The Five Spoke Secondary Part II

In the first installment of the Five Spoke Secondary, we learned about what type of player to look for at the three safety positions.  We also took a look at the overall philosophy of "why" you would want to run or consider running a three safety defense.  In this segment, we will talk about alignments of the three safeties and how this dictates run support based on coverage.  We will talk a bit about coverages, but nothing in-depth as the main focus here is the flexibility and adaptability of the three safety secondary.

Aligning the Defense

TCU, generally speaking, sets the coverage to the multiple receiver side.  When this is balanced, then they will set the coverage to the "most dangerous" side.  This could be the twins side of a Pro Twins formation, or to the quarterback's (QB's) arm in a Doubles formation.  Also, if balanced, and both threats are equal, they may set the coverage to the wide side of the field.

For the Strong Safety (SS), he will align to the strength of the formation when the ball is in the middle of the field (MOF), and will align to the wide side of the field when the ball is on a hash.  The Weak Safety's (WS) rules are pretty simple, align away from the SS.  The Free Safety (FS) is the guy that has to distinguish where he needs to be in the coverage setup.  In zone, as mentioned above, the FS will set the passing strength, or what Gary Patterson refers to as the "Read Side" to the most dangerous side of the offensive formation.

For example, as shown below is a Pro formation (two backs, one tight-end, and two receivers).  In this particular example, the offense has three immediate vertical threats, the two receivers, and the tight end.  Numerically, the offense has a two-by-one vertical threat alignment.  The FS would set the read side to the most dangerous side, which in this case would be the pro side of the formation, or to the tight end.

Against a one back, 11 personnel look, that I refer to as Pro Twins, the FS has to know where he is on the football field as to where to set the passing strength.  If the ball is in the MOF, then by base rule, the FS would look at which side of the offense is the most "dangerous".  The base rule for "most dangerous" is that the FS should look at where the speed threats are in the offense.  Since two receivers in a twins set is generally faster and more athletic than a pro side, the FS would set the strength to the twins side.  However, the flexibility of the defense, allows you, the coach, to predetermine if that is where you want the FS reading or not.  For instance, let's say your opponent has a TE that is a poor match up for either of the outside safetys (OSS's), but is a good match up for your FS.  Well, when they come out in Pro Twins, you can set the read side of the coverage to the pro side.  Herein lies the beauty in the system is that the offense can no longer dictate to you who and how you cover them.  You can always get the best players in the right spot to defend what an offense is attempting to do to your defense.

Pro Twins, read side set to Twins

Pro Twins read side set to most dangerous player

I literally get an email a week about what somebody saw TCU do, and how this doesn't fit their rules etc.  Listen, these guys are game planning every week to stop what another offense does.  They may have their base rules, but they have the ability to align however they need to based on what they want to take away from the offense.  Just because their base rule tells the SS to go to "the strength of the formation when the ball is in the middle of the field" that they can't tell him to go away from the strength of the formation.  The idea here is that you have a hard and fast rule players can hang their hat on when the bullets are flying (like Baylor running a bazillion plays at you 90 miles to nothing) and still be sound against both the run and the pass.  Aligning the back end of the defense is extremely important because if somebody's left uncovered, or an underneath defender thinks he's got deep help, but he doesn't, it could easily result in six points.

Manipulating the System for High School Football

I get this all the time as well.  "How should I play it?".  I bet that has to be the number one question I get on a week-in, week-out basis.  To be honest, not being on YOUR staff and seeing exactly what it is your seeing makes questions like these very difficult to answer.  I will say this, a good friend of mine, who runs this defense has a very good way to set the Five Spoke Secondary up for high school football.  I will elaborate on the basic rules.

In the defense, as shown below, you have two tackles, two ends, a read side LB and an away side LB to along with the two OSS's that present a balanced eight man front.  The call side end, labled "S" in the diagrams, the call side Tackle ("T"), the Mike ("M") and the SS will all travel to the call based on the run strength of the formation.  Opposite of this call is the Nose (N), End (E), Will, and WS that will travel opposite of the call.  Now many will argue that this isn't the way TCU does it, and in some regards you are right, but they have been known to align this way.  In high school though, let's face it, most teams run the football.  Sure, early in the year, many suffer from a disease called "Summer Seven-on-Seven Disease" where everyone thinks they can chuck the pigskin all over the gridiron, but by the middle of the season, most OC's have figured out, you better run the damn ball if you want to move the chains and score some points.  So, the theory behind aligning the SS to the run strength is geared towards doing what most high school teams do, and that's run the football.  With the SS being more LB in nature, this makes absolutely perfect sense.  Remember, the SS is one of your best pure "football players" you have on your defense.  He's the old Monster in the 50.  This is the chess piece you put where you feel, by game plan, your opponent is wanting to run or throw the football.

