I've gotten a bunch of emails over the years about the 5 spoke secondary, or what is more popularly known as TCU's 4-2-5 secondary. Most of these questions involve how to set the defense, how to train the safeties and how to remain sound vs. the myriad of offensive formations that any one coach may see throughout the season. I'm going to break this down into several parts to keep it quite simple.
The Players Before getting started on alignments and checks, I'm going to discuss the chess pieces of the defense. Obviously having three safeties on the field is not terribly unique, but the way TCU plays these players does present itself quite interesting. To a casual observer, many would think these three players are interchangeable. In fact, TCU does not cross train all their safeties. The Free Safety (FS) and Weak Safety (WS) will get a lot of cross training and are required to do very similar things, especially against 10, 11 and Empty personnel groupings. The WS and the Strong Safety (SS) will be cross trained against more run heavy sets.
This is not to say that TCU's way is the best way or the only way. I've talked with several coaches that run their 4-2's with three identical players at these positions, and ask them to do everything from playing down in the box to being a deep half player. If that works for you and you can defend what you're seeing, great. The point of my post, is to answer a lot of the guys that ask TCU specific questions. Now, let's look at the different pieces in the three safety look.
The Free Safety The FS in many defenses is the fulcrum to which the secondary is built around. In TCU's scheme, this really isn't the case. Yes, the FS is the quarterback (QB), but not of the entire secondary. Remember, TCU not only divorces the front from the coverage, but it also splits the coverage in half. This means that now, instead of aligning four or five guys, the FS in the TCU scheme only has to line up two to three guys. This is important, because he only has to effect one-half of the coverage.
The FS, ability-wise, is your prototypical deep half, type safety. He needs to have the size, speed and range to be able to fit down in the box against two and three back run oriented offenses. He needs to be able to cover, man-to-man as well as play pattern read coverage. Being a solid tackler, and having a knack for distinguishing what it is the offense is doing are the two main characteristics of what needs to be looked at in the FS. Depending on the level of play, this guy doesn't have to be the smartest guy in your secondary. As long as he knows where to align, he will generally be playing a very similar coverage (Robber, Quarters) to where he aligns. The biggest trick with the FS is getting him to understand where to go when blitzing so that nobody is left uncovered.
When looking for your guy, at this position, choose athleticism over intelligence. Physical over mental ability. This guy needs to be a ball hawk type player, but not so much like many are used to in the days of one-high FS's. Without a doubt a good athlete needs to be at this position.
The Weak Safety The WS is very similar to the FS, but does not need to be as much of an "in space" player. He can be a lesser athlete than the FS, but needs to be able to do many of the same things as the FS. The main difference between the two is mental capacity. Because the away side coverage is so important in TCU's 4-2, the WS needs to be a very intelligent ball player. Many coverages are tagged with a "check" or "choice" call to give the WS freedom to be the defensive coordinator (DC) on the field. The WS has to have the intelligence to also understand where he is on the field and what coverage works best against what formations and whether or not we are on or off the hash.
The WS does need to have some athleticism, but not as much as the FS. The WS can be hidden over to the boundary if not as good of a run defender as the FS or SS. Sacrifice physicality for speed, intelligence and coverage ability. Even though against certain sets this player will be down in the box, or may even be called on to blitz, these items are secondary to his ability to put the away side of the coverage in the right call, and cover receivers either as deep zone player, or an underneath zone player.
The Strong Safety The SS is really only a safety in name. This player is really a LB that is very good at playing in space. This guy should be one of the best "football players" on the field. He needs to be able to cover, tackle in space and blitz. The nice thing about the SS is he is not asked to make coverage calls. The SS really only needs to be able to listen and communicate, instead of think. As long as he can remember his assignment, then he'll be fine in terms of how he fits in the defense.
The SS is NOT a deep zone player in the TCU scheme. This player is, as said earlier, a very athletic LB. The SS reminds me a lot of the old "Monster" position in the 50 Monster defense. The Monster was always the defenses "plus one" player. They could put this guy wherever they wanted him to help them defend whatever they were seeing. The SS in the 4-2-5 isn't much different.
When looking for this player, choose a good, sure tackler. Find guys that always seem to be around the football. For the most part, this has always been a converted LB for me. He needs to be able to do some man coverage, and do some pattern reading at times, but the most important thing for the SS to do is help defend the run and set the edge of the defense.
The Overall Philosophy of the Five Spoke Secondary The overall philosophy of having three safeties, is not to have three interchangeable parts, but yet to have the ability to dictate to the offense where YOU, the DC, are going to align certain players. I remember years ago, running my old 4-3 defense and using the Will LB as the nickel, how a guy, by my own doing formationed my best player into the boundary and ran or threw the ball away from him all night. Even if we blitzed him, he was able to know exactly where we were going to put him and could slide protection over there to help. Well, needless to say, TCU's 4-2 doesn't have this issue. The idea is that the SS can be aligned in one of three ways, as well as the coverage being set in one of three ways.
The other part of the philosophy of the Five Spoke Secondary is the ability for the defense to eliminate the inside run gaps with defensive linemen (DL) and LB's and spill these plays to the safeties who act as a "net", corralling the ball back in to pursuit. This is very important to the success of the defense, as the players inside the "box", are rarely asked to play outside of it. This allows these players to be physical and aggressive with their attack on the football.
