How to Automate Your DB Playmaking in the Off-Season

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The off-season is all about creating the player you want to be when the next season comes around. This involves making improvements in your strength, speed, football IQ, and technique. This seems simple enough, doesn’t it? However, when it comes to technique, I’m not sure some players fully understand what their off-season is truly about.

You don’t need me to tell you that football is a high-paced, fast-moving game. Players are moving in excess of 20 mph and crashing into each other. Furthermore, the ball is flying out of the quarterback‘s hand toward the wide receivers at a speed far greater than 20 mph. With all of this high-speed movement comes the need for very quick decisions; if you’re going to excel, hesitation is your enemy. This is where I think the meaning of the off-season gets lost for some players.

If your whole idea of off-season technique is simply “learning something new,” then you are missing the mark. To the guys who train with me, the message I give is that we are downloading software to your hard drive. When you use a computer, keystrokes create immediate responses. Apps open, screens change, and operations move at warp speed. All of this stems from the software and memory downloaded to the computer. Somewhere along the line, a programmer wrote the code that allows those operations to execute at great speed. This is exactly what you are attempting to do in your off-season.

With all of the complexity in the software on your computer or phone, there are thousands of lines of code that have to be written. Similarly, you must practice your moves and techniques countless times in the off-season to have high-speed execution when the season arrives. Just learning something new is not enough. New skills, plus the “things of old,” must be mastered if they are going to show up on game day the way you want them to. Simply learning a move is like having incomplete code written for a program—sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Most of the time, it will run slowly, and that’s exactly how you will play if you have not spent enough time mastering your techniques.

When you’re playing defensive back, there is a lot you have to take into account: the down and distance, the formation, the split of the wide receiver, the receiver’s stance, and your location on the field. All of this is in addition to the defensive call, the alignment you need to maintain, and any possible checks that take place once the offense comes to the line of scrimmage. If you have to add “thinking about how my technique is supposed to work” to that long list, you aren’t going to move very fast. Everyone else will, but you won’t. Good luck making plays if that is your reality.

If you want to move fast when the season comes around, you won’t just have to get stronger in the weight room and faster on the track—you will have to speed up your mind. This means upping your IQ and studying in the off-season, while also putting in enough practice time on your techniques so that you don’t have to think about them once the ball is snapped.

In our world today, automation allows things to operate quickly and execute smoothly. When you step on the field this season, a part of your game is going to have to run on automation—and that part is your technique. This includes keeping your eyes in the right place, utilizing proper footwork, the correct use of your hands, body positioning, and tracking the football. These things must become instincts, not something you spend time thinking about.

So, this off-season, put in the time to master the techniques, create the automation, and download the software into your body. You don’t want to be the app that people delete off their phones. You want to be the program that opens up and is reliable the moment the buttons are pushed. Write the code, put the time in, and automate your playmaking for next season.

If you want the code to all the playmaking then you need to join the legion of current and future playmakers and their coaches in the All Eyes DB Camp Member’s Area. Success starts with knowing what to do – come learn with the best. Click here.

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alleyesdbcamp

Owner at All Eyes DB Camp

Chad Wilson is the founder of All Eyes DB Camp and a former standout defensive back for the Miami Hurricanes. After an elite collegiate career, Wilson spent a season with the Seattle Seahawks before transitioning into coaching. A 3-time Florida state champion defensive coordinator, he has spent over 20 years developing the "All Eyes" blueprint that has produced NFL All-Pros and stars like Xavien Howard, Patrick Surtain II, Tyson Campbell, Minkah Fitzpatrick and more. His coaching system is proven at the highest levels—his own sons, Quincy and Marco Wilson, both excelled as starters in the SEC before being drafted into the NFL.

Chad is the author of "101 DB Tips"—The Ultimate DB Reference Guide. You can find more information on the manual and how to order your copy in the sidebar and footer of this page.