Man or Zone?

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Originally posted by: cardinal00
I am a new high school coach who has been charged with revamping our defense. We are going to play a 4-3 because we don't have a lot of linebacker type athletes and we do have some size for the DL. My question is whether you think it is better to play more man or zone coverage. We have a young, raw fast CB and a slower veteran CB. Our safeties can hit, but overall coverage skills are weak. WE face mostly running offenses. Any ideas on coverages?

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I don't think a 4-3 is the best option for a High School team vs. running offenses. You will probably need an 8 man front, a 4-4 or 5-3 or even a 6-2. Cover 3 is probably going to get you through, with some Man Free (Cover 1) and maybe Cover 2 or 4 for long yardage.

Overall, I like to use zone more than man in situations where I know I'm going to be facing more run than pass. A 4-3 is a great defense against run if you have aggressive LBs and a good run support SS. The SS is a major key in any 4-3. He has to be able to tackle like a LB and run and cover like a safety. It sounds like you have this type of personel. The weak coverage skills of your free play much better in a C3 than in a man situation. Using a C3 will get that 8th man in the box you'll need against run heavy teams and will give you a lot of blitz flexiblility. C2 is good for long yardage and even in some other situations if your corners can run support. Like the previous post said, it's good to have some man too and the man free, C1, is a good idea. Inside the 10 though, you may want to go to an inside leverage man coverage with the FS coming down to take a man before bringing one of you LBs out of the box to cover. This leaves you with the best run support. If you feel like your team has these coverages down pretty well and you'd like to bring one more defender into the box to make it 9, there is a coverage I like if your corners can cover. It's a variation of a C2 mix, mixing man and zone concepts. I call it C8. Everyone lines up in a C2 alignment except the safeties are at 8yds instead of 10-12. On the snap of the ball they pop thier feet instead of backpedaling. If they read run, the playside safety comes down to fill the C or D gap and the backside safety comes down to play the cutback lane. On pass, the corners play their flats, like in a C2, unless the receiver runs a route deeper than 10 yards. If that occurs, they lock up. If they are running a post or deep in, the corners must stay over the top while the safeties get underneath the reciever b/c they are starting at only 8 yds. and may even be closer to the line b/c they bit on a play fake. The safeties have their normal C2 responsibilities on pass, except that they are playing underneath instead of over the top on deep routes. They are also looking to blow up any slants or hooks that may come thier way. It soudns a lot more complex than it is to run and is a great way to get 9 in the box and support hard on run, especially against any full house backfields (Power I, wishbone, inverted bone). Hope I've helped. Good luck.

in response to german coach's question;

our db's alignment depends on their abilities.
for example, this spring we played our robber from pressed man.
our cb's were responsible for the wr's all over the field.
our f/s aligned 8-10 over the inside eye of the te, or over the
tackle if the field was to the weak side.
unless the te presses vertically, the f/s plays the hole.
our outside nickel backs are responsible for the flats and our ilb's
are responsible for hook to curl.
we also play with the cb's responsible for deep 1/2's, knowing most
importantly that they are responsible for the post.
they generally bail to this from pressed alignment.
the last way we play it is to lock the weak corner on #1 and then
play a halves look on the strong side, with the cb bailing from pressed alignment.
this system just seems to work for us.
i know that temple, for example plays their cb's off at 7-8 yards, and they play strictly halves.
i think it is important to fit your scheme to your kids' abilities.
hope this helps.



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Das Deutsch Coach,

Wie gehts Coach! I'm really rusty and only know ein bichen deutsch anyway. In robber coverage the free safety or other db depending on the base coverage will usually play the hole just behind the inside backers hook zones commonly referred to as the post zone. I think zulu's reference to the TE was for alignment purposes only. Hope this was of help. Bis spater....

CYFL Coach
David Hartman

german coach;

cyfl coach's answer was pretty much nailed your question.
we use the te as an initial landmark for the f/s's alignment.
in our robber coverage, the f/s will cover the te man to man, only if the te releases vertically, up the field.
any other release and the f/s lets the te go, because the te will run through the underneath zone coverage. if the f/s does not lock on the te, he robs the hole.
the release of the te will give the f/s his initial drop and thought process, but if nothing shows he will sit right in the middle of the field. the area typically vacated by the inside LB's in cover 3.
hope this helps, if you have anymore questions, fire away!

Coaches,

With robber converage, how do you adjust vs. Twins and Trips? Can you play robber or would we check to a cover 3? We play a 4-4.
Thanks,
DC