In the next post, I will discuss just how this philosophy is executed and how it can be adapted to the high school game. One thing to remember in all of this, you don't have to run the TCU defense verbatim to get the benefits. Many of the things they do, don't fit well into high school football, simply because high school coaches don't see some of the things that TCU does on a week-in, week-out basis. The philosophy of the Five Spoke Secondary is tremendously beneficial to coaches at any level because it gives your defense the flexibility that it needs to gain an advantage. Stay tuned for the next post, as I'll go into great detail on alignments and how they play a factor in what you are looking to accomplish with your defense.
I'm not sure any one post I've ever written has generated as much email, both pro and con, in my inbox. What is amazing to me, is the lack of understanding folks have for this concept and technique. What I'm going to do today, is revisit the original post and look at Two Gap/One Gap (TGOG) from the perspective it was meant to be run from and that was helping the 4-3 defense to defend the spread offense.
Purpose TGOG was developed as the shotgun, power run game came into effect in the landscape of college football. As we all know, when facing doubles, in the 4-3 defense, generally both outside linebackers (OLB's) will have to walk out and honor each of the two receiving threats to the outside of the defense. If not, the defense stands to become outflanked. Enter in today's offenses that mix zone and power runs with fast, or bubble screens, or even down-the-field passes and you have a tremendous need for the OLB's to be able to play outside of the box. There are many answers to having just a five man box in the 4-3, and one of those answers is TGOG.
Remember, when walking both OLB's out of the box in the 4-3 you are now playing to the offense's hand if you keep your defensive line (DL) in their respective gaps. There are potentially six offensive blockers, which means there are seven gaps and you only have five immediate bodies there to help. Even if you counted the OLB's in the fit, you end up cancelling them out because by alignment, they are in the same gap as the defensive ends (DE's). Something has got to give. Enter in TGOG which actually fits the pieces of the defense right into where the offense is attempting to run the football. Because of this fit, the ball is pushed directly to where the offense doesn't have good leverage with its blockers. By using TGOG you can now add the OLB's back into the count of the run fit, because, even though displaced, the defensive reaction is setting them up to be in the proper gap.
OLB's displaced from the box
In my original posts on TGOG, I drew it up against two back, power run game. It can be used against these offenses, but the technique is at its best when attacking one back zone run teams. The technique doesn't do too bad against one back power run game either. If using it as a base DL technique, the only issue that needs to be guarded against is the three technique getting washed down inside on double teams.
The Basics As you remember from before there are rules to follow for this technique. On each snap, depending on the front, the DL has to figure out what kind of player they are (i.e. am I a two gap player or a one gap player). The rules are simple, if your alignment puts you next to an open gap to your inside, you are a two gap player. If your alignment puts you next to a gap that is already occupied by another DL, then you are a one gap player. So, looking at the traditional open sets of 10 personnel, with the three technique set away from the running back (RB) in the shotgun, you can see, by alignment, the 3 technique (T) and the weakside DE are the two gap players. The gaps to the inside, or in towards the football (center of formation) is open. By rule, these players are now two gap players. The remaining two players, the strong DE (A) and the Nose (N) are one gap players. The Nose gets people confused because they feel like because the gap "inside" of him would be the strong A gap is open, he too would be a two gapper. This is not the case. The Nose is taught, early on, that if aligned in the A gap, he's a one gap player.
Many folks have been confused by this, thinking that there will be one two gapper and one one gapper on each side of the formation, and this simply isn't true. Looking at the set up for 11 personnel and you can now see to the tight end (TE) side of the formation, you actually end up with two players that are two gapping (both the Tackle and the DE). On the open side, the set up, is of course, the same as it would be for 10 personnel. For me, the weak side rarely changes because I do not line up my weak DE in anything other than a five or a seven technique.
Fronts can change assignments. If you look at the two illustrations below, the Indian and the Outlaw fronts make a difference as to what the DL is doing. With the Tackle and Nose in 2I techniques (Indian), both of those players are now one gap players, while both DE's are now two gap players. In the Outlaw front (both the Nose and Tackle in three techniques), the Nose and Tackle are now two gappers, while the DE's are one gap players. Again, it is quite simple to determine who has what, by following the alignment rules.
Stance and Alignment I get several questions about this as well. I don't have a great answer for a lot of this, because it really depends on what kind of player you have where you're at. Where I coach at now, we've got one hell of a DL, so we don't really change our alignment much when we run TGOG. My last stop, however, yes, we had to change our alignment a bit for our guys to get the job done.
The one gap player, if anything, needs to align just a bit wider than he normally would. For an interior DL, this doesn't matter as much as it does the DE. In some of the fits, the DE will actually be the guy setting the edge, so he'll need to be in a position where he doesn't get reached. Getting reached is the number one cardinal sin for the DE, so he will need to align where this cannot happen.
Difference in alignments of a one-gapper (DE) and two-gapper (DT)
Technique- The One Gapper The one gap player is a very simple technique. They are rush players. Getting up the field is not an issue for them, even against the trap game. Now this is not to say that they are so far up field they cannot defend the run, or they are creating a gap by their depth. No, the idea here, is to get off the football, get up the field and find the ball. Once this player reaches ball depth, they should set their feet and begin to play off the block they are getting. The main two focal points for the one gap player, is to not get reached (if this requires the player adjusting his base alignment, then do so), and get off the football.
