Enhancing Coverage Flexibility

Enhancing Coverage Flexibility with a Double Coverage System

Rick Willis Head Coach Wartburg College Waverly, Iowa

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would like to thank the AFCA for this opportunity to contribute to the Summer Manual. On behalf of our entire staff at Wartburg College, it is a great honor to share some thoughts about our defensive coverage system. Hopefully, some of the ideas presented in this article will be beneficial to your program. One of the dilemmas defensive coordinators face is controlling coverages and pressures vs. a variety of formations and situations. At Wartburg, we use our double coverage call system to give the play caller a simple method to utilize multiple coverage calls in situations where many defenses are locked into a single check. This system is based on grouping formations into categories and assigning calls to each category. The most common approach is to differentiate two back sets and one back sets. Two coverage calls would be signaled into the huddle. In this case, the first coverage call is played to all two back formations. The second coverage call places our defense into a coverage or a category of calls to be played against all one back formations. In theory, all coverages can fit into this system. Teaching your players to understand the system will allow you to place any of your coverages into a specific category. While the first coverage call is typically a singular call, the second call often puts the defense into a category of calls. These categories are zone, pressure or a specific coverage. For example, if the huddle call is four/zone we would play cover four vs. all two-back sets. Against each different one back set we would check to the appropriate zone coverage. For instance, our zone check against trips might be cover three and our zone check against a balanced one back set might be cover two. Advantages of the Double Coverage Call System This system allows you to take advantage of opponent tendencies while maintaining variety and simplicity in your calls. The ability to play different calls to a formation produces variety. This system does not lock you into a specific check for each formation. Simplicity exists because the players are not forced to memorize multiple checks. The check is spoken in the huddle prior to every play. This also allows the play caller more control. The key component in the execution of this system is precise for-

• AFCA Summer Manual — 2001 •

mation recognition by our two signal callers. Our signal callers are the free safety and middle linebacker. In our weekly preparation we use formation breakdowns to tailor the categories used as the basis of double coverage calls. The basis of the system could be twoback/one-back as explained above, I/offset backfields, tight end(s)/no tight ends, no trips/trips, etc. For the purpose of this article we will focus on using two-back/oneback as the basis for the double coverage call. Each week we strive to place prominent run formations as the basis of the first call and group passing formations for use with the second call. Obviously the more distinct the tendencies the more advantages are gained. Once this task is accomplished, then we attempt to enhance our system through the use of down/distance tendencies and personnel groupings. The First Coverage Call As previously mentioned, we typically use the first coverage call vs. two-back running formations. This allows us to play our best run support coverages to these formations. In a passing situation, we could play any coverage vs. these same formations by changing the first coverage call. The Second Coverage Call The second coverage call places us into a category of defense rather than a specific coverage. As we take into account many factors, such as down/distance, personnel tendencies, and field zones, we determine the appropriate category of defense to use for the situation. Our call sheet is organized to reflect this. One important component to our defensive philosophy is the use of extreme defensive measures, such as maximum coverage or maximum pressures, in long yardage situations. Obviously, in long yardage situations there are times when we will substitute personnel to use a variety of nickel defenses. When we choose this option we have typically abandoned our double coverage call system. However, there are many longyardage situations where we have normal personnel in the game and use the double coverage call system to place us in a maximum coverage or maximum pressure call. O as a Second Coverage Call If we decide we want to be in a pressure mode vs. a one-back passing set, we

would make 0 the second coverage call (Ex: 4/0). Not only does the zero call lock us into man coverage, it also places our front into a blitz mode. Our middle linebacker knows that when zero is the second coverage call and a one-back set shows, he must check to a specific blitz for that formation. This is typically a seven-man pressure but would vary in design depending upon the type of one back formation presented. Five as a Second Coverage Call If we decide to maximize our coverage without substitution, we would make five the second call (Ex: 4/5). In our scheme, cover five is a man under, two-deep coverage. Our middle linebacker knows that when five is the second coverage call and we get a one back set, he has the flexibility to check our front into one of three pass rush games. We believe this category puts us in our best coverage and our best fourman pass rush calls. Zone as the Second Coverage Call In situations where we do not want to pressure or play maximum coverage we make “zone” the second coverage call (Ex: 4/zone). This places our coverage in an appropriate zone call for each formation. This is commonly used in down and distance situations that do not present strong tendencies for run or pass and would be viewed by the signal caller as more neutral. A common example of the zone call would be to play cover two vs. a one back balanced set and cover three vs. trips. The double coverage call system is not something that must be utilized at all times or in every situation. There are times where the double coverage call system is not advantageous. If we want to pressure two backs then we would simply call the desired pressure in the huddle. When one-

back is presented, our defense would use the standard zero checks. There are also times when we want to play cover four to all formations. In this situation we would call cover four in the huddle and play it vs. everything. There may be a time in long yardage situations where we would want to play cover five vs. all formations, not just one back. Cover five would be called in the huddle. Real Game Situations The following three examples will demonstrate how the double coverage call system enhances the quality of our defensive call in a game situation. Situation 1: It’s third and eight and the ball is on the +26 yard line. Our breakdown indicates that this is likely option or a maximum pass protection situation in two backs. In one back the breakdown reflects over 80 percent of the snaps are dropback passes. A good coverage call in our scheme for this situation would be 4/0. In this case we would play standard quarters coverage vs. all two back sets. This would allow for good run support vs. the option and double coverage vs. all in-breaking routes by the No. 1 receiver. Against one back, this would put us in a pressure mode with man coverage. The pressure would be determined by the specific one back formation. In most situations this would be a seven-man pressure which should either force a hot throw or give us a sack opportunity, knocking the offense out of field goal range. Situation 2: It’s third and four and our breakdown indicates that this is a prominent three-step situation with a two back set, and heavy tendencies toward screen/three-step in one back sets. In our scheme, a good coverage call would be 2/5. This would put us in cover two vs. any two back formation and cover five (man under, two-deep) vs. any one

back formation. Cover five also puts our front into one of three pass rush games. Situation 3: It’s first and ten. The breakdown shows that it is over 80 percent run out of two-back and 50 percent run out of one-back. In this situation our most common call would be 4/zone. Against two backs we would play cover four; our best run support coverage. Versus one back, we would play the appropriate zone coverage for the specific one back set. This would be our most sound call vs. run and pass. The zone coverages might change from week to week for each formation. As mentioned earlier, there are situations where we would simply make a single coverage call. The three examples above illustrate favorable situations for the double coverage call system. In many cases, a large percentage of the game snaps would be similar to the example shown in the third situation. We are able to take full advantage of extreme tendencies by using calls shown in the first two examples. At times, personnel groups make the double coverage call unnecessary, but the double coverage call is a very valuable tool when personnel groupings are not possible or reliable. Conclusion In summary, we feel the double coverage call system allows us to take advantage of high tendency situations, while minimizing risk, enhancing flexibility, and maintaining simplicity. We have found this system easy to implement and it has been instrumental to our defensive success at Wartburg College. We hope this article has provided you with some ideas that can benefit your coverage system. We appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the AFCA summer manual and would be happy to discuss any questions you have concerning our double coverage call system. Best of luck in the fall.

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• AFCA Summer Manual — 2001 •