element of a successful press is the feet. A good DB must keep his feet active. The moment his feet stop moving he is susceptible to getting beat. We have our defenders do a backwards hop where they keep their weight on the balls of their feet as the watch the receiver and get ready to make contact. By keeping their feet active they have less inertia that they must break which allows them to respond quicker to the receivers movements.

Pressing a receiver on the line is one of the hardest skills in football. While it requires a great deal of athleticism and skill by completing these four elements the defender puts himself in a position to make a play.

Benefits of Playing Press Coverage: 

• Disrupts timing.
• Allows your defense to play psychical on the receivers.
• Allows you to blitz while taking away the quick hitting short routes.
• How often do you think youth football coaches practice beating press coverage? I’d bet not very much.
• Safeties and Linebackers can’t get cracked. When teams play press coverage with the DB maintaining inside leverage, it become very difficult to execute a crack block.

Related Content: Man to Man Coverage Tips

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A Defensive Back’s stance must be a comfortable position where the player can quickly move and adjust to the keys he sees in front of him. Each player tends to have their own version of the stance that is dictated by their body measurements and their athletic ability. As a result it’s important not to over coach the stance and to let the players find any stance where they are comfortable. With that being said there are a few universal points that all defensive backs must follow in order to have an effective stance.

Defensive Back Stance Technique

Feet & Hips 

The feet are where the player connects to the ground and allows him to start moving. It’s important that the player aligns with a stance that will let him react quickly to whatever he sees from the offense. As a general rule the feet should be slightly closer than shoulder width. By moving the feet in the DB can now quickly move any direction. A common error is that players will lineup with a wide stance (similar to a defensive basketball stance). The major problem with this is that it slows down the defender’s ability to react to his key. When his feet are wide he is forced to take a false step to get back to his base before gaining ground in the direction he needs to go. Instead, it is much better to start with his feet in their base so he can react quickly without having to take a false step.

His weight should be on the balls of his feet so that he can quickly drive through the turf to propel himself in whichever direction he needs to go. Again this is critical to react to the first movement of the offense without having a false step.

There is quite a bit of variety when it comes to the degree of knee bend in DB stances. Some kids with longer legs find that they need to bend quite a bit more while others play the position with only a slight amount of knee bend. The bottom line is it depends on each player.

As a coach what you are looking for is when the DB plants to accelerate forward. When he accelerates forward does he have to drop his hips to do propel himself? If the DB can plant and make his break instantaneously without dropping his hips then he is playing low enough. If the DB goes to plant and instead of coming forward right away he has to bend his knees before he accelerates he needs to lower his level. This can be difficult to get across to athletes but by recording them making their breaks you can quickly show them if they are low enough and the effect of their level.

Hands 

There are different schools of thought on the perfect position for a DB’s hands. Some people think they need to be up and tense, ready to hand fight while others say they should be down by the sides so players can be quicker from their breaks.

My opinion is that it varies on the player, the technique and the opponent. If the DB is lining up in a press position he should have his hands up ready to engage the WR and disrupt his route. If the DB is not in a press position he should have his hands relaxed and in a comfortable position which allows him to move quickly. Again the important point is that the defender can react to the offensive player’s move and isn’t forced to make a move to get back to his base before reacting.

Eye Discipline 

The last, and arguably, most important part of a DB’s stance is his eyes. Great DB’s have to work to develop great eye discipline. Eye discipline is the ability to narrow the focus to a specific point that determines the player’s responsibility. Most offensive coordinators count on defensive players being distracted by motions, shifts and ball fakes so they lose eye discipline. In a one on one battle the WR will attempt to get the DB’s eyes on his upper body so that he can give him false reads as to what he is going to do. Instead the DB must maintain total focus on his key. In a man situation the defender should be reading the inside hip of the WR. By watching this one spot he will be able to determine what route the WR will be running and adjust accordingly.

(See Also) Man to Man Coverage Techniques 

The post Coaching DBs | Defensive Back Stance appeared first on Youth Football Online.

Cover 4 Zone Defense is one of the most popular coverages in football today. It allows a defense to match 4 Vertical threats while still playing tough on the run. As the spread run game becomes more popular many teams are moving to coverages that allow the safety to get involved in stopping the run. The Cover 4 allows an aggressive safety to control the D gap which allows the linebackers to focus on the interior run while still being sound against passing concepts.

Cover 4 is based on the concept that if the offense sends 4 vertical threats deep the defense can cover all four threats. They accomplish this by having both cornerbacks and both safeties responsible for a deep quarter of the field. When run using strictly base zone rules this makes for an excellent coverage for defending the deep ball.

