In the constant tug of war between high school football receivers and cornerbacks, the defense needs some tools to offset the obvious advantage of foreknowledge that the receiver has. The receiver knows exactly where he needs to go while the cornerback or any defensive player in prep football has to react. It\’s amazing what a split second can do when you\’re running at full speed. One weapon the defense has is multiple covers or defensive sets and Cover 2 fits nicely in that arsenal. Let\’s take a look at Cover 2 and how it plays out on the high school football field. When you go into a defensive huddle prior to a play, the team defensive captains usually call out the defensive set that they receive from the sidelines. This set may change depending on what the offense looks like but it usually requires a bit of sophistication not found at the high school level to make such changes in real time. Typically, the defensive instructions will start with the line and linebackers responsibilities followed by the defensive back\’s set. This is where Cover 2 comes into play. Cover 2 generally has the defensive backs covering an individual person instead of a zone of the field. For example, each corner will isolate one receiver that he\’s directly responsible during the duration of the play. There might not be any safety net so the corner needs to really stay on top of the receiver.

The Strong safety will usually directly cover the Tight End for the course of the play. To some extent, this frees up the free safety as roamer or free a! gent. So what are the pros and cons of Cover 2 defense at the high school level and when is it used? A main requirement of Cover 2 is that you have a great deal of confidence in your corner\’s abilities to lock down the receivers. They\’re on their own so if there\’s a weakness at the corner spot or a strength with the opponent\’s passing game, that can be a recipe for disaster especially on the deep ball. One of the unique characteristics of

Cover 2 is that the corners play up on the receiver. They meet them at line of scrimmage and can bump them within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. The purpose of this is slow down or obstruct the receiver so that time is eaten up and pressure can be applied to the quarterback. After that initial 5 yards, the typical rules on pass interference apply. The defensive backs are generally closer to the line of scrimmage in Cover 2 defense. This clogs the field and tightens the defense in case of running plays. The downside is that a receiver can get beyond his defender for a pass over the top of the defense which potentially can lead to long passes and/or receptions. That\’s the risk of Cover 2. Cover 2 basically puts more man on man pressure for the defensive backs to greater control the run. It\’s really reliant on strong corner backs to protect against the long ball.

Cover 2 is typically used intermittently with Cover 3 to keep the offense off balanced and never confident of what to expect. Coverage strategy is one of the few options a high school defense has to counter their opponents.

Author Bio: Dennis Jarvis writes about the world of Prep Sports including high school sports such as high school football, basketball, and baseball.

Category: Sports
Keywords: high school cornerback, high school football, prep football, prep sports, high school sports