I’ve watched 1000’s of defensive back press reps on film and aside from poor eye discipline, the next most common mistake made by inexperienced defensive backs is not executing a kick slide in their press rep.
The reason for the lack of a kick slide in the rep could be one of two things. Either the defensive back knows how to kick slide and failed to execute it or the DB simply didn’t know about a kick slide, let alone how to execute one.
Either way, the failure of the kick slide leads to the inevitable opening of the gate which is the defensive back opening up immediately and allowing the wide receiver to run straight up the field with little or no resistance for the defensive back in coverage.
If you are going to be successful with any amount of consistency in press man, you will need to learn how to get a WR off of his route. This involves making him go left or right before going up the field. For you to do this, you will need to know how to move laterally in your press.
This is where the kick slide comes in. In the video, at the end of this post, I discuss the 3 things you need to have a successful kick slide
(1) A good stance that allows you to slide correctly
(2) Slide at a 45 degree angle
(3) Do not crossover and do not bring your feet together
For starters, you will need those 3 things. Of course as you move on and up in your level of competition, there are some other factors you will need to add to your technique but first things first. You can not get to that point until you have thoroughly mastered the basics of this technique and that are the 3 things outlined above.
For more in-depth discussion along with instruction on those 3 steps, check out the video below.
Chad Wilson is the owner of All Eyes DB Camp and author of "101 DB Tips". He played college football at the University of Miami and briefly in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks. Over his 15 year high school football coaching career, he tutored over a dozen Division I defensive backs and as a trainer has worked with NFL All Pros, first round draft picks, college football All Americans and Top 10 ranked high school football prospects.
