Split Field Coverage for the Rest of Us

The purpose of this blog series is to break down the idea of split field coverage, but make it accessible to high school and coaches at the lower levels. I won’t spend a lot of time discussing the origins of split field coverage, but the first source I’ve seen and used regarding it is the 1999 TCU Playbook. However, I will briefly discuss why I like using split field coverages before breaking it down into manageable chunks.

As offenses get more and more complex at the high school level, such as packaging multiple concepts into one play call, it’s important that defenses are able to adjust on the fly, but it’s also important that we don’t slow down our athlete’s by giving them too much to think about. Defense is about reaction – the longer it takes for a player to react to a stimulus, the lower his chance for success on that given play. Using split field coverage allows a defense to be flexible and gives it the ability to defend multiple things at a time, but I think it’s important that it be governed by rules. For example, in 2 -Read, “if #2 runs a vertical, the corner will man #1.” I will break down these rules when we get to specific coverages.

Here is the order I plan to go in through this series:

Post 1: 2-Read Coverage

Post 2: Quarters Coverage

Post 3: Blue (Man) Coverage

Post 4: Trips Coverage

Post 5: Packaging Coverages verus formations or field position

Post 6: Adding Pressure

Thanks for coming and I’ll see you soon with 2-Read Coverage.