Man Coverage Techniques for Man Pressures

By Adam Robertson
Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line
Crestview High School (FL)
Twitter: @OLcoachrob

Our teaching progression at Crestview always starts with AASK. This is our foundation for our defense. When players are not sure what to do they just need to AASK.

AASK:

A – Assignment

A – Alignment

S – Stance

K – Key

This report is all about man coverages so our assignment is man. The players need to know if they have help and if so where is that help. The call will help identify what type of help if any. Whether there is a Rat in the hole, 1, 2 or 0. Their assignment will help with their next step, their alignment.

“Rat Help” or “No Rat Help”

Alignment is determined by the defender having help or not. We teach if the defender has inside help, whether that’s a safety or Rat, to have outside leverage and vice versa as long as the WR is inside the divider. Leverage to us is taught by the offensive player’s eye. So inside leverage would be the DB outside eye on the WR inside eye. Leverage is also determined by position maintenance. We utilize the 5-1-Bottom rule for our 1 high maintenance. The dividers allow our players to know if they can expect help from the safety.

The next step will be the stance. We give our players guidelines they must meet but allow the players to find what “works” best for them in-regards to their stances. We want our guys comfortable so they play fast.

Stance:

• Feet slightly greater then shoulder width apart
• Toes in line with one another with an on ball WR and toe to instep with an off ball WR
• Mental weight on inside of the balls of their feet
• Bend in knees with ankle flexion
• Hips down allowing shoulders over knees and knees over toes
• Hands will be in-front and relaxed ready to jam