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3 Things Great DBs Must Have

So you want to be a great defensive back right? Well, as I have told you in countless articles on this site, it’s going to take some hard work. Playing DB is not easy but the thrill that comes with the success one achieves by mastering the position has few equals in the feeling department.

Defensive backs have thrived at the position with all kinds of different attributes. Some have been tall, others not so tall. Some have been vicious hitters, while others would just get you to the ground without trying to end your career. Despite the contrasts in tools and styles, there are some things that I have found to be constant in all of the defensive backs that we have called great. In the interest of giving this article a focus, I have narrowed down those tools to three of what I have found to be the most important.

(1) Athletic

Notice I did not say fast. However, I am not saying slow either. There have been some great defensive backs that have not had World class speed (far from it). This does not mean that they weren’t athletic. You simply can’t be at the top of playing this position and not be athletic. Typically the guys who weren’t fast had some solid change of direction or leaping ability. These things fall under the category of being athletic. Chasing a wide receiver around the field requires that you not be born with two left feet. Having outstanding speed will certainly be a major plus but being athletic is an absolute must. What you will find out about many defensive backs is that they played multiple sports in high school and many of them were exceptional in another sport other than football. If you are going to defend the air ways you have to have some bounce to you.

(2) Awareness

Can you survive at defensive back without awareness? Yes you can but you won’t ever be called great. You can be a hyper-athletic speed guy that the rest of the secondary or some coach will have to babysit. This kind of player will eventually drain the energy of the people around him and will get called a bust. Deion Sanders, Ronnie Lott, Ed Reed, Charles Woodson, Rod Woodson, Darrelle Revis, Richard Sherman, you name it, all would get high marks in the area of awareness. Some of these guys were all time athletes but didn’t choose to just rely on that. They coupled that athleticism with outstanding instincts to be in the right place at the right time. Some others on the list of names I just rattled off had some physical shortcomings but made up for it with a football IQ that was off the charts. You simply can’t be the best at this game without knowing what’s going on around you. Athletic talent can only take you so far.

(3) Ball Skills

The easy thing to put as the third skill would be something heroic like a “tremendous burning desire to win.” That sounds good when said with a deep voice over a symphonic melody. That kind of stuff goes without saying for all players. I wanted to be specific to playing the position of defensive back. As such, great defensive backs have really good ball skills. How many times have you been frustrated with a player who doesn’t get his head around on deep balls or makes a habit out of dropping can’t drop interceptions. This does not happen with great defensive backs. Many of the greats could have made a living playing wide receiver. Even the ones who don’t or didn’t have 5 star hands, at least know how to track the ball and get a hand on it so that the wide receiver they are covering can’t. Ball skills don’t just involve the actual catching of the ball but also involve tracking and judging the ball as it arrives. Guys who struggle with that eventually have to find another position or sport.

So that’s it. Now ask yourself how you measure up in those very important defensive back skills? Whether you have a shortage in those areas or not, you need to be making sure that you continue to work on those skills. The good thing about these three skills is that they are things you can control. I did not say you needed to be tall or have exceptional speed. Those things might be hard for you to obtain from a genetic standpoint. Everything I mentioned in this article can be achieved if you are willing to put in the sweat equity to obtain it. Time to get to work.

3 Ways to Become A Better Safety Instantly

There’s nothing like a quick fix right? We live in an instant society where we are just not used to waiting for things. As such, coaches and teammates don’t have a lot of patience when your play is not at the level it should be. If you are a safety that wants to get better at the position right now, then read up.

Playing defensive back involves a lot of aspects both physical and mental. Reaching your potential requires an improvement and focus in a lot of areas but if you want to improve in a hurry, I have three ways in which you can make that happen seemingly overnight.

(1) Know Your Defense

Do you know your defense? I mean, do you really know your defense? Chances are you don’t. You just know what you are supposed to do. That’s enough for you to be an average safety at best. Really good to elite safeties know what all 11 guys on the defense are supposed to be doing at all times. There’s nothing worse than lining up at corner on the side of the field with the safety that doesn’t know the checks when a man goes in motion. Know all the checks. Know what area of the field everyone is going to drop to in a zone and know who has who in man coverage.