Varying angles of attack by technique. Two-Gapper (T) attacks the outside eye to center of defender, where One-Gapper (E) plays outside using an "escape" or pass rush mentality.
Technique- The Two Gapper The two gap player is more of your traditional, block down, step down (BDSD) type player. This player's main concern is winning the stalemate battle with the offensive lineman (OL) over him. The idea is to treat this just like the King of the Boards (KOB) drill. The two gapper is not concerned about getting reached. If this player gets reached, he's done his job, because his gap is actually the gap inside of his base alignment. Many folks have confused this technique for a stunt, and THIS IS NOT THE CASE. The two gap player, will play the inside gap from an outside alignment. Against a base block, this player will work the blocker backwards until the ball declares, then, and only then, will they work into the inside gap. Against a reach block, the defender simply allows himself to be overtaken (this should be pretty easy for the OL since the two gappers usually align in a tighter shade than normal). One of the real benefits of the two gap technique is that of how it handles the down block or scoop block. Because the defender is in such a "heavy" alignment this makes it very difficult for the down blocking OL to climb to the second level, thereby protecting the LB's. Second, it puts the two gapper in a great position to spill any trap blocks by pulling OL. On a pass set by the blocker, the two gap defender will bull rush, then rip under and work into the inside gap.
Linebacker Techniques The LB techniques don't change all that much from traditional ones except for that of the inside linebackers. When played from a 4-3 set with both OLB's outside the box, the MLB will use what is called a "fast scrape" technique. It's called this because the MLB does not care about the cutback. All he cares about is the angle of the ball, whether it's split zone, or gap runs and what side he's supposed to attack.
Against the split zone stuff, the MLB reads the block of the center. If the center sticks his nose into the 2I, then the MLB jumps the front side A gap, because the center cannot cut him off. If the center leaves the 2I and immediately climbs to the Mike, then the Mike sits and will actually allow the center to push him right back into where the ball if being forced to cut back to which is the B gap underneath the guard. The guard should not be able to handle the one-gapping Nose because he's getting off the ball so hard (remember he's "rushing" not reading). The guard pushes the Nose into the path of the RB, forcing him to cut back right into the MLB who is being pushed right back into the new path of the RB. If the back continues to wind the ball back, he'll end up running into the unblocked DE.
Against runs that are full flow type runs (two backs in same direction), the MLB will fast scrape with either two-gapper depending on what side of the ball is being attacked. Outside zone is a full flow run that when run at the 3 technique the MLB will fast scrape to the outside hip of the two-gapping Tackle. The Mike takes a flat angle to the ball and if the ball has declared beyond the B gap, he will continue to pursue the ball inside-out. The center will have a very difficult time getting to the MLB here in this situation because of how lateral the LB is.
If the play is being run to the weak side of the defense the Mike will scrape one gap wider to the outside hip of the two-gapping DE as shown below. On paper, it looks as though the guard has the angle on the LB, but as long as your LB can rip across face he should be able to scrape to the outside hip of the DE. If the LB gets reached, it is not an issue because the one-gapping Nose cannot be cut off by the center and will end up in immediate pursuit of the ball unblocked. The force player can box the lead blocker back (who this is depends on coverage) to the chasing Nose who overtakes the two-gapping DE and can replace the LB if he gets cut off.
MLB gets cut off, Nose replaces in the fit, defense is still +1
Against split flow gap runs, the MLB keys the pullers, and again, has the same scrape aiming points. This is all based on the fits by the DL and whether they are two-gapping or one-gapping. If running a counter play to the three technique the offense has the difficulty of trying to double the three to get to the Mike. As shown below, the two-gapping Tackle drives into the guard forcing a bubble in the offense. The OT is forced to double to help get movement to get the lane cleared for the BSG to pull through. The two-gapping technique allows the MLB to scrape off the hip of the Tackle and spill the second puller in the counter gap scheme.
Vs. counter gap to the open B gap side, the MLB simply scrapes one gap wider, again scraping to the outside hip of the two-gapping defender. His job is still the same, spill the second puller in the counter gap scheme. This allows the Mike to play fast, as with repetitions and seeing the guard pull, he knows where he needs to scrape to in order to be in the correct position for his fit.
I get many questions about Power Read or Inverted Veer as well. Again, just follow the rules listed above and defend the play. The MLB's rules and fits do not change with the play, he's reading flow type and looking for pullers, then scraping to his fit. In the case of Inverted Veer, he will scrape to the outside hip of the two-gapping DE and spill the lead blocker out to the OLB or safety (or both depending on how the coverage is set up. The two-gapping DE also forces the offense to show its hand by forcing the give read to the sweeper. The DE plays so heavy of a technique the OT cannot get out from underneath him to cut off the running MLB. Also, many times the offense motions the sweeper back into the box, which adds another player, the OLB to the side away from the offset back that now can also get into the cut back fit if the offense were to fake the sweep and call the QB keep automatically.
The OLB's are very rarely called into action to fit to an inside gap because of the two-gapping technique. There are some situations that have the OLB to the Tackle's side of the defense that will have to scrape into the B gap, but due to the two-gapping technique by the Tackle it allows the OLB to be late getting there.
The OLB's run fits are very simple when it comes to where they should be. Again, they have to know whether they are working with a one-gap DE or a two-gap DE. The OLB to the two-gapper side has a perfect fit, because all runs will be spilled out to his side. On runs away, or split zone looks, the OLB scrapes to the outside hip of the DE, replacing the DE and playing the QB on option-type runs.
