Drills for Man Coverage

Playing man to man at DB requires confidence. Some of the drills I use help DB's to feel comfortable with their abilities.

1) Confidence drill: First day of practice--pick a partner. One assumes a Recievers stance on the sideline facing out onto the field. The other--the one palying DB--assumes his stance and cushion as per coaching preference. On the whistle both sprint---one forward, one in a backpedal, until the reciever tags the DB. Assess where on the field they are, numbers? hash? far hash? far numbers? opposite sideline?



Ideally, this drill should be repeated daily (good for pre-practice) with the same partner. as the season goes on, and their backpedal technique improves, they should be able to see the gains as they measure how far they got before being tagged.



2) The weave drills described by others in this thread are important for the confidence factor as well. I like to have them do their weaves with the same partners as in the drill I just described. First time through--just 1/2 speed. Second 3/4. After a few reps--increase speed and assess when it's time to "hip flip"--turn and run!

As you get more comfortable with their technique--add changes in speed, cuts, etc. They have to be able to back pedal, hip flip and run, read hands!



3) The technique you use to get out of trouble is important too. I've been around the game long enough to remember when we were told to "never turn your back on the ball"--no matter what. I think the state of the art technique if a DB bites on a fake is to continue in that direction--but then turn the head all of the way around to complete the mini circle and continue running. I think technically it's thought of as more of a "head turn" than turning your back---but at first it's a little scary to an old timer like me.