A Funny thing will start happening when you do that. First of all, you will make sure everyone knows what to do. That prevents them from getting attacked all the time and redirects balls in your direction. Second, it will stop you from being tempted to abandon your responsibility for someone else’s that you might think is yours. Watch how plays just start coming to you.

(2) Study Opposing Quarterbacks

Lost in all the studying of formations, splits, releases, route combos, etc. is the studying of the most important player on the team, the quarterback. Quarterbacks are creatures of habit. In order for them to be comfortable, they must repeat certain things over and over. It’s difficult for them to get into a groove or rhythm if they have to constantly change what they do. As such, studying their habits will give you a lot of clues on what they and the offense is going to do both before and after the snap. Does he lick his fingers before a pass play? Will he look twice to the side he’s going to throw while he’s calling the signals? Does he stare down his receivers when a blitz is coming? Knowing things like this can put you in position to jump on a route and make a play. Don’t forget to study the homecoming king during your film sessions.

(3) Work on Tackling

Safeties are the last line of defense. There’s nothing like having a guy at the back of the defense who can erase a mistake by getting a runaway ball carrier to the ground. Not many guys like to work on tackling. Furthermore not too many know how to. Most young safeties think that working on tackling is simply working on the point of attack like where to put your head and how to wrap your arms. However, as a safety, there are several different types of tackles you will be required to make.

There is the traditional straight ahead 1-on-1 tackle. Most people know and work on that one. However, there is the open field tackle where a ball carrier comes through the line and has a ton of space to either side. You must learn how to break down, focus on his waist and mirror his moves until you are close enough to wrap him up. There is also the sideline tackle where you are approaching a ball carrier who is running down the sidelines and you must pin him to the sidelines to either get him down or push him out of bounds. As a safety, you must have the ability to make everyone of those tackles consistently. Missing one or more of those tackles in a game could result in a loss and or you getting pulled for a replacement. Working on tackling is not sexy but tackling is a big part of the game and is very crucial for safeties.

Improving in these three key areas can instantly turn you into both a playmaker and dependable player. Of course, it’s work so that means you can’t sit around and watch it happen magically. Pre and post practice work will be required for these improvements to take place but believe me when I tell you the pay off is big.

As a DB Play to Your Strengths

Football is a bit of a game of war. In war there are many strategies but the the major strategy is to attack where you have an advantage. The same is true when you are playing defensive back.

That first paragraph was kind of vague wasn’t it? Let me clarify. Many times I watch defensive backs (cornerbacks in particular) line up and play to the strengths of their opponent rather than to their own. A prime example of that will be an undersized cornerback going up against a big wide receiver. Often I will see an athlete in this situation go up and press when what he should be doing is playing off. The big wide receiver has the size / strength advantage. The smaller defensive back has the speed / quickness advantage. Playing press in that situation lends itself to the wide receiver’s strengths. The prudent thing for the DB to do is play off. Starting off with space and using quickness to mirror the route gives the smaller DB the advantage.

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In a press situation, within five yards, the defensive back is going to have his back turned to the quarterback. The bigger wide receiver can see over the smaller defensive back and thus has an advantage when the ball is coming. Even before that, the bigger wideout, more times than not, will win the strength battle at the line and move the DB out of the way on his release. Mind you, I am not saying that this is always the case but most of the time it will be. Some shorter cornerbacks are well built and strong. I am not talking to those guys here.

By playing off, the smaller cornerback can face both the wide receiver and the quarterback for a longer period of time during the play. Using superior quickness, the smaller defensive back can also utilize a fluid back pedal to increase the amount of time they can stay square and face the WR and the QB. This allows the defensive back to come downhill on his breaks if he needs to and decrease the amount of time his back is turned on deep balls. It also allows the defensive back to get into the WR’s space better once the ball is delivered on deep throws.