Now I know what many are thinking and that is there are several formations that you can get the SS away from the FS.  Well, that's where some of our coverage nuances and adjustments come into play.  Without going too much into depth, here is a breakdown of what coverage each of the three safeties needs to master in order to play in the defense.

Setting the Pieces

For the most part, the SS will be coupled with the FS and will be playing a "sky" technique where he is a flat dropper and will be asked to carry the third receiver through the zone on a wheel route.  However, by rule there could be some situations where the FS will not be with the SS and the SS will be asked to now play a Robber technique.  The other coverage, other than "sky" and man that the SS must master is that of Bronco coverage.  Bronco has been discussed at length on the Huey board as well as in other blog posts around the Internet.  The basic rules are simple:

• SS- Will take the number two receiver man to man on anything other than shallow drag.
• Corner- Man-to-man coverage on the number one receiver.

I've talked with many coaches who simply "man up" on that side, or put just the corner in man.  Any of the above work, so long as vertical routes by both the number one and number two receivers are handled.  The idea behind Bronco coverage is to have a way for the defense to defend two immediate vertical threats away from the FS.  The coverage is not ideal vs. two quick receivers (Twins), but it will work.

So now we can see some of the brilliance in the system taking shape.  The SS only needs to know the following:

1. If the FS is to me, play the "sky" technique.
2. If the FS is away from me and I have two backs, play the "sky" technique".
3. If the FS is away from me and I have one back and two immediate vertical threats, play Bronco.
4. If the FS is away from me, it is one back and my vertical threat is in the backfield, play "sky" technique.
5. If we are blitzing, and I'm not involved, I cover the number two receiver outside the tackles.

Now, many will say, dang that's a lot, but in reality the SS gets told what to do by the FS.  Remember the SS is not really one of the communicators in the secondary.  Sure, he'll announce motion, or may call out some game plan key, but the SS shouldn't be setting the coverage, that is the role of the FS and the WS.  What the SS will hear, based on the above criteria is the following:

1. The FS will set the coverage based on receiver structure or game plan, but will generally be in Robber or Quarters to the read side (to which he'll announce this to the Corner and SS by calling the direction he's reading as well as the coverage).
2. When the FS goes away he must give the SS a call that lets him know this, then tell the SS and corner what coverage to play.  This is pretty easy because it all relates to the number of vertical threats these players are getting.  Only one vertical threat, the FS gives his removal call (I've heard some coaches use "I'm gone", YOYO for Your On Your Own, and "Adios" to name a few, I do not know what TCU tells their FS to call this) and will set the coverage to "sky".
3. Again, the FS will give his removal call, and then set the coverage to "Bronco" because of the two immediate vertical threats.
4. This one is the same as number two.
5. The FS doesn't communicate much to the SS when blitzing.  It's the FS's job to cover for the blitzer, or be the free dropper.

(Note: the number above correspond with the number for the SS)

The WS's job is basically two-fold as sometimes he's going to be like the SS and have the FS to his side, whereas other times, he's going to have the FS away from him.  When the FS is away from him, he is going to be taught that he is setting the coverage.  When the FS is coming to him, the WS does not set the coverage, but now must listen to what coverage the FS is setting his side to.  I will not go into the coverage options that the WS has to set his side to in these posts.  That could easily be setup for a separate post all of its own.  Just remember, this is the reason why the WS needs to be the most intelligent member of the secondary.

The system really sounds more intimidating than it really is.  One reason I say this, is back in 2013 I played, almost exclusively, Quarters to the read side.  I had a SS and FS that combined may have scored a 15 on the ACT.  I couldn't have these guys playing a myriad of coverages and checks etc.  If these guys were able to understand the system, then believe me, it's not complicated.  Where it tends to get a bit more complicated is on the away side.  The WS I had in 2013 was a very intelligent, and fortunately, athletic young man.  He did a very good job setting us up in the proper coverages that we needed to be in.  We didn't run that many on the away side (we ran Quarters, Halves, Bronco and Man), but he was able to manage these choices very well.