Against a gap run at the two-gapping DE, the ball is spilled outside to the OLB. In all actuality, the true fit is that the DE spills to the MLB who boxes to the DE and spills to the OLB. Either way, the ball will bounce outside to either an unblocked OLB or an unblocked safety, depending on how the coverage is set.
When working with a one-gapping DE, the OLB will fit inside hip of the DE. For some sets, this can make for a long run by the OLB, but the technique of the Tackle also helps delay the gap declaration because how he plays his two gap technique.
Setting the Front I also get some questions about how to set the front when using TGOG. I prefer to set the front away from the offset back. The main reason is that with the three technique away from the back, the zone runs are tough on the OL and the gap runs, where the offset RB is the lead blocker, get spilled outside by the two-gapping DE. I'm not saying that you can't set the front otherwise, just simply follow the rules for TGOG and you will be sound against whatever it is you're defending.
Some fronts that present both a two gapper and a one gapper on each side are illustrated below. These fronts, with either two, 2I's or two 3 techniques change the dynamic of how the offense will attack the defense and keeps the opposing OC guessing as to what you're doing with your front. With, what I call Outlaw, or 33, the two 3 techniques you get two, two-gapping DT's and two one-gapping DE's. This front is very good for the zone teams that like to find your 3 technique and then flip the back so they can run zone opposite of him. Well, don't give them a three technique to attack, give them two!
Outlaw or 33 front
Indian or 11 front
One of my favorite fronts was the two 2I's, or what I called Indian. What I liked about this front was, you can essentially turn loose your DT's to wreck havoc and it takes the OL three guys to block two. This keeps the MLB free to scrape C gap to C gap. The two, two-gapping DE's spilled any gap runs outside to the scraping MLB and the OLB's. This works great against teams that like to run QB zone or QB Wrap from empty or two-by-two looks that force both OLB's out of the box. You are pushing the ball out to these players, making the player's job easier to defend both the run and the pass.
Conclusion I'm hoping this will help to set the record straight on some issues. This really is a simple technique that can vastly reduce the stress on your OLB's when having to be displaced from the box due to spread sets. It can be used against two back run game, but is better suited to defend the one back spread run game. What I really love about the setup is the fact that TGOG attacks gap runs as effectively as it does zone runs. No need to guess what your opponent is going to run, or get caught in a bad defense, because TGOG is set up to defend both. TGOG is set up to push the ball where the defense has an unblocked defender, which should be the goal of ANY defensive scheme, not just TGOG. Again, I'm hoping that this post will shed some light and give clarity to what a good scheme TGOG is.
Continuing with the mailbag theme, I'll go over a few of the emails I got over my vacation. I actually have had a lot of questions about Saban's "Mable" adaptation to Cover 3 versus 3x1 formations (follow the link for Brophy's original post). I'll start there.
Saban's Mable Adaptation to Cover 3 I don't get all the fuss over this coverage adaptation, because it's nothing really ground breaking here. I think the major problem is folks wrapping their head around what Saban asks his linebackers (LB's) to do in the coverage, but since there are several of my readers having trouble with this concept, I'm going to break it down piece by piece for you and position by position.
Strong Corner Typical Cover 3 corner, he will play by his normal divider rule and read rule as "old school" "Country Cover 3" corners would do. You can do many things with him such as press and bail (giving the illusion of Man Free), or align him deep splitting the number one and number two receivers. What matters here is, this player is playing a traditional deep 1/3 technique.
Strong Safety (RV) The Strong Safety (SS) will be the flat dropper and will drop off the number two receiver. If two is outside he'll jump it. If two goes in, then he'll look to relate to the number one receiver. Again, standard flat player stuff for Cover 3.
Strong LB (by passing strength) The OLB to the pass strength will do the exact same thing as the SS, but reading the number three receiver. Basically look at the above and change the numbers. The LB will relate to the number two receiver once the "dust has settled".
Free Safety Standard middle-of-the-field (MOF) safety. This is the post player. The free safety (FS) will read from the number three to number two receiver and will favor number three.
Weak Corner The weak corner will play man-to-man on the weak number one receiver. I prefer to press over here, but if that's not your gig, you can play off man if you like. Basically, he's got to lock up on the back side in order to keep the weak quick game from killing your coverage.
Inside LB's Now for the nuts and bolts of the coverage, the two LB's that remain in the box versus trips sets (Mike and Will in the diagram above). These two LB's must relate off the running back (RB). The LB that gets RB flow to him, will jump the back. This is very important against 3x1 sets that put the RB offset to the trips. Again, the idea is to push the coverage where it's needed, or to have, as I've said a thousand times on here, the "plus one" advantage. In the illustration above, the defense has a four-over-three advantage on the strong side (to the trips) and a three-on-two advantage weak. In the illustration below, where the offense has set the RB to the trips, the defense will use the leverage and reaction of the Mike to gain a five-on-four advantage if the RB were to release strong. If the RB releases weak, then the Will LB would jump the RB.
Mike's read on the RB puts him on the weak side of the coverage initially
Now the Mike reads put him on the strong side of the coverage
The key in all of this is the reaction to the back. A better example to look at, is when the RB is neutral, or aligned on the midline of the formation. In the first example, the RB releases strong, so the Mike will jump this route, and the Will is now reading to the number three receiver.