Another example of not playing to your strength comes when I see big corners using soft press exclusively. What’s the point of being a big corner if you are not going to….. “play big”? A smaller wide receiver is going to have the advantage of quickness over the big corner 9 times out of 10. Backing out at the line giving space to the smaller wide receiver plays to the advantage of the quicker man. You know what neutralizes quickness? Physicality and contact. You know what doesn’t allow for physicality and contact? Playing soft press and backing out at the line of scrimmage.

One of the reasons the famed “Legion of Boom” secondary of the Seattle Seahawks was so successful was because their cornerbacks used their strength (which was size) to re-reroute WRs and funnel them to their big hitting safeties. Similar success has been achieved by secondaries with smaller corners who played off, used quickness and instincts to create turnovers.

In summary, it’s all about using your advantages. It is in all defensive backs’ interests to have multiple techniques at their disposal just like a defensive coordinator has multiple defenses he can call. It’s great to have a primary technique but have something available that makes use of what you do best. If you are a small corner that presses well, more power to you but the time will come when another man’s size can be overwhelming. If you are a big corner with fast feet, congratulations. The time will come when you won’t be able to match the quick twitch of a man lower to the ground. Be prepared. If you are a coach, it’s good to have core values but it’s also good to let your players do what they do best. Don’t let a disaster happen for you to learn this lesson. Give a man the tools to do his job.

Important Tips on Catching the Ball for Defensive Backs

Playing defensive back can get complicated.  There are so many things for you to think about.  What’s my assignment?  What’s my technique? What’s the down and distance?  What’s their personnel?  What’s the formation?  Lost in all of that is one of the key ingredients to being a great defensive back and that is catching the football.

It seems simple and common sense but with so many other things taking a defensive back’s focus away,  actually catching the football can take a back seat.  99% of defensive backs out there don’t spend as much time working on catching the football as wide receivers do.  However,  when the game comes and the ball is thrown,  defensive backs are expected to be equally as skillful in catching the pigskin as the guy in the opposite color running right next to them.

Of course,  there is a right way and a wrong way to catch the football.  I don’t think I have just made any great revelation by saying that.  However,  working on catching the football for defensive backs may look slightly different than that of a wide receiver.  Once the ball arrives,  things are pretty much the same.  In the video shown below,  I talk about those important things that must be done when the ball arrives.   However,  let’s talk about the differences in working on catching the football for DBs as opposed to WRs.

The biggest differences has to do with being able to see the ball late and track it quickly when we are playing DB.  The major reason for that is because often times,  defensive backs must drive to the WR out of a break instead of looking at the QB to see the ball thrown.  Because of that,  defensive backs will find themselves in the position of seeing the ball after it has already been thrown.  This puts them at a disadvantage as you have less time to track the ball before it arrives.  As such,  a good amount of time should be spent by defensive backs on ball drills in which they have to get their head around after a ball is thrown to find it quickly.  I call these blind ball drills.  An example of a common blind ball drill for defensive backs would be back pedaling towards a coach and making a full turn after he says ball to locate the ball in the air and make the catch.  Another would be pretending to be in press and turning up on a fade.  Your coach throws the ball then yells ball when it’s in the air for you to turn your head around and locate it.

So,  it is important for you to work the blind ball aspect of your ball drills.  So far as when the ball arrives,  that is something that must be worked on too.  Many times,  a defensive back will drop ball that hits them right in the hands.  So that means you actually got yourself into position to get your hands on the ball but you just failed to secure it.  For this reason,  you definitely need to check out the important tips that I give in the video below on catching the ball when it arrives to your hands.  It is often the ones you miss during the season that haunt you all offseason.

In A Coverage Slump? 4 Ways to Get Yourself Out of It

Being a defensive back,  especially a cornerback can be much like a batter in the game of baseball.  Sometimes you are really on point and other times you are off.  While being on point 30% of the time is good in baseball,  it’s definitely not as a cornerback or safety in coverage.  Either way though,  some times you are hot and some times you are not.

Really good batters in baseball do get in slumps but the difference between them and the average hitter is that they don’t get into prolonged slumps.  The same applies to cornerbacks.  They get into slumps too but they don’t last very long and there are some good reasons why.  Here are four things that can help you get out of a coverage slump as a defensive back.