The pattern matching concept is a simple but requires both the safety and cornerback to be on the same page. This can only be accomplished through very clear rules and lots of practice. In Cover 4 the safety and cornerback are both responsible for their deep quarter. This means that if the WR takes off vertical in their zone they must match them.

The # 1 receivers are the wide receivers closest to the sidelines. The #2 receivers are the inside receivers, second receiver in from the sidelines. 

Diagram  1: The rules for the safety are pretty straight forward. The safety is responsible for reading the #2 receiver. If he reads run he plays the D gap and serves to stop any outside run while the cornerback has deep coverage in the case of any play action.

Diagram 2: If the number 2 receiver takes off vertically the safety will take him. The landmark can vary but it should be somewhere around 8 yards from the Line of Scrimmage. If #2 goes past the landmark the safety has him.

Diagram 3: Where the coverage gets interesting is if the #2 receiver does not get to 8 yards. If #2 does not get past 8 yards then the Safety now gets to rob the #1 receiver. This can be especially effective vs. the Dig-Flat and Curl-Out concepts.

Diagram 4: Meanwhile the cornerback has a pretty simple assignment. The cornerback is responsible for #1 and defending any deep route. His primary focus is the #1 receiver. If #1 goes past the landmark (this should be the same for #2 and #1) the cornerback will guard him man to man unless #2 threatens him deep.

Diagram 5: If #1 stays under the landmark then the CB will immediately get his eyes to #2 to make sure he is not threatening his deep quarter. If #2 is coming into his deep quarter he will rob him on any out breaking routes.

Diagram 6: If the CB reads run he will continue to get depth to make sure there is no play action pass that gets behind the defense. In Cover 4 the cornerback is the Deep Defender so it’s important that he does not come forward on any fakes.

Cover 4 Zone Defense is an excellent coverage in youth football because it will give you 4 deep defenders. This coverage works very well when you are protecting a lead in the last minutes/seconds of the game.

Cover 4 Zone Defense Weaknesses

• Flat coverage, or flooding underneath zones.
• Safeties run/pass conflict.
• Underneath drag concepts off of play-action.

(See Also) Cover 2 Zone in Youth Football

(See Also) Cover 3 Zone in Youth Football

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Man to man coverage is used by 90 percent of youth football teams. Some youth coaches overlook the finer coaching points when they are teaching their defenders how to play man to man. And as you know, it’s the fine details that are most important.

Vital man to man coverage tips:

Players and coaches must have an understanding of down and distance. If it is 3^rd and long, don’t play zero coverage (meaning no safeties). This is one of the most important man to man coverage tips! Have your cornerbacks and coverage players give a little cushion on the receiver. Play with at least one deep safety. Yell to the kids from the sideline- “down and distance!”. Understanding down and distances is very important. Have a prevent defense as well. Also, if it is 3rd or 4th and long, your coverage players have to understand that they need to go deep! Don’t get beat deep.

Play with inside leverage. Time after time I see defenders play their receivers head up. In youth football cornerbacks should always play with inside leverage. It is a lot harder to complete a pass on an outside cutting route.  It is very difficult for a youth football quarterback to throw from the pocket-to the outside. Contain the QB and take away the inside when playing man to man coverage in youth football.

Understand the alignment of the wide receivers. For example, if the split end is lining up really wide it is for one or two reasons. The split end lines up wider because he wants to take the corner out of the play. Teams tend to do that when they are facing an aggressive and good tackling corner (I do that consistently). Also, if a wide receiver is lined up wider than usually it is probably because they are going to run a slant or some kind of inside route. Make sure your cornerbacks understand playing with leverage: If the WR lines up wide, take away his inside!  When a team cheats a receiver in the slot, it’s because the offense wants their slot receiver to get a free release or they want him to run an outside pattern, or even crack block. How receivers line up can be a strong indicator of what route is coming. All coaches will have their receivers cheat their split or alignment one way or another to create room so they can run their given pass pattern.

Bump and run man to man coverage tips. Many youth football corners do not get a good enough jam on their receiver. Although we are one of the few teams that play zone coverage we also use man to man once in while.  What we have our corners do is line up on the inside shoulder of the receiver, give a step and then redirect.

Why do we give a step and then jam? Many kids will jam right off the snap and if the wide receiver gets a good release they will get burnt because their first step is forward. When you give a step (take a back step)-open hips-then jam the receiver while riding his inside hip  it will allow your corner to turn and run with WR.  This will also take away the inside release and throw off timing at the same time.

Conclusion

The best man to man coverage tip I can give you is to be smart.  Make sure coaches and players understand down and distances. Make sure they understand receiver splits/alignment.  Watching game film of your opponent can also help.

