The Morningside Method: Daily Safety Drills & Smothering Cover 4 Variations

with Taylor James, Morningside University Special Teams Coordinator and Safeties Coach;
3X NAIA National Championships (2018, 2019 & 2021);
As a player, was a three-year starting defensive back for the Mustangs and a second-team All-GPAC performer as a senior when he was the Mustangs' third leading tackler with 51 stops to go along with three interceptions and five pass break-ups;

In this highly valuable instructional video, Taylor James, the Morningside Safeties Coach, provides you with everything you need to build an effective practice routine for your Safeties – a heavy emphasis on drills, technique, player-mindset development and a Cover 4 defensive system that will have your defenders playing confident and fast!

James utilizes a perspective and wisdom cultivated from three Morningside Mustang NAIA National Championships in a four year period (2018, 2019 and 2021), to provide you with an array of knowledge gleaned from high-pressure, in-game situations and the intense preparation periods that come with extended runs of playoff football. 

Safety Drills For Game Day Success 

The Safety position is responsible for helping defenses to stop both the ground and air attacks of opposing offenses. To begin this section of the video, James emphasizes that by teaching Safeties an array of multiple progressions to read wide receivers, it gives those secondary defenders the confidence to play fast and execute assignments. 

James focuses on key coaching points of emphasis, including …

• Multiple techniques for teaching Safeties to backpedal while maintaining leverage based on a variation of coverages and wide receiver routes.  
• Essential footwork drills that are designed to develop a Safety’s explosiveness out of a variety of break points.
• An array of ball-disruption techniques for in-phase and out-of-phase coverage.

Using the progression of defensive back drills, Coach James demonstrates how Safeties can effectively cover any route they may see from an offense. James shows you four excellent backpedaling drills that he uses every day, including: 1) The Slow-Fast Pedal Drill, 2) The Weave Pedal Drill, 3) The Leverage Pedal Drill, and, 4) The Hip Sinks Drill. James provides in-depth commentary during video demonstrations of each drill and emphasizes the importance of daily individual-period drill work and how it impacts a player’s confidence and their ability to execute during a live-game setting. 

Cover 4 Variations

Next, you’ll learn how Morningside uses their Cornerbacks, Outside Linebackers and Safeties to cover two-man route combinations. James provides in-depth coaching explanations and offers techniques for teaching all three positions with game film examples. 

James describes the ideal situations to call cover 4 variations based on field position, offensive tendencies and offensive formation – while providing an inside look at the communication they use for the secondary in both pre-snap and post-snap situations, as well as showing multiple techniques for defenders to use based on offensive formations 

James also covers positional leverage and how they use it to create numbers advantages for specific defensive schemes and offers tips for setting up favorable on-field matchups. He also provides game film examples of situations that show how the work done in drills can pay dividends in games! (including in a National Championship game!)

This video provides you with everything needed to build and develop the Safety position – effective practice schedules, valuable drills, key techniques, player mindset development and defensive systems – all of which are designed to get your defenders playing fast and with great confidence! 

Coach Review: 5 Out Of 5 Stars.‘There are a lot of defensive back clinics out there, but very few of them focus on the details of Safety play. Having a video like this, one that’s dedicated to teaching Safeties is huge because of that position’s responsibility to stop both the run and the pass. After watching this video, it’s not surprising to see how Morningside has won 3 National Championships since 2018!’ 

68 minutes. 2022.