(1) Have Good Self Awareness

Ever been to a doctor and he asks you to cough?  Or have you been to a mechanic that asks you to start the car?  Often times they can tell what’s wrong with you just by you doing those simple things.  As a defensive back,  you have to have the awareness of a doctor or mechanic.  Certain mistakes in coverage relate to certain things you are doing or not doing.  The better and quicker that you can realize that,  the faster you can make adjustments and turn things around.  So for instance,  missing the jam all the time at the line of scrimmage typically means you are letting your eyes drift up the moment the wide receiver moves off of the line of scrimmage.  Or getting stacked all the time means that you are not turning and getting up the field at the proper angle.  A really good defensive back can quickly take the result and relate it back to a specific action he is doing wrong and correct it.

(2) Study Yourself of Film

I am amazed at how many guys don’t do this.  If your practices are filmed and they should be,  you have to study yourself on film.  You won’t get better at the rate you want if you don’t go back and watch your actions on film.  Often times we are so wrapped up in the moment and the fast moving action that is happening in front of us that we don’t realize a lot of what we are doing real time.  That’s where film comes in.  Many times you will watch yourself on film and see yourself doing things you didn’t think you were doing.  Sometimes you think your coach is lying or picking on you only to watch the film and realize “oh yeah my feet are too wide”.   Listen to your coach but also watch yourself on film to pick up on things he may have missed.  After all,  you should know you better than anyone else.  After watching your movement on film,   you should be better able to make corrections.

(3)  Get Back to Basics

When a batter gets in a slump in baseball,  they usually don’t go to a pitching machine to have it throw 120 mph.  You know what they do?  They go all the way back to childhood.  The drag out the tee and start hitting balls off of it.  They start all over and climb back to their hot spot.  Sometimes we get so bogged down in details and trying new things that we lose ourselves.  Also,  wide receivers make adjustments to what we’re doing and our tactics stop working as well. In the midst of trying all of these new things and trying to improve we forget the basics.  When the slump hits and we can’t get jams or we can’t get in phase or even make a play on the ball,  it’s time to go back to all the basic drills.  Re-introduce yourself to the basic things that you have probably moved away from doing.  As you do that,  you climb back to where you were before and can sometimes get clues as to where you went wrong before.  It might keep you away from the next slump that was coming your way.

(4) Put in the Extra Work

You watched yourself on film and you have good self awareness so it’s time to make your corrections.  These corrections require some extra time.  Along with your daily drills and routines with your team,  you are going to need to carve out some extra time for self improvement (you should be doing this always anyway).  If your steps are wrong or your eyes are wrong, etc., spend some time pre-practice and or post practice drilling yourself on the corrections.  These problems don’t just solve themselves. It will take some extra time to get back into the groove.  So while everyone else is going into the locker room to tell lies about the girls that like them or the offers they’re getting,  stay out on the field doing the things that get the girls and the offers to roll in.

You Had Great Coverage So Why Didn’t You Turn Your Head Around

Amateur fan and professional coach alike will tell you that one of their pet peeves when it comes to defensive backs is not looking for the football.  There’s nothing like a guy being in a player’s hip pocket and having the wide receiver catch the football for no reason other than the defensive back just refused to look for the football.

We’ve certainly all seen that situation play itself out hundreds of times as we have watched football games whether as a player,  fan or a coach.  Having played,  coached and now trained defensive backs over the course of several decades,  I have been able to determine some very solid reasons as for why this happens to defensive backs.  All of the reasons trace back to one word and that is fear.

So here are the 3 main reasons that defensive backs don’t look for the football when they are in coverage on a wide receiver.

(1) Fear That the Ball is Coming

That one seems wild doesn’t it?  Well it’s actually true.  Some defensive backs have resigned themselves to the thought that if they have great coverage then hopefully the quarterback won’t throw it to their guy.  Typically this defensive back doesn’t really trust their ball skills especially vs. that of a wide receiver.  They either don’t trust their ability to track the ball effectively or actually catch the ball once it hits their hands.  So literally,  their mind is saying “please don’t throw it to my guy.  Please don’t throw it to my guy.”  For some,  this is how they feel all the time.  For others,  this is just limited to certain situations and or against certain wide receivers.

