Position Techniques and Drills for Defensive Back Play

Wide open spread offenses have made defensive back play critical in modern defenses. Today's DBs must be great tacklers, receivers, and cover men. They must be quick, fast and smart to read all of the offensive formations thrown at them.

As a former player in the NFL and member of the UCF Hall of Fame, Sean Beckton brings a wealth of experience to the defensive back position. Having won two high school state championships as a coach, Beckton understands the importance of teaching fundamentals and proper execution. In this video, Coach Beckton uses Power Point and practice footage to explain his DB philosophy and position techniques and covers 20 defensive back drills to help you develop your DBs.

Beckton walks you through the process of creating a defensive back from start to finish. The basics of proper stance and alignment are covered including foot placement, back pedal, plant-and-drive and proper leverage for multiple break points. These basics can be used for any coverage. The technique used for press coverage is backed up with practice footage. Press coverage drills are provided to help players transfer proper technique to the playing field.

Coach Beckton's six part instruction zeroes in on the basics of great tackling. The target, upper cut, rolling the hips, grabbing cloth, hat across, chin on the ball and running the feet are covered. His DB tackling drills emphasize eyes on target since most tackles be in the open field. Beckton provides a detailed explanation of each step to include practice footage and diagrams to help you understand how to execute form, angle and open field tackling.

Fourteen movement drills are provided to help coaches drill the different angles and movements needed to execute effective pass coverage. Ball drills are included to help players intuitively react and intercept the football. Coaching points are provided such as explaining the need of teaching defensive backs how to catch the football properly. Group drills are covered for coaches working with a large number of players.

For coaches who like to blitz, Beckton provides techniques and drills for helping your defensive backs blitz more effectively. Multiple techniques are used to help defensive backs blitz from the corner or from a safety position. Diagrams of blitz drills are provided to help coaches teach their players how to blitz.

This video offers drills and techniques that will help coaches improve their defensive back play and control modern day passing games.

61 minutes. 2012.