It\’s a misunderstood position on the high school football field. What exactly does the strong safety do? The free safety has deep coverage on passing while the linebackers are more concerned with the action up front generally. Don\’t under-estimate the role of the prep football strong safety as it\’s versatility is also it\’s strength if you have the right talent at that position. Let\’s take a look at the schizophrenic world of strong safety\’s on the high school football field.

The traditional strong safety straddles two worlds. Generally, the position is considered a defensive back with the corners and free safety but it\’s only part of that world. The position also likes to dabble up close to the line with the big boys. Part of this split personality comes from the a strong safety\’s main responsibility…covering the tight end. The tight end sometimes blocks up front like a lineman and at other times, releases up field to catch passes. A good strong safety has to be able to address both of these very different worlds and flip back and forth from play to play. That\’s a tall order for any high school football player so let\’s take a look at what attributes best fit this position.

When a coach is running through his chess pieces to see which athelete best fits which position, some are pretty easy. Lineman need to be big and strong. Receivers need to be quick/fast and have good hands. It helps if linebackers are a little crazy. What about the strong safety. That\’s a tough one. He needs to match up physically against the tight end so a certain amount of size and strength is warranted when it\’s a running play. Most tight ends are pretty big since they share responsibility with the offensive lineman. If it\’s a running play, the strong safety may be the last defense (assuming all other lineman and linebackers are well blocked) so he can\’t get rolled over by the tight end and have a 20 yard run result from his mismatch. On the flip side, passing plays may find the tightened releasing up field and running passing routes. The Strong Safety needs to be nimble enough to keep up and hopefully anticipate the route and/or pass. So right off the back, we have the bizarre combination of size/strength and speed/agility. It\’s rare to find both attributes in one high school football player and that\’s one reason the position of strong safety is such a tricky one for coaches to place. There\’s another attribute though even more important that the strong safety shares with his crazy partners in crime, the linebacker. He needs to love hitting.

People either like to hit or they don\’t. There\’s no two ways about it and you can\’t really fake it. Strong safeties need to love hitting. Not only doe they need to bring down big tight ends in the open field and tangle it up along the line, but they sometimes act as free range assassins depending on the coverage call. They may have responsibility for a certain territory or part of the field and any one who comes their way is usually looking back for the pass when the strong safety gets to rattle their cage. Strong safeties combine many different attributes but never underplay a drive to crack helmets.

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 strong safety, high school football, prep football, prep sports, strong safety