How do we fix this?  Endless ball drills.  Simply get used to catching the football especially from far away.  Learn how to track a deep ball and settle into the right place to catch the ball with some efficiency.  If you have a quarterback friend,  have him throw you routes like a wide receiver,  with a special emphasis on the deep routes at the top end of the route tree (7, 8 and 9 routes).

(2) Fear That Ball Will Pass Your Head As Soon As You Look

We have seen this happen before right?  As soon as the defensive back turns his head to locate the ball,  the ball is passing right by his helmet and into the hands of the wide receiver.  Hey,  this happens.  Some guys have a hard time recovering from that especially if it happens to them often when they first start playing defensive back.  Suddenly,  the answer becomes never looking for the ball to avoid this happening.  That’s a bad move.  Sure you can turn your entire strategy into just playing a wide receiver’s hands in all situations but guess what,  that’s not going to work all the time either.  Some wide receivers will put their hands up late.  Sometimes the ball will be thrown to an area that you can’t defend unless you look.  What will happen most often though is a lot of pass interference penalties as you hit the wide receivers’ hands prematurely,  face guard him or run into him on under thrown balls.

How do we fix this?  Incorporate a lot of blind ball drills.  Blind ball drills are when you don’t see the ball thrown and have to pick it up in mid-flight to judge it and catch it.  One of the most often used blind ball drills for DBs involve them back pedaling towards a coach facing away from them and having the coach throw the ball then yell “ball!” so they can turn around,  locate the ball quickly and catch it.  Another good one is simply running a deep 9 route looking straight ahead,  have a coach or a friend throw the ball to you and yell “ball!”  once it is already in flight.  These drills will get you more comfortable judging a ball in flight and will give you the confidence to turn your head sooner and make a play on a throw.

(3) Fear that the WR Will Change Direction

Sometimes this is a legitimate fear.  Sometimes it can be overdone.  Double moves can plague a defensive back’s mind.  Play defensive back long enough and you will get hit by and beat by one or more.  It’s one of those things that happen.  Some guys have a hard time getting over it.  This is why a coach tells you that you have to have a short memory.  Getting beat by a double move does not mean that you should never look for the ball again.

Guys that get hit with this disease will sometimes take it to the extreme.  They will be in coverage for four seconds and be paralyzed with fear that the route will change by the wide receiver the moment they look back for the ball.  You simply can not be an effective defensive back playing this way.

How do we fix this.  First,  train yourself to have proper eye discipline.  Learn how to drive your eyes from the quarterback to the wide receiver out of your breaks if in zone or drive to the wide receiver out of your breaks if you are in man.  Typically taking 2-3 steps with your eyes on the wide receiver will be enough to determine if the route you are breaking on is true or if it’s fake.  If you are further down field,  keep a clock in your head.  After a certain amount of time in coverage on a route,  it’s time to buy what the wide receiver is selling you.  If you are in close contact,  turn your head around and grab the prize.

One of the best ways to know when to look,  outside of proper discipline,  is through careful film study.  Many times film study can tell you when a team is likely to pull a fast one.  Film study will also tell you what downfield routes may have several twists and turns.  Knowing a team’s tendencies will always be your friend when you are trying to play great defense.

So take heed my last line of defenders.  If any of these situations describe you,  get to work on the solutions I proposed.  Those two interceptions you were going to have this season can now turn into six and put you into rock star status.

80% of Where You Go Wrong at DB Can Be Traced to Your Eyes

It has been a long off season.  One of the longest on record.  Many defensive backs have lost their spring training,  spring football or Offseason Training Activities (OTAs).  This has left many to be out on their own training themselves.  While doing so,  there’s one very important element that must be trained if you want to achieve success.