(See Also) Playing Press Man to Man Coverage 

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Open field tackling techniques are difficult to execute successfully at any age  level of football.  It is even more difficult to tackle in the open field when the ball carrier is a good athlete.  Here are some tips on how to get your youth football players tackling in the open field:

1.Take a Good Angle

It is important that the defenders take good angles to the ball carrier when using open field tackling techniques. You do not want your players overrunning or under running the ball carrier.  You should do angle tackling drills every single practice. To avoid huge collisions when doing angle drills, just have your players form tackle the ball carrier.  Teach your players to take good pursuit angles to the ball carrier.  Even if the ball carrier has good speed your defenders can still run him down by taking a good angle.

2.Run Under Control/ Aiming Point

Many times you will see defenders take a good angle to the ball carrier but they will over run the ball carrier. The RB will just cut it inside. It is important that defenders run under control and breaks down.  One of the most critical open field tackling techniques is making the aiming point the inside hip of the ball carrier. Say the ball carrier gets a toss outside to the right (defense’s left) the aiming point of the pursuing defenders needs to be the running back’s left inside hip towards the defender.

The aiming point is the inside hip of the running back because if the running back tries to cut inside, your defender is right there.  Watching the inside hip will allow your defender to stay on their pursuit angle path. This is important because the ball carrier might fake cutting in and try to outrun the defender.  Running under control (not over running, keeping feet under you)  and keeping eyes on the inside hip will make sure your defender does not fall or lose balance when the ball carrier fakes or tries to make a move. Also, make sure when your defender initiates the contact  his head is up! The tackling defender’s shoulder pad needs to get into the ball carrier’s inside hip (same foot/same shoulder).  When it’s all said and done the kids need to pride themselves on getting to the ball carrier and not dive or reach.

3. Be smart

Successful open field tackling tackling sometimes just requires your players to be smart.  Teach your defenders to understand where they are on the football field and where their help is coming from. Say a cornerback is pressed up for run support,  he has to know that he has no defenders outside or behind him. That means he needs to force the running back inside.  Say  a linebacker is running to the ball carrier and he knows he has help outside, he then needs to spill the ball carrier outside to the corners/safeties playing hard run support.  Make sure your defenders understand your scheme and what their responsibilities are. Long story short, defenders need to have field awareness and know where their help is so they can turn the ball carrier to pursuing defenders.

Good coaching also factors into whether or not your team tackles well in space.  Make your defense understand that the sidelines is like another defender, do not be scared to string the RB outside (make him run laterally) and force the RB out of bounds.  This is especially important for boundary side cornerbacks (short side of the field corner) because there is less field.  Wide side CB needs to force the play inside. Short side CB (boundary corner) can play a little bit more aggressive because there is less field for the ball carrier to work with- it is less distance the pursuing defenders need to run.

4. Pursuit to the Football

Team pursuit is probably the biggest overlooked coaching point when teaching open field tackling. You have to instill the defensive mentality that we need to get to the ball carrier. Our motto on defense is “swarm”. Proper pursuit will help deter big plays in the open field.  All players have to fly to the football and do not assume their teammates will make the tackle. Many times a safety or CB will slow up or get a piece of the running back in the open field, but if no one else hustles to the ball carrier the running back can score.

Relentless pursuit is a trait of any successful defense. Swarming to the football will deter big plays and will help with open field tackling. In the open field odds are the running back will break a tackle or make someone miss in space. If your defenders are running to the ball they can usually run down the defender after one defender slows or alters the running back’s path.  Sometimes the best open field tackling technique is good team defensive hustle and swarm to the ball carrier.

Listen, open field tackling is tough and doesn’t happen on a consistent basis. We tell our players to make sure you get a piece of the RB and try to grab cloth to slow him down so our pursuit can clean it up.

Open Field Tackling Techniques Summary:

• Take good angles to the football.
• Run under control. Players need to keep their feet under them and maintain balance.
• The aiming point is always the inside hip of the ball carrier. Do not want to get caught looking at the head, shoulders, or the feet of the running back.  Do not get caught up in the head and shoulder fakes a RB will throw at you in the open field. Defenders need to get their head across the body, shoulder pad through the inside hip, head up, and grab cloth (jersey) as you wrap up.
• Be smart, understand and know where your help is on the field.
• Team pursuit is the best form of open field tackling. Run or pass, teach your players to get to the football. Never assume your teammate will make the tackle in the open field.

(See Also) 5 fundamentals of youth football defense.

(See Also)  Proper Tackling Technique 

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