Per Request: Defensive Back Reads and Alignments
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by Jdcane98
Preface: I’m really happy you guys not only read, but comment too (seeing as no one has commented on my actual blog, which gets discouraging). There’s something about coaching DB’s, and the thought process that goes into building a defense, when it comes to DB’s, that’s different than any other position. The first thing being, depending on who the guy is that you have back there, is how deep they need to play, and what type of coverage you need to be in. Some coaches adjust their D to their players, others find players to play in the D, it’s personal preference. My preference is to find guys who can play within the confines of my defense at the HS level, because you and the players don’t have time to learn new schemes. At the college level, I feel that the players and coaches have more time to focus on football, and thus, could adjust. So we’ll look at this from your typical HS defense.
Defensive Scheme: I run a 44/46 with variables mixed in. Let’s start this by playing a typical cover 3 defense. Cover 3 is called this, because the field is broken into 3 parts, sometimes referred to as “thirds” or “deep thirds.” At the high school level, we focus on taking the inside away, ie. Slants, Hitches, Digs, Ins, and any throws to the flats. We’ll force a QB to throw a fade or a deep vertical, assuming he’d overthrow, underthrow, or just misfire left to right. A picture of the typical 44 cover 3 is below. The blue boxes are their pass responsibilities.
Thus our alignment is 8 yards off (of the man, not the LOS) for corners, and inside shade of the WR. Our alignment for the FS is 10-12 yards off (depending on his recovery speed) and aligned over the OG to the pass strength. Here the pass strength is the left side (defensively) because 2 ‘threats’ are on the left (defensively).
Cover 8: at times you’ll hear “Cover 8” and cover 8 is having the FS play at 8 yards, aligned over the TE, and the CB’s playing at 5 yards off with inside shade. Cover 1: We only use cover 1 at the goalline, when playing off the man is useless. Cover 1 is played in the man’s face, and we play inside shade hoping to jam and push him to the outside, again taking away the inside leverage. It’s “Cover 1” because the free safety is the only man playing deep zone.
Cover 2: Cover 2 comes into play in this defense when we drop a linebacker back into coverage. From a 43 you can still play Cover 3, you can also play 2 and 4.
Cover 2 sees the FS playing 10-12 yards deep, just outside the OT on the pass strength. The R plays 10-12 yards deep just outside the OT on the weak side. The CB’s will play pressed up and try to jam the WR’s to the outside, and will then drop back and play over the flat and hitch/slant area. They’re there in the zone to take away the short route’s from the QB, to get into the passing window. The OLB’ers will be playing the “hitch curl” or dropping in 45 degree angles to take away the passing window over the middle.
Cover 3 vs Cover 2: I prefer cover 3 at the HS level because you don’t face too many great passing QB’s night and night again. Most teams run, and a lot out of classic formations like the I or Wing T. Cover 3 is good against the run, as is Cover 8. Cover 2 becomes more of a need if you can’t cover the slant, or if you need to really play the pass. You can also play cover 4 from the 43, which has all 4 DB’s in deep ¼’s, something I’d use versus a Miami-Northwestern with 3 D1 WR’s and a D1 QB.
Threats: Here’s something even a lot of HS coaches don’t understand or at least don’t understand the value of. The term “threat” is used here to describe the eligible receivers. They are counted outside in, so a WR is #1, and a TE is #2. A CB playing in a cover 3, has deep 1/3, but, he also has responsibility over his threat. His threat in a normal situation is the #1, so on a slant, he reads the route, sees slant and attacks, knowing that he is the first person to the ball on a slant route. The FS reads the TE as a #2 threat, which is his responsibility. So while yes, he is responsible for the deep 1/3, he also has to read his threat. If the TE runs an out, most likely the #1 threat or WR is coming into his territory. Knowing your threats and reading their routes will assist the DB’s in reading and seeing the play, much like a LB’er reads pass and run based on their key (OL), a DB does the same on his keys- the threats.
Conclusion: Hopefully DB’s and coverages make more sense now. It’s something that I try to review every offseason, and do as much research as possible on. I’ve spoken with very successful defensive coordinators at the high school level who claim (but I don’t believe) they don’t teach threats. That deep 1/3 is deep 1/3, but then how do you cover a quick route like a slant or hitch? With a LB? They’d never get there in time, and your WR’s would always get an easy 5 off a slant. Please feel free to comment, ask questions, and make requests.