I have been asked many times how I came up with the name for my company.  As a young defensive back learning the game,  I studied myself often.  Why not take advantage of all that tape being used to film me at practice.  In doing so I started to learn something very important about me.  Coming from a soccer background,  I had pretty good feet when I started playing the game of football and ultimately defensive back.   Studying myself on film,  I would notice that my feet did what they were supposed to often but sometimes I would still be out of place.  As with all acquired knowledge,  the quest to solve this problem began with the question, “Why?”

As I continued to watch myself over and over,  I took my study from my feet to my upper body.  Observing that,  I realized that your upper body definitely play a part in what your feet are able to do but again,  my feet were not the problem so what else could it be?   My day of true discovery came when I started to focus on my eyes.  Of course I had coaches tell me “what are you looking at” but I never thought much about them saying that.  I thought it to just be the typical thing you yell as a coach when things don’t go as planned.  Sort of like “hit somebody!” being yelled by a coach after the running back rips off a long run.

In studying my eyes I found the true source of the problem when things went wrong.  I noticed my eyes drifting up at times when I was playing press,  I discovered my eyes looking at the quarterback when the wide receiver made his break.  I saw my eyes looking at the backfield action when I should have been looking at the guys who block to see where the ball was going.  Most of the time when I found myself out of place,  it was my eyes that led me down the wrong path.

So I had discovered the problem,  now what?   The problem with the eyes is this,  you can’t see your eyes.  It’s even harder to feel what your eyes are doing.  For all my discovery of my eyes being in the wrong place,  I simply could not remember them being in the wrong place during the rep.  When my feet were wrong I knew it instantly.  When I shot my hands to the wrong spot,  I knew it instantly but when my eyes went astray,  I often didn’t know it until I watched the film.

In time I learned that if I wanted my eyes to be consistently right,  I would have to train them to be.  That means as important as it was for me to step in the right place,  put my arm in the right place,  it would have to be equally or more important for my eyes to be in the right place.  For that to happen,  I had to constantly be aware of my eyes.

What does that mean for you?  That means that even when there is not a wide receiver in front of you, even when you are not in a 7on7 situation or a team drill situation,  be aware of your eyes.  As you are in your individual period doing your daily drills,  do not execute a drill without being aware of your eyes.  When there is no wide receiver in front of you,  make up one in your head.  Where there is no quarterback for you to read in your drill,  imagine one being there.  Make good eyes a habit.  Never do a drill just to do it with your eyes in the wrong spot.  For every time you do a drill looking in the wrong place,  you imprint the habit of bad eyes into your head.  Attempting to break that habit in competitive situations becomes harder.

You can’t play this game blind so more than anything else,  who and what you are looking at when you are on the field matters.  If you want to be great,  All Eyes need to be where they are supposed to be.

To Beach or Not to Beach Workout

Human beings are complicated beings.  We all seek to belong while also striving to set ourselves apart.  Funny thing isn’t it?  No where does that burning desire to set ourselves apart show up more than in training of athletes.

In this social media era where everything is filmed and posted for public consumption,  athletes and especially football players,  search for new ways to challenge their bodies.  Some do it for righteous reasons like preparing for the season.  Others do it for the clout which is the same as cold hard cash these days.

When it comes to defensive backs,  the question becomes “is beach training good for you or not?”  The answer is it depends.  We all seek absolutes in life and I’d love to be able to give you one here but the true answer I must stick to is that it depends.

What does it depend on?  It depends on how you are going to use that beach workout.  If you are going to go to the beach and do defensive back drills,  I am here to tell you that it will do more harm than good.  The sand’s soft surface calls for major compensation from other body parts to move from area to area.  While the recruitment of new and more muscles is generally regarded as a good thing in certain types of athletic training,  it is not when it comes to defensive back footwork training.

Defensive backs must move in definitive yet unnatural ways.  One of the keys to mastering the position is by being efficient in the execution of your technique.  Nothing can disturb your efficiency like training on sand.  Mastering the moves of defensive back require very detailed coordination of both the feet and hands.  When an athlete is placed on an unstable surface,  the details goes awry.  Soon rigorous arm movements,  excessive leaning of the torso and overstepping become enticing to the brain as tools for overcoming the surface.  This leads to inefficient moves not consistent with what is necessary to excel on the natural playing surface (field turf & grass).  Do this enough and bad habits get imprinted in your movement DNA.  There’s noting worse and more time consuming than having to unlearn bad habits before picking up good ones.

