Danger: separating from the receiver.In my 36 years of coaching football, I have asked a lot of questions on the teaching techniques of defensive backs. Probably the one that bothers me most is why defensive backs are taught to feel the receiver rather than to stay in a good position to either deflect de·flect intr. & tr.v. de·flect·ed, de·flect·ing, de·flects To turn aside or cause to turn aside; bend or deviate. [Latin d or intercept intercept in mathematical terms the points at which a curve cuts the two axes of a graph. the ball. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If you watch games on TV or even a game tape, you'll you'll Contraction of you will. you'll you will or you shall you'll will see that by the time the ball is thrown, the receiver will be able to separate himself from the ball ... and it will usually be the DB's fault. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When a defensive back looks away from the receiver, he will separate automatically (Diag. 1). Our correction for this is to teach the DB to watch the receiver's hands. It is awfully hard to catch a pass without moving your hands to the ball. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We drill our DB's not to turn away from the receiver unless it is necessary to turn inside-out to find the ball. We drill the DB's not to separate from the receiver. It is essential to play between the ball and the receiver (Diag. 2). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We drill the DB's constantly on seeing the ball and then finding the football (Diags. 3-4). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We do not use the ball at first. We start by lining up the DB's and receivers. We then have the receivers run an up route while the DB's assume their positioning. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As they run up the field together, the receiver will raise his hands as he would in catching the ball, and the DB will turn his head to find the ball. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The players will interchange An interchange is a location where two things meet, usually perform some kind of exchange, and possibly go on their ways again. It is most commonly used in four contexts:
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We will use other drills to make the receiver react to the throw. We start by having everyone run imaginary Imaginary can refer to:
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The defensive key lies in always keeping the body between the quarterback and the receiver. Once the DB acquires confidence, this technique will become a lot easier to perform. Whenever we try this technique, we stress the necessity of not separating from the receiver and thus giving him more room for the reception. The next time you watch a game on TV, observe the number of times that the DB separates himself from the receiver and simplifies the catch. By Mike Ervin, Former Coach, St. Vincent's H.S h.s., n Latin phrase for “at bedtime”; used in writing prescriptions. ., Petaluma, CA |
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