Now, if the RB releases weak, the roles are simply reversed. The Will jumps the RB and the Mike now reads the release of the number three receiver. Again, as you can see the reads help the coverage relate to receiver distribution post-snap.
The big kicker, I think most folks have with the coverage is Saban's term "Three up is three", which basically means take number three vertical. Now, mind you, this really isn't "man" because you have a FS playing centerfield, but the FS has to split number two and number three if they both go vertical. The idea here is that the LB will carry the receiver if he goes vertical in order to force the quarterback (QB) to throw the ball high, allowing the FS time to get over the top of the route. To see how this looks I'll illustrate it from the above diagrams.
So here's how the coverage would handle four verticals with the back flaring to the strong side of the coverage. The Mike can jump the flare, while the Will takes the first crosser, and since "Three up is three" he will run with the "F" in the diagram above. The coverage is still Cover 3, the FS has to split the two verticals in the MOF, while the strong corner will split the two outside receivers in his third. One key is that the underneath coverage players such as the strong outside LB (OLB) can reroute these vertical routes as they get into their drops.
As you can see, the Mike now plays number three vertical and the Will relates to the RB releasing weak. These two players, the inside LB's are what help the coverage adapt to these types of concepts front 3x1 sets.
I think one key mistake readers of Brophy's posts on Cover 3 made, and even wrote and posted about was that this was a way to play Quarters from a one-high coverage. Make no mistake, this is NOT the case. At the end of the day, this is still Cover 3 and has it's glaring weaknesses. Now I have run into coaches that go above and beyond the "Saban way" and actually have their FS take the number two receiver vertical and let the ILB's handle number three vertical. That's a stretch, especially in high school football to ask a player to do that. Saban will admit, he's in this coverage to defend the trips side passing game, and the run, NOT to defend four verticals. If you are a base, one-high defense, this is a good adaptation to the typical spot-drop approach, because you do have some similation of an answer to four verticals, but this is NOT in any way shape or form, similar to Quarters. Quarters adaptations have nobody "splitting" receivers or having to read two receivers. Quarters adaptations to 3x1 sets end up in man-to-man coverage against four verticals, which is a glaring difference in the coverages. This is not to deter someone from using Mable, it's just that you really need to know what you're getting into before you commit to teaching it. Hopefully this post has done just that.
Shuffling
I get a ton of questions on the shuffle technique played by my conerbacks and to be quite honest, I feel silly when I answer on how I teach it and came to teach what I've adapted to using, every since the 2007 season. I've just never had corners that were good at backpedaling and I have even heard wide receiver (WR) coaches comment on how to beat a defensive back (DB) that was backpedaling because of (insert reason here) so much so that I gave up on the technique altogether in 2007. What I did, was learn how basketball defenders are taught! Yep, that simple. I went to basketball practice and learned basically what they were teaching their defenders and adapted it to what I wanted out of my cornerbacks.
Originally I started out aligned square, as though we were a squat corner, then open on the snap, and shuffle. Later, I moved to the angled in stance, where the corner was already turned in at a 45 degree angle. My reasoning is simple, most DB's, when beat, it's in transition. The transition they get beat in the most is going from the pedal to opening their hips to run with deeper routes. Well, if this is the case, why not take this out of the equation? So I did! Now, I'll say one thing, the technique is difficult if you're playing a coverage that requires dividers. For the most part, I've been a two-high safety guy, so I've had the luxury of playing outside leverage with my corners, to which I felt my technique worked just fine. I can't speak of how to use it when a corner has to align inside the number one receiver.
Anyhow, on to the technique. From a balanced open stance, tilted in at a 45 degree angle, on the snap, the corner begins to shuffle. I have them, in their minds count to three. By this time, the ball should be in the air if it is three step or quick game. Generally, I teach to have vision on the number one receiver, but you can easily have them read the QB for the three step drop if you like. I like adapting to routes, so I want them seeing routes and understanding how what the number one receiver does ties into what the number two receiver will be doing, but to each their own. The actual shuffle technique is just like that of a basketball defender. I like the feet to remain at least shoulder width apart, with the head being directly in line with the body. The head position is important, because if the head is too far forward, or towards the line of scrimmage (LOS), then the DB will have trouble transitioning into the second phase of the technique which is the bail. If the head is too far back, then the corner will struggle transitioning and breaking on the shorter throws. The key here is balance, so that weight can be transitioned easily.
On short throws, that ask the corner to transition forward, I have them use a T-step technique. It is literally common sense, because since the corner is already turned, he can easily get all of his cleat surface into the turf, making transitioning forward quite easy. If the DB is asked to transition inside then he simply rolls forward inside toward the QB. Again, I'm not using this for man, or where the corner is supposed to use some sort of divider rule. I've only used it for Quarters coverage, and it works well, because in the three step quick game, the corner is simply playing his deep quarter and not getting beat deep. I cannot speak on how it adapts to other coverages, but it works quite well with Quarters.
If the ball isn't thrown after the three count, then the DB will now transition into the bail technique. This is nothing more than a crossover run technique. I have always taught this with a post leg, and drive leg. The post leg is the leg that is farthest from the LOS as the DB is turned. In other words, if I'm the right corner, and opened inside, facing the QB, it would be my left leg. This leg doesn't gain much ground, and is there for balance only. The drive leg, is the leg closest to the LOS (my right leg in our example). This leg gains the most ground as the DB works into his deep zone. I've gotten extremely technical with it for this post, but if we were sitting at the bar, blowing the top off a few cool ones, I'd simply tell you he's running sideways.