The keys to mastering defensive back are so minute that it doesn’t serve your best interest to practice them wrong once you have learned the right way.  Every wrong rep leads to a learned behavior that springs up on a crucial 3rd down play in a game when the pressure is on.

So when is a beach workout a good thing?  A beach workout is a good thing for a defensive back when you are just looking to break a bit of the routine that you’ve been in while training.  If you want to occasionally toss in a beach day as a change up every month or two months,  go ahead.  It may revive you for the return back to the normal workouts.

During that random beach workout day,  I highly recommend that you keep it to non-defensive back drills.  The sandy surface can do a good job in developing some key muscles needed for speed and agility when used in moderation.  Stick to sprinting and general agility drills like shuttle runs or ladder drills.  These things will serve to strengthen those key muscles and provide cardio-vascular work.  Stay away from back pedaling,  getting out of breaks and flipping your hips.  Don’t get fooled into thinking because you got tired quicker doing it on sand that you helped yourself become more efficient.  You will find all the rest you need on the bench when you start falling down on game day using improper mechanics.

Know Your DB History: Ken Riley Cincinnati Bengals

Comb through the career interception leaders for the National Football League and sitting right there at number five is a guy by the name of Ken Riley.  Bet you never heard of him huh.  Well NFL quarterbacks throughout the 1970’s sure knew who he was.

Despite being 5th on the All Time NFL career interception’s list,  inexplicably does not have a bust in Canton, Ohio home of the NFL’s Hall of Fame.  It remains one of the biggest travesties in the NFL.  Being slighted was not new to Ken Riley however but he never let it stop him from excelling.

Riley like many great defensive backs hailed from the state of Florida.  Born and raised in Bartow,  Riley attended Union Academy high school and later signed on with Florida A&M to play his college football.  Riley was an accomplished quarterback at FAMU and often displayed his athleticism in leading to the Rattlers to victory.   The Cincinnati Bengals thought enough of Riley to draft him in the 6th round of what was known as the Common Draft in 1969.  O.J. Simpson was the #1 overall pick that season.

Immediately upon joining the Bengals,  Riley was moved to cornerback by famed coach Paul Brown.  It didn’t take long for Riley to make an impact and earn a spot on the team.  In his rookie season Riley intercepted 4 passes returning them for 66 yards.   It would be the first of 9 seasons in his 15 year career that Riley would intercept four or more passes.

If Riley was one thing in his NFL career it was consistent.  The 5’11” 182 lb. cornerback had four seasons in the TOP 10 in interceptions.  Only three times in his 15 years did he intercept less than three passes.  In 1976,  Riley intercepted 9 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown. That year he sent future Hall of Fame QB Joe Namath out in his final game as a New York Jet with two interceptions. He also picked off a 3rd vs. the other Jets’ quarterback Richard Todd in the game.  Shockingly despite his ’76 success,  Riley was not selected for the Pro Bowl.  In fact,  he never was elected to the Pro Bowl for his entire 15 year career.  He did make All Pro in ’76 along with 1975 and his final season in 1983.

A 15 year career in the NFL is definitely noteworthy.  What’s even more noteworthy about Riley’s 15 year career (all with the Bengals) is that it finished strong.  In his final three seasons,  Riley had 5, 5 and 8 interceptions.  Three of his five career pick sixes came in his final two seasons.  Riley retired in 1983 after a season in which he finished second in the NFL in interceptions.

Riley was an academic scholar while at Florida A&M and was considered for a prestigious Rhodes Scholar award.  He would return to head coach FAMU from 1986 to 1993 amassing four winning seasons before retiring.  Sadly,  Riley passed away last month on June 7th at the age of 72.

37 years removed from his playing days in the NFL and Riley,  the 5th All Time Interceptions leader has not yet made it into the Hall of Fame. I hope the NFL fixes that one day soon.

