It\’s a lonely world for the traditional high school free safety. He\’s back there typically in deep coverage…the last man standing as defense to protect from the breakout. There\’s nothing behind him but his team\’s end zone and somehow, he as to make sure it doesn\’t see any action. The offense may throw receivers, tight ends, or big, nasty running backs at him and he needs to stop all of them. Let\’s take a look at the free safety position for prep football teams.

The free safety is generally considered part of the defensive back group of players. This includes the corners and too a lesser extent, the strong safety. Generally, the strong safety plays up closer to the line which makes sense since his primary responsibility is the tight end. The free safety doesn\’t really have an exact counterpart on the offense like alms every other defensive player does. This is partly why he\’s called the free safety. You could argue that the quarterback is his direct opposite but that doesn\’t exactly fit. To some extent, the free safety helps to neutralize the offense\’s advantage of knowing where they are going before the defense. The free safety is the great equalizer.

The general role of the free safety is to make sure no offensive player breaks out for a long gain or worst yet, touchdown. It doesn\’t take too much offensive firepower for a running back or receiver to get the best of this his direct defensive opponent. Again, he knows where he\’s going which gives him the advantage of initiative. The free safety then becomes a failsafe defensive player to support the other players. He also acts as a captain of sorts for the defensive backs since he generally stands behind them and has a better vantage point for the whole offensive set. If he sees motioning pointing towards a running play or passing play, he can help direct the corners, strong safety, and even linebackers accordingly. So what attributes make for a great free safety?

A high school football free safety needs to be able to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time. This usually points to a fair amount of speed and ideally, length. A long reach comes in really handy to get that errant pass that flies past your corner back down the sideline. A free safety also has to be a good tackler which prep football players either are good at or not. It\’s hard to teach tackling. Some high school football players just have a knack for it. This is tricky for coaches in filling the free safety spot since they need to be agile enough to tackle a break away receiver but at the same time, strong enough to go head to head against a sprinting running back and that\’s no small challenge. A free safety also has to be smart in that he takes the right angle or lines to intercept a player. Experience helps here but a good sense of angles doesn\’t hurt.

It also helps if a free safety can \”read\” players well. He needs to focus on the intent and body language of the quarterback to quickly determine where the ball is going. That sixth sense for where the play is going can be a huge asset for your high school football free safety.

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: free safety, high school free safety, high school football, prep football, high school sports