If the DB has done his job, and has maintained his over-the-top relationship to the receiver, then he can work sideways to relate to the route as necessary. The idea here is, that if the DB ends up inside, he's in great position to ride the receiver into the sideline, better known as the twelfth man. If the receiver works inside of the DB, again, he can easily roll into the route and regain inside leverage due to his depth and being over-the-top.
To transition into covering the deeper routes, the technique varies by the type of cut the receiver is giving the DB. On inside cutting routes (dig, post etc.), the corner will roll over into a traditional run. Very difficult to explain via text, but explained quite simply it's going from running sideways to regular running. On routes that are out breaking, the corner needs to get the hips opened and does so much like a pulling guard does when trapping. The corner will take his near arm to the receiver and rip it open (in drills I have them overemphasize this like they were pull starting a lawnmower)to get the hips open. Once open, they T-step and drive on the route. I never saw many deep out cuts where I coached, so we didn't spend too much time working on these routes, but it is a skill that will need to be coached.
To be honest, I apologize for not having much on the technique, but it was really a "necessity" item. The video below shows a pretty good example of the technique and who should be using it. Those that know me closely, and know where I've coached will easily tell you that I've coached in some "athlete poor" areas, so I was grasping at any straw I could to get the most out of my guys. What I found out in my experimentation is that the DB could play closer to the LOS because he's already transitioned. Being a Cover Four/Cover Two guy, this allowed me to disguise my intentions. The technique also helps in teaching press bail coverage techniques as well, because the only difference is that in one you shuffle, the other you don't. See, there's more to the technique than shuffling, because you only shuffle for the quick game stuff. After that, you've got to transition in to some sort of run, which is the crossover run, or bail technique as I mentioned above. I've tried to break down the technique as simple as I can, but if you honestly want to see the technique in action, go to your basketball practice and watch them teach defense, and you'll get everything you need to know about the shuffle.
Sticks
I had some questions about a coverage I called "Sticks". Like most of my stuff, it's stolen. I have a good friend that utilizes this concept, and it's also a TCU coverage concept. What's beautiful about the coverage adaptation is the fact that despite appearing "soft" it's really the best example of the defense forcing the offense into bad situations.
"Sticks" is a coverage adaptation for long yardage situations on third and fourth downs. Again, it's not really anything revolutionary, but here goes. When I tag a coverage with the term "Sticks", my DB's are going to all put their heels on the line to gain and play the coverage called. Generally it's Quarters, but it could be any zone coverage you want them to play. The idea here is that the defense is building a "wall" at the line to gain. On the snap, we don't back up, we read our respective key and react in the same way that we would if aligned normally. Any route that is thrown underneath the DB's will be broke on and tackled. The concept is similar to that of the Two Level Defense deep safety in that by depth, the DB can see and react to anything that happens underneath of them easier than they can if they were closer to the LOS.
Where this coverage is really great is when you face an offense that is taught to run option routes based on both coverage and down and distance. As a defensive coordinator (DC) you are forcing the offense right into the teeth of the defense in these down and distance situations. With the defense playing so far off, the receivers are more than likely going to run something short. Well, that's exactly what you, the DC, wants them to do. Your defenders then rally and make the tackle.
I use the coverage tag with Cover Two, Quarters and have used a Cover Three version of it as well. An old friend, better known as "OJW" on the Huey board, gave me a coverage they simply called "line". Line is of the same premise except he used it on all downs and on the snap rotated players to various areas after all his deep zone defenders had aligned in a straight line. Line and Sticks vary though in that there is no downhill rotation on the snap with Sticks. Defenders are taught not to drop and to defend the down markers. Sticks is also a good goal line coverage when paired with Quarters because it puts the defense where they need to be to defend the run aggressively, but still in a position to drop off and defend the pass if the need arises.
TCU using their "Sticks" concept on 3rd & 10 vs. West Virginia
In the version I use, the MLB will align at his normal depth and is still a run first defender. He will execute whatever his normal assignment is in the coverage called. The OLB's can deepen their alignment from the normal five yards to seven to eight yards, or even to the line to gain if need be. The general rule here is seven to eight yards. The OLB's are thinking pass first when they hear the tag "Sticks", but they aren't just dropping immediately to their assignment. They still key their run/pass key (usually the OL) and will come up against the run. The depth you play them at allows them not to have to drop off into a zone if pass shows, as they already have their depth. In the case of using the Sticks tag, now all the OLB's need to be concerned with is the width necessary to get to their respective zone based on the coverage called.
The secondary will all align with their heels on the line to gain, still reading whatever their normal key would be if they were in their regular alignment. The main difference is, they will not pedal nor will they drop on the snap of the ball. The reason is, they are where they are needed already. It is very much a Two Level Defense (2LD) concept in that it is easier for a defender to come up, than it is for them to go back.
As you can see, many zone coverages can be adapted to fit this concept. I wouldn't recommend playing man out of this look, unless using some sort of banjo concept (which makes it so much more like zone, why not play zone anyhow) was utilized. Man, I fear, would be too confusing, allow for too much space to be utilized by the offense and create some insane rub and pick advantages for the offense. Anyhow, the Achilles heel to the entire coverage is your defense's ability to tackle in space and rally to the football.
