SAN DIEGO STATE DB DRILLS

1. SAN DIEGO STATE DB DRILLS By Secondary Coach Chris Ash

2. COACHING PHILOSOPHY 1) You Must Be A Good Teacher. Your players get better and respond if you are a good teacher and you don’t just yell. 2) You Must Be Organized In Meetings. Don’t waste time in meetings with tapes and writing notes on the board. 3) Be Organized On The Practice Field. Anyone can write on the black board or do computer work, you must transfer it to the field. Have a plan for individual drills in practice. Don’t waste time setting up drills. 4) Pay Attention To Details, Stress The Little Things. Always check alignments and make sure guys are reading their keys. Don’t let the players take things for granted. 5) Be Demanding. You can be demanding and the players will accept it if you are doing a good job of teaching. If you are demanding but not showing the kids how to do things they will shut it down. 6) Be Accountable. Be accountable to your players and to the other coaches. If there are 7 coaches on your staff and 1 or 2 of them are not working, you have a bad staff. All coaches must work together. 7) Stay Positive. We all go through tough times during a season. You must stay up from week to week and stay positive with the players and other coaches. 8) Be Honest With The Players. Tell them what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. 9) You Must Have A Passion To Coach. You must want to coach. You must constantly want to make yourself better and to gain more knowledge. 10) Be Consistent. Regardless of how good or bad things get, you must remain consistent with your coaching.

3. Teaching Philosophy • Find out how each player learns. Each player is different. • You must be creative. • You must be efficient. • Use technology as much as possible. • CASKR!

4. TEACHING PROGRESSION CALL - Teach and explain the ENTIRE huddle call. Players must know exactly what each call means to them. ALIGNMENT – Players must recognize each offensive formation and know how to get lined up properly. They must communicate any strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies and how each of these affects the call. STANCE - They must take a good stance every play. KEY - Each player has a pre-snap key. They must know and read their key. Their key is a tool to give them every advantage over what the offense can do. It will never lie. RESPONSIBILITY - All players must know and execute their responsibility! They must execute their responsibility with 100% of everything they have. C A S K R = Consistency

5. FIVE QUALITIES OF A GOOD DEFENSIVE BACK • The number one pre-requisite of any defensive back is speed. • Secondly, he must have the ability to react. The ability to react involves quickness. Quickness refers to the ability to move the hands and feet in a limited area and is equally important as speed. • Quick hands and feet, good peripheral vision, timing, and body control are reaction qualities that are necessary for the defensive back. • A good defensive back must have confidence in himself and proper confidence can only be built through successful experiences. • Defensive backs must be physically and mentally tough. Many times DB’s are put in situations where they are at a size disadvantage, there is no room for someone meek or timid when they are the last line of defense. • A good defensive back must have a short memory. Everyone will get beat at some point, the difference between a good DB and a bad DB is how they choose to react. The most important play is the next one.

6. AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT FOR HS DB’s • Run/Pass Recognition • Pursuit Angles • Understanding Leverage and Cushion • Transition Out of Backpedal • Ball Skills

7. PRACTICE PLANNING • Each day our individual practice time will be made • up of drills from each of the following categories: • Fundamental Footwork Drills • Ball Drills • Tackling Drills • Block Protection

8. PRINCIPLES OF MAN COVERAGE • Total concentration must be on your man. • The post route is the most dangerous route we must defend against when there is no safety help (Cover 0). Therefore, we must honor any inside fake as a potential inside route. Disregard all outside fakes. • Alignment and maintenance of your leverage position and cushion throughout the receiver’s route is critical. • Be aware of the receiver’s split. Generally, a receiver who is going to run an outside route will reduce his split. Conversely, a receiver who is going to run an inside route will increase his split. • A receiver who is bent over and running with his head down cannot make a sharp cut going full speed. He can only make a sharp cut when he raises his shoulders and gathers himself under control. Therefore, you should be watching his inside hip and thigh. If he gathers, you should gather. • If a pass is thrown to your man in front of you and you cannot intercept it, go through the receiver’s outside or up field shoulder – ONLY GO IN FRONT WHEN YOU CAN GET BOTH HANDS ON THE BALL! • If the receiver you are covering runs a shallow inside release, go with him and shout “Crack, Crack”! Protect your LB’s and Safeties from being cracked. Be sure you watch the block being thrown before you release him to play the run. • If beat deep, burst in an attempt to catch the receiver. Do not look back to the QB until you have caught the receiver. Your attention should be focused through the receiver’s head to his hands. “Hand Clap” • As long as the ball is behind the line of scrimmage and receivers are down field, we must maintain tight coverage. It is not your job to stop scrambling quarterbacks. • If the timing is close when defending a pass, deflect the ball with your near arm and hook the receiver’s up field arm with your far arm.