Yes, even this guy could play SS...

Now that we understand how the verticals are handled by basic coverages let's look at alignments.  I will start with two back sets and work our way to empty sets.  These are basic formations!  I couldn't possibly have the time to discuss every formation and adjustment.  This post is meant as a basic guide to aligning the Five Spoke Secondary.  Use the rules as they are laid out to set up your defensive structure.

Two Back Offenses

Two back offenses don't have much they can align in that really threatens the players mentally as it does physically.  If setting the SS to the run strength, then the SS will generally follow the TE, unless otherwise dictated by game plan.

As shown above, the SS travels with the run strength set to the TE.  If the SS is called to be set to the passing strength, nothing would change in the above diagram.  Where the differences in alignment and coverage come into play are against twins sets.

In the above example, the FS will set the coverage to the most dangerous side.  None of this matters to the WS or SS because the SS is set to the run strength, while the WS aligns away.  The FS gives the call letting the SS know he's no longer there.  In this case, the away side coverage can be game planned to whatever it is that the SS can play.  These coverages are man, Bronco (zone/man combo) or zone (sky).  Against most two back teams, the base rule here would be "sky".  To the read side, the defense can play any number of coverages.  Robber is shown, but halves, quarters, man free, you name it can be played to this side.

The next illustration only switches the SS and the WS.  There are any number of reasons for this.  I have seen twins teams that actually run more to the twins side than they do the nub side.  In that case, you better have the flexibility in your defense to set your key player (the SS) where you need him.  Again, the coverages presented to either side are a laundry list of what is that you want/need to defend?  Obviously Robber or Quarters is the standard answer to the twins side, but really whatever it is you need to play over there you can.  Again, to the away side, the WS can set the coverage by himself.  He has some options at his disposal, but the base rule would be to play "sky", the same as if this was the SS.

Another option to keep in mind is that of playing the SS fixed to one side of the field or the other.  In this case, for many, the SS will be set to the wide side of the field.  This is a great way for those teams that try to get slick and figure out where your SS is being set, then go formation to the sideline (FSL) to get this player away from the wide side and then run to the wide side.  By setting the SS to the field, neither run nor pass strength dictate where the SS aligns.  This is also a good way to handle up-tempo offenses, as it creates less moving parts for the defense to attempt to handle.

Again, when the offense sets the run strength to the field, not much changes.  It is when the offense attempts to put the run (or pass) strength into the boundary in an attempt to isolate and run (or pass) away from one of your best defenders.

Now we see that the offense has put the formation to the sideline (FSL).  In many cases, teams will not read into the boundary due to the constricted space and will generally check to some generic zone coverage such as quarter, quarter, half, or cover 3.  You can read into the boundary if need be, though, but it's not a necessity.  Since the SS doesn't have an immediate vertical threat to deal with, he can play "sky" coverage.  If the offense checks to a play away from your SS, they are playing right into your hands, and running (or passing) the ball into the 12th man, the sideline.

Twins to the field doesn't change much either.  The SS simply aligns to the twins set, and plays whatever coverage the FS has called.  The WS sets the coverage based on game plan and plays into the boundary as shown below.

Lots of two back teams I see set twins into the boundary to get the coverage rolled away from the field so that they can run Power O, or Toss Sweep to the field.  Many will even motion to this look.  Again, the flexibility of the system allows for none of these attempts at mis-aligning the defense to work.  The SS plays to the nub side and will play whatever coverage he has been instructed to by game plan (generally "sky").  The FS can either read into the boundary or can check to some generic zone coverage.

Twins Open, isn't really an issue, and is treated pretty much the same as Twins.  The SS can be set to pass strength, run strength, or fixed to the field or boundary.  One beauty, as illustrated below is with over shifted backfield sets.  I see plenty of teams do this, where they align Twins to one side, but play an over shifted backfield (think offset I) on the opposite side.  While it may not seem like much, this gives the offense a numerical advantage when they do this by having a player align off the midline.  If the defense doesn't adjust, then it can easily find itself a man down to one side or the other.  In the case of setting the SS to the running strength, this offset back may be the key for you.  The defense can still put it's players where they are needed, but set the passing strength and put the FS where he is needed, as shown below.