Well, that's it for this edition of the mailbag. Keep the questions flowing. I know I'm a bit slow at getting to them, but be patient with me, remember this is just my side job!
Well after the first installation on this topic, I'll talk now about some of the adjustments that can be made to defend the weaknesses of Quarters coverage. This is not going to be a long post, as most of my stuff has been pirated from the likes of Jerry Gordon, as well as some of what Gary Patterson is doing at TCU. However, failure to mention some of this stuff would inevitably flood my inbox with questions, so I figured why not go ahead and write a post about it?
The Weaknesses of Quarters Coverage Typically the first thing you hear people say when asked why they don't run Quarters coverage, or what is the weakness of Quarters coverage is that the flats are weak. This is so very true, there is not denying this simple fact. However, let's look at the issue and see why coaches still employ this coverage despite this glaring weakness.
Any coverage that has the flats defended from inside-out is going to be weaker in that area. The reason being is that a displaced receiver has a yardage advantage over the defender covering him. Now, move the defender out over the number one receiver and the defense gains a tactical advantage, somewhat. The flat defender, generally is responsible for forcing the ball back inside on run plays. Remove this player from the core of the defense, and the offense now gains the tactical advantage on the run. So, the idea here is to be able to do both. Of course the way to do both, is in-game adjustments and from scouting, but also from having built-in answers to your coverage issue. Enter in Cover Two Read. Some call it a soft Cover Two or a Sink Cover Two, but no matter, it's a way of getting the best out of Quarters and Cover Two, otherwise known as halves coverage. Again, none of this has no been talked about before, and all of the calls I'm mentioning can be found in Jerry Gordon's book "Coaching the Under Front Defense".
Alert Coverage Alert Coverage is a tag added to Quarters, that changes the assignment of the corner and the outside linebacker (OLB). Alert is the way Quarters morphs into Two Read. Alert is not a good call against a large displacement by the two receivers, nor is it a very good call against a single receiver side. Alert Coverage is meant to be called to two detached receivers. Here are the rules:
Corner Alignment: Corner will still align in traditional alignment of seven yards off and in outside shade. Corner can also use a press and bail technique.
Assignment: The corner will still play man-to-man on the number one receiver on anything but shallow routes. Against a wheel call (an out by the number two receiver, called by the safety), the corner will now funnel the number one receiver into the safety and get eyes to the number two receiver. As the corner sinks, and funnels, he is awaiting to break on the throw to the number two receiver. The corner only comes off of the number one receiver once the ball is thrown to this receiver. The corner is also responsible for the wheel by the number two receiver.
Safety Alignment: The safety, in Alert Coverage must align deeper than he would in traditional Quarters Coverage. The safety should align 10 to 12 yards deep and be two yards inside the number two receiver.
Assignment: The safety will still play flat-footed, buzz or shuffle on the snap. All reads are the same as Quarters, except if the number two receiver goes out. If the number two receiver goes out (usually under the depth of eight yards), then the safety makes the "wheel" call alerting the corner that he now has a route coming at him. The safety will now pedal and get eyes to the number one receiver. The safety, on a "wheel" call is now responsible for the number one receiver vertical.
OLB Alignment: The OLB no longer has to walk out as far against two detached receivers. The linebacker (LB) can play closer to the box, but should walk out a minimum of five yards from the end man on the line of scrimmage (EMOL). Into the boundary the OLB need not walk out at all.
Assignment: The OLB is a wall player. He will wall all crossing routes, and will get hands on any vertical stem by the number two receiver. The OLB will play the curl zone, and pass crossers off to the middle linebacker (MLB). The OLB is responsible for the wheel of the number three receiver, should one present itself.
MLB Alignment: Based on formation.
Assignment: The MLB's assignment is the same in Alert Coverage as it is in Quarters Coverage.
Alert is a great Quarters check for those teams running a lot of quick game against you. It is still safe against four verticals as the corner is still really playing a deep quarter of the field with his technique if the number two receiver doesn't go out. Alert is not a good check to a wide displacement by the number one and number two receivers. If this distance is large, the safety cannot get over the top of the number one receiver, or must cheat his alignment to the point of losing leverage on the number two receiver running vertical.
How the run is defended out of this look is still a matter of debate. Since I based out of Quarters, and my safeties were my run fit guys, I left it the same in this coverage. I've had some die-hard Two Read guys tell me I was wrong, but in my opinion, this is just a check, or adaptation to Quarters. I'm not looking to major in Quarters with a minor in Cover Two. I just need a check that can help with the quick game against two displaced receivers. No need to change up everything I'm doing with my base coverage. I recommend keeping the safety as the force player, but to each their own.
Jump Call Jump is a more aggressive version of the Alert Coverage shown above. Jump would be what some refer to as hard Cover Two, or a squat Cover Two look. Here the corner will reroute the number one receiver, but will not carry him, if he gets a "wheel" call from the safety. The corner can align the same as always, but with the Jump call, he will actually jump the out by number two rather than the throw to the number two receiver. For the safety, he will need to align a bit deeper, and possible wider, depending on the split taken by the number one receiver, however he should never align wider than the inside eye of the number two receiver. With the jump call, the safety must pedal at the snap. He will not be guaranteed any help if the number two receiver is out, coupled with a vertical stem by number one. The OLB and MLB play things the exact same way as they do in Alert Coverage.