3 Things You Need to Do to Improve Your Off Man Coverage

Press man has been the rage for about two decades now.  Talk to a young cornerback and he’ll tell you that if you don’t play press man as a cornerback then you are faker than a $2 bill.

Ask any cornerback with some experience though and he’ll tell you a real cornerback can play both press man and off man.  When I go to 7on7 events and camps to evaluate young cornerbacks,  the first thing I look at is who is not afraid to play off the ball and who actually knows how to play off the ball.  What those two things tell me is that the player has been coached and knows something.  Just about any kid can go out to the park and play press man with their group of friends.  Any coach can go tell you to get up in a guy’s face and press him.  They don’t even have to tell you how to do it right and you don’t even have to do it right because just about everyone is doing it.

Now when I see a defensive back play off man with poise,  control and IQ I know we are dealing with a true servant of the position.  So with that in mind,  the question is,  how do you play good off man coverage?  I have a few things that will help you greatly.

(1) Improve Footwork

One of the number one reasons that guys don’t like playing off man is because they are not confident in their footwork.  Most guys are at the park trying to stab a wide receiver in the chest the moment he moves.  Few guys go out and really work on their back pedal.  That back pedal is going to be essential for you to maintain your cushion on the wide receiver as he pushes down the field.

Even less guys work on their weave which is your ability to remain in your backpedal while moving laterally.  Having a good weave allows you to handle the stem of a wide receiver who is attacking your leverage.

If guys aren’t working their backpedal then there’s little chance that they are working on their breaks out of the back pedal. When that wide receiver breaks off his route while you are in your pedal or even when you turn out of it,  you better know the proper way to stick your foot in the ground and get to his hip.

Finally,  turning out of a backpedal has provided some pretty good blooper tape for untrained defensive backs.  It looks simple but there is an art to doing it smoothly and with precision.  Working the turn consistently happens to be the best way to get good at it.  Raise your hand if you are shocked by me saying that.

If you click on the highlighted links in this first paragraph,  you will be taken to my basic tutorial videos on those elements of footwork that you will need.

(2) Develop Eye Discipline

This happens to be the hardest part.  Most poor coverage examples that you will see during a game at any level will start with a break down of the defensive back’s eye discipline.

Most defensive backs don’t train their eyes.  First because they don’t know how,  second because it’s difficult to do on your own.  Basically,  human beings have a tough time seeing their eyes while they are using them to see.  Crazy,  I know.  So the best way to get the eyes trained is to have someone there watching your eyes and giving you feedback.

If you do find yourself training alone quite often then have no fear.  You can still train your eyes.  To do so,  you are going to have to focus on them.  It’s tough as you want to focus on other easier things to evaluate during your drills like your feet and your hands.  You can see them but your eyes and feet take orders from your brain who collects data from your eyes.  It’s vicious cycle.  When you are training be aware of what you are looking at.  Sometimes just let your feet go on auto-pilot.  You’ve been focusing on them all your life,  let them do their thing while you pay extra attention to what your eyes are doing.  So,  for instance,  if you are working a W drill,  pretend that you are looking at the quarterback as you are back pedaling then as soon as you break turn your eyes to the cone and pretend that it is the WR.  Some day soon,  I will make either a video or write an article about eye training.  It’s the least I could do as the owner of a company called All Eyes DB Camp.

(3) Study Film

Sometimes after all the footwork and eye training it’s just great to have an idea of where a guy is going to go.  No great DB has ever been great without having some power of anticipation.  The only way to develop anticipation is by watching film of your enemy (also known as the offense).  One can not predict the future without studying the history.  An offenses’ film is their history and believe me,  it has a habit of repeating itself.

Carefully studying not only wide receivers but quarterbacks can give you some clues as to what may be coming.  Being able to eliminate certain routes either before the snap or within the first second or two of a play gives you a great advantage.  Now your footwork is smoother and your eyes work better when things are unfolding the way you expected.

Yes,  I know,  the current football society doesn’t reward you for playing off  man but for the sake of the longevity and legitimacy of your football career,  take an interest in learning how to play man to man seven yards off the ball.  Your coach will love you for it and I’m giving you the permission to tell him it was all your idea.

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