As you can see the defense is protected from toss sweep and lead option to the offset back, whereas they are also three-over-two on the twins side by having both the SS and FS over there to handle an Twins route combinations.  Also, boot away from the twins side, where the fullback (FB) leaks into the flat is easily handled by the SS, and should be a decent match up, if the FB decides to convert this route into a wheel route.

The same can be said for an offset back into a Twins set.  These sets are ones that power run game teams like to run power pass flood into.  The SS, is in great position here to help on the run, as well as help in the passing game.

One Back Offenses

I honestly think where the real beauty of the Five Spoke Secondary comes into play is against 11 personnel.  11 personnel can really stress an offense because of the varying nature of the offense's personnel.  To one side, you have a run side with a TE and flanker.  To the opposite side you have a passing side with two quick receivers.  Obviously, through film study and game planning you will be able to decipher what it is that you want to take away from your opponent.  However, if setting the SS to the run strength, care will be need to be taken to insure that the match up between the SS and the TE isn't a mismatch.  If this isn't a mismatch, or they don't throw to the TE particularly well, then setting the SS to the running strength is a great way to limit your opponent's run game out of 11 personnel.

Some sort of man or match up zone coverage will need to be employed on the away side to keep the offense from hurting the defense with four verticals.  To the read side, again, the coverage is totally up to the end user in what it is you are trying to defend.

Again, no matter who the defender, the coverages can remain the same whether it's the SS or WS set to the run strength.  Once again, coverage to the read side is unlimited based on what it is that you're defending.

Again, where the beauty can be seen is when "fixing" the SS to the field or boundary.  Now you have your chess piece to where your opponent is likely to attack.  All the SS has to know is am I alone, or is the FS to my side.  Again, the SS makes no calls, but listens to see if he's given the signal that he's alone.  Coverages are completely based on game plan.

In both cases, the FS will set the read side to the field (due to the offense being balanced, or 2x2), indicating he will be reading in that direction.  Since Pro Twins is a two-by-two (2x2) set, this means there are four potential vertical threats.  Robber, Quarters, Palms, Robber etc. can be played to the read side.  A bit more care needs to be exercised to the away side of the coverage.  If given a Pro side, the WS cannot play "sky" because of the two immediate vertical threats.  The WS must play a coverage that accounts for both of these verticals.  Into the boundary, Quarters, or a version of Palms (2 read) would be fine, however if playing to the field, I would recommend man or Bronco.  If given Twins to his side, the WS can then play Palms, or Quarters to that side, regardless of where they are on the field.  Here we see, once again, why it is so important to play a smarter defender at the WS position.

Three-by-one (3x1) sets can be tricky, but the 4-2-5 does a good job of being able to handle these formations out of 11 personnel.  Again, if defending the run is your thing, then setting the SS to where your opponent wants to run the ball is critical.

In the above example, the pro's of the setup are that if your opponent likes to run the ball to the TE side of the formation, you have one of your best ball players set there.  The cons are, now you cannot handle three verticals to the trips side of the formation very well.  The ideal coverage here is quarter-quarter-half, or cover three to the read side.  To the away side, since there is only one immediate vertical threat, the coverage should be "sky".  Like I stated, this is good vs. the run, but not so solid vs. the pass, since you only have three dedicated deep zone defenders (the FS and the two corners).

In the second example, now the SS is set to the pass strength.  This move, allows the defense to handle four verticals, because the WS is a better deep zone defender than the SS.  There are many coverages you can utilize to gain the WS in the trips-side coverage.  One of the major weaknesses of the second version is that of being weak to the run to the nub side of the formation.  The WS's job becomes much tougher if he's designated as defending a player vertical on the trips side, but is also allocated in the TE side run game fit.  Choosing which method is critical in setting up the defense for success.

If you are setting the SS to the field, then the alignment are pretty much the same.  Trips to the field allows you to attack the offense with a myriad of coverages that can handle four vertical threats.  The SS is also in great position to play the bubble screen or wide runs to the field.  Where Trips closed hurts some defenses is when it goes FSL and puts the passing strength into the boundary and the run strength to the field.  If you over rotate your coverage to passing strength, you could be soft to the field vs. the run.  However, by keeping the SS to the field, you are strong vs. the run and are sound vs. any sort of passing game the offense might employ into the boundary.

