Coaching the cover 2 cornerback. (football coaching guidelines)

THOUGH MANY COACHES EMPLOY Cover 3 secondary principles to fortify their pass defense, we believe we can get better coverage out of a press, or bump, Cover 2 zone corner.

We believe in this defense for two specific reasons: (1) it affords excellent outside run support on the line of scrimmage, and (2) it enables us to put greater pressure on the wide receivers, which produces more interceptions and sacks.

One of the cornerstones of our defensive philosophy is having our corner hit the wide receiver and funnel him inside - reroute him on every snap. We do this for two reasons:

1. It squeezes down the alley, giving us a smaller area to cover. See Diag. 1.

2. It holds up the WR, giving our safety more time too read the run or play-action pass. Coaching point: At no time does the CB allow the WR an outside release.

We begin by aligning our younger, less experienced corners as close to the LOS as possiible, facing in toward the backfield in a decededly outside

alignment, as shown in Diag. 2. This gives a young corner a greater opportunity to get his hands on the WR, and also helps prevent the WR from gaining an outside release. The corner's hard outside alignment immediately closes the option.