Coaching Today’s
Cover 2
I t is an honor to represent Western New
Mexico University and our football pro-
gram in the AFCASummer Manual. I would
like to thank defensive line coach Tobe
Smith for help on this article.
This fall marks my 25th year of coaching
this great game, with 23 years spent at the
college level and all of them coaching the
secondary. I have seen a wide cross-sec-
tion of fronts and coverages during that
time, but the basics always remain con-
stant. I want to discuss an old favorite,
Cover 2.
We believe in teaching the strengths
and weaknesses of each coverage so that
the players understand if a play is made by
the offense, we do not lose confidence in
the coverage. Cover 2 is a two-deep, five
underneath zone coverage. You should
have very good coverage short and be able
to react quickly on the run or option phase.
With two safeties each covering half of the
field, you are vulnerable to three and four
receiver combinations vertical, triple streak
or post corner routes by the No. 1 receiver
and a vertical route by a tight end or No. 2
receiver weak. We want to stress reading
the routes and overplaying certain combi-
Land Jacobsen nations or forcing the quarterback to throw
to the underneath zones.
Head Coach Looking at today’s coverage, you will
see all quarter coverage, quarter-quarter-
Western New Mexico University halves, roll weak, three-deep zone and
combinations of man and zone. Cover 2
Silver City, N.M. has been a consistent mainstay for the last
20 years. In teaching Cover 2 today, you
must be able to adapt to the multiple for-
mations you encounter along with motion
from wide receivers or from the backfield.
Cover 2 is a zone coverage which tells my
players, all defenders in coverage should
see the ball thrown and be able to react to
it. We try to avoid ever turning our back on
the quarterback so that we can react once
the ball is thrown and move to it (Diagram
1). I teach stance, start and alignment with
Diagram 1
the defensive back knowing, down, dis-
tance, field position, time of the game and
score. I give our corners flexibility with
• AFCA Summer Manual — 2000 •
alignment, either a head up even stance or
outside foot up, body slightly turned inside
facing the quarterback. I want the corners
in a relaxed position, not tight or tense.
Their alignment is five to seven yards out-
side the eye of the No. 1 receiver.
Diagram 2
(Diagram 2) The safeties are 10-14
yards deep depending on where the ball is
on the field. Again, I will give a player with
experience and talent some leeway about
alignment, but keep in mind, depth is
always an ally. If the formation is in the mid-
dle of the field, the safeties split the differ-
ence between No. 1 and No. 2, a tight end
or another wide receiver, and to the weak
side, the No. 1 receiver and the offensive
tackle. The safeties depth is 12-14 yards
off the line of scrimmage. The corners are
five to seven yards off the No. 1 receiver.
The secondary keys the quarterback for a
run-pass look. For instance, ball off the line
of scrimmage, we play pass and react
accordingly. Ball on the line of scrimmage,
we think run with the safeties staying in a
back pedal until no possibility of a pass. If
the ball is off the line of scrimmage, both
safeties will key the tight end and stay in
back pedal until the route develops and
react to it. Once the tight end moves hori-
zontally, the safeties find the No. 1 receiver
to their side and react to him. If the receiv-
er is vertical with an outside release, the
safety must open and run to the hole. If the
receiver releases inside, the safety stays in
a back pedal and again reacts to what he
encounters. Outside (post corner), the
defensive back jumps to the up-field arm.
(Diagram 3) An inside release, (dig route)
the defensive back jumps the route and
Diagram 3
closes to the up-field arm. If the ball is on
the hash with formation to the field, the cor-
ners alignment remains the same. The
strong safety to the field splits the differ-
ence between No. 1 and No. 2 with depth
at 12-14 yards, the free safety is just out-
side the weak side hash and aligned 10
yards deep, knowing the sideline is an ally.
Both safeties still key the tight end for a ver-
tical release and then play accordingly. If
they get a vertical release, they must feel
the tight end moving toward one or the
other safety and be able to break to him if
the ball is thrown. The corners will move
laterally from their alignment to jam the No.
1 receiver.
We believe you must try to force an
inside release by the No. 1 receiver on
each side to constrict the area the safeties
have to cover. You cannot always force an
inside release, but by the corner’s align-
ment, you can force the wide receiver to
move laterally to avoid the jam thus taking
time away on the pattern and not allowing
him to get depth down the field. We want to
constrict the area for the safeties and have
the corners play HI-LO, moving to 12-13
yards deep and reacting back to a ball
thrown underneath in the zone.