Against 10 personnel the defense is just as strong as ever.  Against Doubles (2x2), the offense is balanced and the SS can be set in the manner I have discussed earlier.  The problem with 10 personnel is that you don't want the FS to be set away from the SS if you can help it.  The reason for this is the match up that is presented with the more linebacker type player of the SS vs. a WR.  Not an ideal match up, but if your SS is good enough, you could play it this way.

The ideal way of setting the coverage is to keep the FS with the SS vs. these sets.  This is not hard to do, and can be done easier by just keeping the SS to the field, but in some cases you may want your SS to the run strength.  Whatever you do, I'd make sure the SS traveled exclusively with the FS against these types of formations.  The WS is adept in covering WR's, so having him, the away side linebacker (AB) and the weak corner (WC) to a twins side (that would generally be into the boundary) is not a bad setup.  Again, coverage options are limitless here, I'm not going to delve into that part of the defense, but you get the basic principles being applied here.

Trips Open is no different than Doubles, in that you really need to have the SS travel with the FS if you can.  However, there are some times when it's better to have the SS travel with the run strength to be sound vs. the running game.  There are many teams that will set the Trips side away from the RB in the shotgun in order to run speed option at a soft flank.  If you are in a coverage, such as Solo, the WS's job is tough, in that he must account for number three vertical, but also be the primary force player on the away side.  Speed Option, or QB sweep to the away side, with a vertical release by the number three receiver is something I have seen, and can really stress your WS.  Of course, other coverage options are worth exploring, but if the offense is really hurting you, and easy way to stop this is setting the SS to the side of the RB as shown below.

One downfall of setting the defense like the above illustration is that of not being able to handle four vertical threats.  Again, this comes down to film study, and knowing your opponent.  This may not be the adjustment you need, and you may need to handle the issue with coverage instead of alignment.

As shown above, the "ideal" way to handle Trips open is to let the FS travel with the SS.  This puts the defense in a better position to handle the four vertical threats presented by the offense.

One thing teams will do with trips is either motion out of 2x2 to 3x1 and create FSL or simply align with trips into the boundary (as shown below).  I've seen many teams do this and then try to run to the field, or away from the motion.  By setting the SS to the field, you can eliminate such headaches of not having your best player into the boundary.

Obviously, you are somewhat weak here in coverage, but get four verticals out from the boundary is not an ideal thing most offensive coordinators (OC's) want to do.  If the offense does what most do and sets the passing strength to the field, or motions from 2x2 to 3x1 with the Trips to the field, there really isn't much adjusting that needs to be done, other than getting the defense into whatever Trips check coverage you might want to play vs. your opponent.

Empty Backfield Offenses

Against Empty sets, since they are not predominately known as running sets, the easy adjustment is just set the SS to the passing strength, which for many is also the run strength.  This is a fairly easy adjustment, and then the defense just plays whatever your Empty check coverage is.

Now, for whatever reason, if your opponent likes to run weak or attack weak out of Empty sets you "could" set the SS to the Twins side if you like.  It is not ideal, for two reasons.  First, you aren't as protected against three verticals coming off of the Trips side (the only real check you can make over there is Quarter, Quarter, Half or Cover Three).  Secondly, despite having your SS aligned where they are attacking, he will be somewhat passive in that the only real check to me made to that side is some sort of man, or match up man coverage, meaning the SS will have to at least "peak" at the number 2 receiver.  This will make him a bit less aggressive in stopping the run.  However, it "can" be done, I don't recommend setting the defense up this way.

The main theme here though is that if for some reason, your defense gets misaligned, there still able to play somewhat sound defense.  This is why the SS MUST learn Bronco coverage.  It keeps the defense sound in situations like the one shown above.  Again, this is not ideal, but it is manageable because even if your SS misaligns, by rule he will know if I have two quicks, the only coverage I can play is some sort of man or match up man, such as TCU's Bronco coverage.