9. PRINCIPLES OF MAN COVERAGE (CONT.) • If the ball is completed in front of you and you are late getting to the receiver, breakdown and perform an open field tackle. • Tighten your coverage when we are blitzing. • Look for a pass: After a time out. After a delay of game penalty on the opponent. On the first and last play of the quarter. After a substitution. After a penalty. On a first and ten situation following a turnover or a long gain. SUDDEN CHANGE! On a second and short situation. WASTE DOWN! On a third and long situation. • The closer the ball gets to our goal line, the tighter we play man. Use Catch technique inside the red zone. • Do not defend the end zone. Defend the goal line. • Know down and distance tendencies. • Play the ball tough. The offense wins all ties. • When anticipating or upon an interception, the call is “Osky”. Sprint to the nearest sideline and return it for a touchdown. The nearest defender to the interceptor should block the intended receiver. The remainder of the secondary should lead the interceptor down the sideline becoming blockers, remembering to not block below the waist.

10. PASS DEFENSE CONCEPTS ROUTE DEPTH All receiver patterns can be broken into three general categories of route depth. We must be aware and alert to the depth of the receiver’s release throughout our coverage. The categories are: Level 1 (Quicks 0 – 5 yard routes): Generally 3 step QB drop or quick play action. Examples: screen, slant, hitch, speed out. Level 2 (Intermediate 10 – 15 yard routes): Generally 5 step QB drop, sprint-out or play-action. Examples: out, curl, hook, dig, comeback. Level 3 (Deep routes over 15 yards): Generally 5 to 7 step QB drop, sprint-out or play-action. Examples: post, corner, fade wheel. RECOGNITION POINT This is also referred to as the break or breaking point. This is the point in a receiver’s route when the DB recognizes the route being run. Quick proper recognition of the final break point in a route will allow the defender to react to and effectively make a play on the ball.

11. OFF MAN TECHNIQE 1.Alignment: Normal rules with either inside or outside leverage depending on wide receiver’s split. 2. Keys: Key QB. Periph the receiver. 3.Run Responsibility: Secondary run support once all threat of a pass is eliminated. 4. Pass Responsibility: Off man coverage on designated wide receiver. Total ownership. Coaching Points: The defensive back is responsible for executing proper off man coverage on the designated wide receiver. He will cover the receiver all over the field. The defender must shut him down! The defensive back will assume a staggered stance and align with either inside or outside leverage on the receiver. He will align with a 9-yard cushion from the receiver, not the line of scrimmage. He must recognize the alignment and split of the wide receiver. The defender must know if he is aligning on a split end or a flanker. Pre-snap recognition is a must. The defender must also recognize the size, stance, and overall ability of the receiver he is aligned over. On the snap, the defensive back will start by pushing off of his front foot. The first few steps are slow and controlled and are designed as read steps. The defensive back will read the QB and periph the receiver as he takes these steps. The sole purpose of looking inside is to get a quick read on the 3-step passing game. If the DB reads a 3-step QB drop while feeling a quick route, he will have tight coverage and will be able to break on the slant, hitch, quick screen, or speed out. If the QB does a 3-step drop, the DB will settle and snap his eyes to the receiver, mirror his path and break to the interception point. Once the QB clears the 3-step drop, the DB must snap his eyes to the receiver’s inside hip and defend the corresponding route. After locking on the opponent, the defender must change gears to a full speed backpedal, weaving to keep proper leverage. He must read whether it is an intermediate or deep route, recognize the final breaking point, and then break as quickly as possible to the interception point.

12. OFF MAN TECHNIQE (CONT.) If the defensive back reads run, he must think play-action and snap his eyes to the receiver and defend the corresponding route. If the receiver blocks, the DB will attack the opponent’s outside shoulder, executing secondary run support. He must do this only when all threat of a pass is eliminated. In playing the off man technique, the DB must be disciplined. He must snap his eyes to the receiver on every play, no matter what he reads initially. Keep proper leverage, do not allow the receiver to get you to a head up position. He must stay square and remain in the back pedal as long as possible. If he has help, he must know where the help is located. If he has no help, he must stop the inside routes and force the offense to throw to the outside. These are generally, lower percentage routes which take time to complete, thus giving us a better chance at being successful overall. Four Step Progression to Successful Man Technique • Do not try to out-run a wide receiver in your pedal. • Slowly absorb the release. • Close up the air. • Get body on body before you make the play.