We would like to describe the linebackers
responsibilities in Cover 2. Our middle line-
backer, or Mike, will key the ball through the
No. 3 receiver or near back and feel No. 1
and No. 2 for the overall picture. He will open
to the back flow, wall off No. 3 strong if split
flow or strong flow. If weak flow shows, he will
wall off No. 3 weak. Our strongside line-
backer, or Sam, will key the ball through the
tight end or No. 2 receiver and feel No. 1 and
No. 3 for the overall picture. Sam will wall the
tight end off and try to avoid an inside release.
If the tight end releases flat inside, Sam will
step and slam him towards the Mike and drop
to the seam looking for the No. 1 receiver and
feeling the near back. Our weakside backer,
or Will, opens to the weakside and drops
hook to curl. He finds No. 1 receiver weak
and works under him, feels the back weak
and his release and scans for the tight end on
a crossing route.
Some overall rules for the linebackers are
settle when the quarterback settles, their
head is on a swivel looking for crossing routes
and adjustments and the potential threat in
their zone. Communication is imperative to
be able to react to the route as it develops
and for the coverage to be successful. If noth-
ing shows in the linebacker’s zone, then they
will continue to get depth to the next level.
Again, the backers must know the strengths
and weaknesses of the coverage and react to
what shows as the route develops. The line-
backers must communicate with each other,
as well as the corners to avoid over reacting
together and voiding a zone completely.
Diagram 4
(Diagram 4) The next formation involves
a one-back set with a tight end and flanker
on one side and a wide receiver and an H-
back to the weakside. The Sam backer
plays the same techniques as before, wall
off the tight end and drop to the seam. The
Mike linebacker adjusts to an even look,
almost the look of a true 4-3 middle back-
ers alignment. He will open to the tight end
side, if no inside release, he will drop to the
strong hook area and look for crossing
route or a back out on a circle route. We
move the Will linebacker out to No. 2 weak,
forcing an outside release coupled with the
corner forcing an inside release, again con-
stricting the area the free safety must cover
and the corner reading No. 2’s route and
playing HI-LO. There is no change to the
strong side or the strong safety keying the
tight end’s release and favoring him when
the tight end releases vertically knowing
the corner will run with No. 1 because of no
quick threat in the flat.
The main thought with this set is the
potential of four receivers releasing verti-
cally and being able to defend them. We
coach our corners to read the No. 2 receiv-
er on each side and force an inside release
by No. 1 and run with him until threatened
in the flat. This process helps the safeties
to overplay the No. 2 receiver, because
they are the receiver nearest to the quar-
terback and a short quick throw can beat
you here. Again, we are coaching for the
most dangerous potential routes. Once you
read the route and you have crossing
routes occurring, the safeties will move to
the deepest route in their half of the field
and react. The corners will either overplay
a deeper route or vertical route and play HI
or react to a threat in their shorter zone and
move to a pass route thrown short or LO.
(Diagram 5) The last set we’ll talk about
• AFCA Summer Manual — 2000 •
is also a balanced formation with four
receivers. This is the maximum test on the
coverage because of the possibility of mis-
matches with receivers in the open field
against our Sam and Will linebackers.
Diagram 5
The corners will have an alignment of five to
seven yards outside eye of the No. 1 receiver.
They will try to force an inside release to con-
strict the field for the safety on their side. The
corners will feel the release of the No. 2 receiv-
er on their side, knowing he is a quick threat to
their zone. If the No. 1 and No. 2 receivers go
vertical, the corners will force an inside release
and run with No. 1 until the flat is threatened. If
No. 1 releases vertical and No. 2 releases to
the flat, the corner will force an inside release
and start HI to help the safety buy time, until
the safety gets to No. 1 in the hole. The
safeties also must read the routes and react
accordingly. If the No. 2 receiver releases ver-
tical, the strong safety or free safety will favor
and move towards No. 2 because he is the
short, quick throw. Starting with the Sam line-
backer, his alignment is inside No. 2 about
three to five yards deep, forcing an outside
release and depending on the split of No. 2,
the Sam could still adjust to the run. The Will
backer has the same alignment on No. 2
weak, forcing an outside release, unless the
receiver just runs laterally as a crosser-back
inside. If that happens, Will gives Mike a call to
alert him and Will drops to the weak curl and
finds the No. 1 receiver, trying to work under
him depending on the route. Sam and Will
must read the route of No. 2 and No. 1. If No.
2 works outside, Sam and Will must find No. 1
if the receiver slants in or runs a Dig route.
They will work under No. 1 and even might
have to work wider, again depending on the
route. The Mike linebacker is in an even look
and will open and drop according to where the
ball is on the field. On the hash, Mike will open
and drop to the field. In the middle of the field,
Mike would open to the quarterbacks side that
he throws from as a rule.
We hope this article has helped or affirmed
some points for you. We wish you the best in
the coming season, using an old favorite,
Cover 2.