Boundary Safety Run/Pass Reads in Quarters Fits: Part 1 (The Bryant Way)

By Mike Kuchar with Anthony Barese
Defensive Coordinator
Bryant University (RI)
@CoachBarese1

“When you’re playing split safety defense your safeties can be in the run fit immediately based on their keys. You get into 9-man spacing, which is why I think split field safeties is the way to go, even against RPO’s.”
- Anthony Barese, Defensive Coordinator, Bryant University (RI)

When you talk ball with Coach Barese it becomes pretty clear that he’s a hard disciple of quarters coverage. He talks it, walks it and believes in it. So much so that after his units ‘24 season meltdown in the run game, he doubled down on sharpening up how he was going to teach quarters heading into this season. One high safety defense wasn’t even a consideration: “When you play middle of the field closed coverage, you have eight guys immediately in the fit, but your corners and safeties are pass first defenders,” he told me. “But when you’re playing split safety defense your safeties are read support defenders. They are in the run fit immediately based on their keys. You get into 9-man spacing, which is why I think split field safeties is the way to go, even against RPO’s.”

But the issue is if you’re going to teach safeties to trigger faster in the run game, you better be able to prepare them to make sure they are sound against the RPO. When your seventh fitter is traditionally the boundary safety, then he’s the one that is going to get read in the RPO game. He’s going to be the one that has to match up with tight ends and running backs in the pass game and still be able to fit the box in the run game. Bryant had the defender that was able to do those things and Coach Barese built his entire defensive scheme around him.

If you are a quarters coverage operation with safeties that can get downhill in the run game, Coach Barese will teach you how he works with his safeties to recognize and react vs. specific run concepts and have the discipline to defend RPO’s. And he has the film to validate it.

When you read Coach Barese’s full report, you’ll see…

• How to tighten your Quarters run fits so your safeties trigger faster and your run defense improves immediately
• The “Meaningful Contact” teaching progression that removes hesitation and eliminates grey-area reads for your safeties
• A boundary safety read system that lets you defend the run aggressively without losing integrity vs. RPOs
• How to structure 9-man spacing from split-field coverage so you gain a numbers advantage in the box
• Specific coaching cues that help your safeties process run vs. pass faster at the snap
• Run-fit adjustments vs. Pin & Pull, Counter, and Insert Zone that funnel the ball exactly where you want it
• A practical solution for handling post-snap RPO conflict without changing your coverage structure
• Diagrammed fits and game film that show exactly how to teach it