Might as well...
Jump is when, by game plan, you have the bead on the OC trying to throw the bubble or the arrow routes. Jump is a very good call to mix in as it will show you have the ability to play some hard Cover Two, even though you are a base Quarters team. Jump is not a good call when expecting a vertical by the number one receiver, because you aren't guaranteed that the traditional "hole" in Cover Two will be helped by the corner as it would be in Alert Coverage. Think of the two coverages this way, Alert is safe, Jump is a bit more risky.
Bronco Bronco is a coverage that TCU has made famous over the past few seasons. The rules are simple, and in the end it's basically off man. You can play Bronco Coverage with a banjo concept, or hard and fast man-only-deep (MOD) rules. However you choose to play it, the coverage is very good against the "spread-to-run" offenses many of us are seeing these days. The rules for Bronco Coverage are as follows:
Corner Alignment: The alignment depends on how aggressive you want to be. I start out teaching a no-switch off man principle, so I play my corners pressed (see diagram below). The corner is a man-everywhere-he-goes (MEG) defender in Bronco. Now, if you play a banjo concept, you will want the corner to play deeper, and my recommendation would be to play him at his traditional depth of seven yards, shaded inside the receiver, however. Neither way is wrong, nor is it better than the other, and I will explain the rules of the two concepts later in this post.
Assignment: When I first teach this, I teach it to the corners as a MEG concept. For our corners, this coverage is no different than Cover Zero (pure man). Now if I'm teaching the banjo concept, then the corner has a similar rule to his standard rule in Quarters with one simple change. In Quarters, the corner will take the number one receiver man, unless he's shallow (routes breaking under eight yards). In Bronco, I do two things, I reduce the depth to five yards to declare vertical, and I add the words "out". So, in Bronco, utilizing a banjo concept, I tell my corner he has the number one receiver vertical and out.
Safety Alignment: The safety will align six yards off and one yard inside a detached number two receiver. This changes to one yard outside an attached receiver (with five yards of the core of the formation).
Assignment: The safety will have the same rules as the corner in both the basic version of Bronco and the banjo version. The safety is responsible for the number two receiver vertical and out. Again, as with the corner, the depth of what I tell them "vertical" is, will be reduced to five yards. Against inside cuts by the number two receiver, the safety has the choice of calling "push" if he feels the route isn't vertical. This tells the OLB to let the running back (RB) go, and the safety will now take him. If the safety feels this route is vertical, of course he would not give the OLB a call and would run with this route man-to-man. If the safety does give a "push" call, then he will now rob the curl to post of the number one receiver (as he would in Quarters Coverage).
OLB Alignment: The OLB can take his base alignment as if there was not a detached number two receiver. In other words, he can remain in the box. He will even remain in the box against trips formations. This coverage is designed to free up the LB's to remain in the box and is more focused on them stopping the run than the pass.
Assignment: The OLB, as with Alert and Jump tags, is a wall player and will handle all crossing routes in this coverage. Crossing routes are passed off between the OLB's and the MLB. The major difference in Bronco Coverage, when talking to LB's is that they are not dropping off of a numbered receiver. The OLB's as well as the MLB are responsible for the RB. The OLB's will take the wheel of the RB, unless given a "push" call by the safety.
MLB The MLB's assignment is the same as he would in Quarters. He is the middle hole dropper and assigned to cover the number RB vertical.
Bronco with no banjo concept
Bronco with the banjo concept
The sole purpose behind Bronco Coverage is to be able to keep the OLB's in the box to defend the run. I've heard some folks call this "Box Coverage". Whatever you call it, the coverage is a great adaptation for those posing spread folks that try to play a seven on five or six game in the box by spreading you out with receivers. No need to get the defense bent out of shape if your opponent doesn't throw the ball out to the receivers very much, or those receivers are no threat to your defense. The coverage is still safety force, but the OLB's are in a position to handle some of this responsibility as well. I teach Bronco with a catch-man philosophy, and it does take a bit of getting used to. The edges of the defense can be soft at times if the wide receivers (WR's) are good at making their stalk blocks look like routes.
Bronco is better served, being played to one side of the field, preferably the short side of the field as shown below. In the illustration you can see that the OLB is allowed to stay in his home alignment because the coverage to his side is Bronco. This allows this player to focus more on stopping the run, and less on having to get out to a pass zone. To the field side you can play whatever you like, in my example, I'm playing Quarters to the field.
Bronco can even be played into three-by-one formations. It's aggressive, but it is a good coverage if you have the cats to run it. The only adaptation that needs to be made, is that the single side corner will now have to man up, as he is all alone due to the weak safety being moved over to the trips side of the coverage. The weak side is played just like Solo coverage.
Bronco into trips
In conclusion, with a few calls and adaptations you can set up Quarters Coverage to work versus many of the common formations and route concepts in the game today. Now, if you have the time, I recommend installing all of these adjustments. In the past, I've been able to get Quarters in and perhaps one or two other calls (usually Bronco and Alert). One year, I ran only Quarters and Bronco and it worked out just fine for the young group I had. No matter what you do, there will need to be adjustments that you make, as every coverage has a weakness to it, and Quarters Coverage is no exception.
