Coach Tom Bass brings more than 30 years of coaching experience to USA Football. Along with answering youth coaching questions, he also receives emails from young players. You can email the coach at NFLAskTheCoach@aol.com.
Pete sent the following question:
Can you explain to me the responsibility for corners and safeties in Cover 2 and Cover 3? I play corner and just want to make sure I understand my responsibility when it's time to play.
Hi Pete,
Both Cover 2 and Cover 3 usually refer to a form of zone coverage rather than man-to-man style of coverage. In Cover 2, the strong and free safeties have the responsibility of covering ½ of the field deep on their side of the field. The two corners have the responsibility of covering the outside medium (up to 15 yards from the line of scrimmage) zone on their respective side of the field.
To assist the safety in Cover 2, the corner is often coached to hit the wide receiver as he comes off the line and to force him into the middle of the field to the safety. The corner is also expected to come up and force the ball carrier back to the inside on any wide running play to his side.
In Cover 3, the responsibility of the corner is often determined by the support call from the safety on his side. If the call is cloud (or any other designated call), it tells the corner to come up and to play just as he would on Cover 2. For any other call the responsibility of the corner is to cover the deep 1/3 of the field on his side with a safety covering the center deep 1/3.
When the corner is playing deep in Cover 3, he must stay deep defending the pass until the ball carrier crosses the line of scrimmage. Once the ball carrier crosses the line, the corner can leave his deep zone and proceed to come up to aid in the tackle.
Make certain you know the coverage called on every down and that you know your responsibility on every play before the ball is snapped.
Coach Tom Bass
Shawn sent the following question:
I play for my school team as a wide receiver, and I'm against at least five other WR's to be on the starting line-up. What do you think that coaches like to see (during practice and attitude-wise) that would make them decide to start me over the others?
Hi Shawn,
What your coaches want to see is a player who is positive in practice and in meetings. He looks for a player who is in the front of the line for every drill.
They want a player who listens and does not make the same mistake twice. They desire a player who gives encouragement to the other players on the team even the ones you are competing with at the WR position.
Try to never be late, study to limit your mental errors and concentrate on trying to catch every ball thrown your way and making every block you can.
Coaches look for players who perform, give great effort, enjoy all phases of the game and are supportive as a starter or backup player.
They look for players who put the team first and are willing to work hard in all phases of the game.
Try to go out to every practice with an upbeat attitude, work as hard as you can, contribute to the team in every way possible and have fun.
Coach Tom Bass
The following question was sent to Coach Bass:
I wanted to know how do I go about getting invited to the USA Bowl game? I am very interested!
Hi,
The teams that USA Football fields for various competitions are stocked with players selected by the coaches on the team.
They will usually consult with members of the coaching profession from all over the country. They will take their recommendations and then make the final selections. The players selected have to match up with the age designation for the team.
The team which plays in conjunction with the playing of the Super Bowl is usually made up of high school seniors from the area where the game is being played. The coaches will usually be from the same area so they have a very good feeling and knowledge about the players that they select for the team.
The players and coaches are very good and have represented the USA and USA Football very well.
Coach Tom Bass
Coach Tom Bass, a 30-year NFL Coach and the technical writer and advisor for USA football, is also the author of several highly acclaimed football coaching books, including "Play Football the NFL Way" (St. Martin's Press) the only authorized NFL coaching book, "Football Skills and Drills" (Human Kinetics) and "The New Coaches Guide to Youth Football Skills and Drills" (McGraw Hill). If you would like to order a personalized autographed copy of Coach Bass' books, copies of his printed In-Depth Coaching Clinics, or NFL or College Sport Maps, please visit http://coachbass.com/.