The same situation is presented if setting the SS to the wide side of the field.  If a team aligns or motions out of Empty sets to present FSL, your defense needs to be able to handle this.  Aligning to FSL is easy if you simply want a check to put the SS to the pass strength, you can do that, it's motion that can make life tough on the defense.  You don't want your SS chasing motion across the formation and then having to have the WS run to the opposite side of the field with an uncovered number two receiver standing there.  That is not an ideal situation at all.  By having the automatic Bronco check built in, the defense, though not great, is still sound.

As you can see the 4-2-5 has a very simple, easy way to keep the defense sound, all the while allowing the defensive coordinator (DC) align his chess pieces where he needs them.  Sure, while some are not ideal, all defenses have their weaknesses.  It's up to you, the end user, to choose what is right for your situation.  The defense is a very flexible defense, and many of it's general, underlying principles can be passed on to other defenses.  I'm not planning on coverage discussion in these articles, as I think I've covered that ad nauseum on the blog.  What I will say is however you choose to set up your defense, the above scenarios are a great, generic, place to start.

Next, we'll look at how the Five Spoke Secondary handles blitzing by using TCU's Cover 0 and Cover 0 Free to keep things simple.

Duece

Mailbag Volume 3

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!

Duece

Mailbag Volume 1

Somebody say mail?

Alright, let's get this mailbag thing rolling here with the first issue!!!  We'll see how I do and keep working to improve from there.  Remember, email your questions to footballislifeblog@yahoo.com.  Ask away, if I can answer, I will!  I'm not going to use names.  I was, but I'm going to keep it impersonal, that way I can answer the questions, and not have to worry about whether or not somebody wants them posted or not.  The questions are good, and if you have them, I'm sure that another person has them as well.

Question #1 Rip/Liz

What are the two outside safeties keying for their run/pass read, in the 4-2-5, when running Saban's Rip/Liz?  Also, can you tell me the alignment for the secondary?

Answer #1
When I ran Rip/Liz (R/L) from the 4-2, I had the OSS's key the EMOL for run/pass key.  This is tough in my opinion, but keying #2 makes them a bit late to the party in some cases due to their tighter alignment that if they were a deep safety (such as the way Saban actually ran R/L).

I'll take 1 high safety please...

To the second part, the OSS's are generally inside eye of the #2 receiver, but this can vary by game plan and ability.  The corners, use standard divider rules that can be found in any Cover 3 playbook.  Generally speaking, the split of the #1 receiver is what controls the alignment of the corners.  The FS will play in the middle of the #1's, or he can favor the QB's arm, or play more to the MOF when the ball is on the hash.  The FS can really be moved around according to game plan and what your opponent is trying to attack you with.  For more on defending the spread from an eight man front, go here.

Question #2 Midline Diagrams

Do you have any diagrams of midline vs. a 4-3?

Answer#2
No need to break out the pen and paper when you've already done it right?!  Go here to check out my old article on midline.  I will expound on this a bit, as I ran the greatest running play in all of football three different ways.

Midline blast, or what some would call midline lead involved both slots attacking the B gap area.  The play side slot would fold under and help seal off the scraping LB.  In the case of the 4-3 defense, this would be the MLB.  The backside slot would go in tail motion, and then lead the QB on the keeper (if the ball was pulled), by blocking OLB to near safety.  Blast was a great power and short yardage play.

Midline seal, was the base way I ran midline, which involved the backside slot going in tail motion and leading the play, with the play side slot, loading on the front side.  The key here was seeing how the defense would react.  The reason you we ran seal was teams we would see, would pinch their DL vs. a base block, and this would thereby spill the QB outside.  Well, if you're running Blast and the QB spills outside the B gap, there's nobody there to block for him.  Seal keeps this from happening, and gives the QB a lead blocker if the play has to hit a gap wider due to stunting defensive linemen.

Midline fold, was a way to run midline with twirl motion or no motion at all.  We would run this against teams that were blitzing a LB based on our motion, or slanting and stemming the DL based on motion.  Fold had the play side slot replace the backside slot on seal.  The backside slot simple went on a pitch course, as this was the beginnings of how we installed midline triple.

Midline is a great play, and is the number one constraint play a coach must install when running a triple option oriented offense.  For more information on the flexbone, go here.

Question #3 Quarters Questions

How do you handle a boot back to a safety that has a detached #2 receiver or a one back, double tight double flanker?  How do you handle sprintout pass to a slot trips set?

Answer #3
Although a bit vague, I'll try and answer these as best I can.  Without route combos, asking a question about how a pattern read coverage handles certain routes is a bit difficult to answer.  In the first part of the first question, I'm assuming some sort of high-low type concept where #2 may be running a whip route, while #1 is clearing the zone.  In the first example I've got drawn, that is what you'll see.  The safety is caught in a bit of "no man's land" in that the whip isn't really deep enough to grab his attention.  The LB is going to be held by the fake, but must expand immediately upon reading pass.  The LB will be inside and underneath the whip route.  The safety to the side of the boot will rob curl to post, but since #1 is vacating, more than likely he'll get a drag coming from the other side of the formation.  The MLB will carry the drag until he clears the edge of the tackle box, at which time he will come off and now attack the QB and contain him on the edge.  This is where the safety must pick up the drag route.  The safety away from boot action, should "melt" into the the middle third of the field looking to work underneath the backside post.   Of course, the corner's rule of staying on top of #1 would hold true and he would run with the vertical route on the boot side, and be on top of the backside post away from the boot.  Now, I have had some calls/reactions if we were really concerned with the backside drag that had the safety away from boot, jump the route and run with it across the formation.  This is good, so long as the team you're facing doesn't run any sort of throwback concept off boot action.  The big key with beating crossing routes, is that the underneath defenders need to get these receivers on the ground.  A receiver lying flat of his back can't threaten a defense very much!

One common high-low bootleg concept that has caught on around here is booting into smash.  Same concept, but what OC's like about it is that it pulls that robbing front side safety out of the mix, opening up the drag.  This is when we like to tag our quarters coverage with something that puts the backside safety on the drag, or really harp on our underneath players getting the receivers on the ground.

None of this really changes via formation, so much as it does against route concepts.  The reads are the same no matter the formation, so the Ace Double Pro look (double TE double flanker) doesn't really change anything for the safeties.  They will still read/react off what the #2 receiver is doing.  The good news about defending the TE drag is you can utilize some concepts such as the Jam concept by Michigan State to disrupt the release of the TE, compared to when the #2 receiver is split out in the slot position.  Again, this disruption keeps the drag route from getting to the LB's before they've had a chance to come off their run read on playaction.

To answer the second question is even tougher than the first!  Again, no route concepts were given, so I'll go with your standard trips sprint out flood, where you end up with three receivers on three different levels.  Now again, what coverage are you playing, because as we all know, Quarters takes on a bit different shape when it defends 3x1 formations.   The route concepts I'm used to seeing are shown below.  The #1 receiver clears the zone, while #2 runs an out cut to the back end of the flats and the #3 receiver runs an out cut to the front end, or shallow end of the flats.  Backside is usually a drag or post.  For general purposes, I'm going to show this out of my solo check, again, keeping in mind there are several ways to play 3x1 formations out of Quarters coverage.  Anyhow, the OLB/nickel to the trips side, will expand immediately and it's important that this player work for not only width, but depth too.  The safety, will more than likely run with the out route by #2, but will be behind it due to leverage (which is why a strong side X-out concept such as TCU's Special is such a good change up vs. 3x1 flood concepts).  The OLB keeps this throwing lane narrow by getting depth and width in their drop.  The corner, of course, stays on top of #1's vertical route.  The MLB is matching #3, and will widen on the snap seeing #3 expand AND seeing the sprint out by the QB.  Once clear of the tackle box, the MLB has to go contain the QB.  The weak safety is one that is really lost in all the shuffle, especially if the offense runs the backside #1 on a drag route.  The FS should melt to the deep middle 1/3 and mirror the QB's eyes since #3 didn't threaten him vertically.  Now, if the backside #1 runs the post, the safety can help the corner with this route as it crosses the field.  The weak corner is locked up man to man with the #1 receiver, so wherever he goes, the corner is going.  The LB, away from trips, is also locked in man, but upon seeing sprint action, can now work to the sprint side and help the corner with any shallow crossing routes by the weak #1 receiver.  One thing to keep in mind with the LB away from the action, is to keep his eyes on the back.  If the back DOES NOT go with action, he needs to sit for the throwback screen.

Again, a pretty vague question, I hope I was able to answer it clearly, and I hope the illustrations help.  Please, feel free to elaborate by emailing me at footballislifeblog@yahoo.com.  Well, let's see how this goes, let me know what you think!

Duece