O
n behalf of the coaches at Reedley
College, I‘d like to thank Coach Teaff
and the AFCAfor the honor of being named
Community College Coach of the Year by
the newly formed American Community
College Football Coaches Association.
We all understand that this recognition
is to be shared by the entire staff, our fine
academic support personnel and adminis-
tration at our institution. We were lucky to
go 12-0 with a collection of fine athletes
who bonded from the point they moved into
the dorms in August to the final tick of the
clock at the California State Championship
game in December. I write this article in
honor of their efforts in 2002.
My attempt here is to explain how we
might install any pass concept in our play-
book. I will use the very simple curl-flat
(“Delta”) concept as an example only. The
first phase of our “whole-part-whole” teach-
ing progression is to sit down in a class-
room with all of the skill players and put
pen to paper. We teach, very simply, that
we are attacking the curl-flat defender in
cover three.
Oftentimes, we explain, we will be in a
3x1 formation when we play Cover Three
teams to outnumber our opponent or cre-
ate “Boss” (backers strong) or “Bow” (back-
ers weak) displacement. We may further
the discussion with some concepts that
attack this defensive displacement to trips.
As coaches we may have decided to install
a play action pass using this concept as
well. Again, we explain that the very same
curl-flat defender is also run support and is
“between a rock and a hard place”.
As we work further into this lesson, we
now describe a Cover 2/4 shell and the
various defensive assignments in these
coverages. Again, the purpose of this
paper is to explain our teaching progres-
sion, so we will be very superficial here. In
summary, we explain to the quarterbacks
in particular that we must tie up the two
safeties in this defensive structure with
vertical stems.
We are therefore in a lot more 2x2 for-
mations when we face cover 2/4 defens-
es. We would like to drive the No. 2
receiver curl routes to 14 yards or more
and, perhaps, have the No. 1 receivers
run post routes. I know this is very sim-
plistic, but we are not going to assume
that our guys are experienced in the pass-
ing game, or have remembered these
teaching points from the previous season
if they are sophomores.
Once we have thoroughly explained the
I nstalling
delta concept we are ready to take the
practice field and break down the Delta
concept into manageable parts! Our wide
receiver coach will take his players to the
“grid” (Diagram 1) to begin work on the fun-
Pa ssing
Diagram 1 Concepts In
Your Offens e
damental breaks involved in delta concept.
The grid is a 15 by 15 yard square divided
into nine equal five-yard cells.
We use the grid in all aspects of our
offensive teaching to maximize repetitions
and provide landmarks for our players. In
this drill we will divide the receivers into
four groups on the outside corners of the
grid with two receivers and two quarter-
backs taking reps at one time.
Here we will teach the comeback break
at the top of the curl route. (For clarity sake,
Diagram 2 depicts only one player.) We are
actually teaching the three-step hitch, as
well as many other routes requiring such a
break.
Diagram 2
With the inside foot up, our receiver will
climb the outside foot of the cover corner
on his second outside footstep (step 3),
creating space for himself on the inside
break. We try to create “word pictures” by
asking the receiver to set his hips on the
fourth and fifth steps without gearing down
too early. The young guys will “reach for the
break,” by planting on the heel of their fifth
“pigeon-toed” step, rather than giving us a
“full foot” break by squatting with the out-
side knee forward of the toes. We’ll ask him
to “bang the drum” (pump his arms) with
his hands at the top of the break rather
than “carrying suitcases” (arms down and
to the side), which we see a lot from our
“pups.”
Note that this may very well be a daily
warm up drill for the quarterback. He takes
a crossover-plant drop (from under center)
or a rocker drop (as if gun) and delivers the
ball to the outside number of the receiver.
We are much more concerned about ball
placement in this drill, rather than timing.
The receiver should have crossed the
first horizontal line at about six yards and
comes back to the quarterback in this drill
with the catch on or about the horizontal
five-yard line marker. We obviously want
the elbows slightly bent as the receiver
“high fives” the quarterback, ensuring the
catch with extension rather than having the
ball “beat up” his chest! Once the ball is
caught, the receiver uses his “dip and rip”
skill to get vertical immediately after the
catch.
We look for the ball to be transferred to
the outside arm, a dip of the inside shoul-
der and simultaneous rip action (just like a
defensive lineman would use to rush the
passer.) All of this hopefully happens as
tight to the vertical line nearest the catch.
(Here again is the importance of the land-
marks provided by the grid.)
Later we will emphasize the head turn,
or “nod” to the inside after the catch to help
with the dip and rip, and eventually we’ll
work the opposite “nod” for the tight inside
turn and run after the catch. The receivers
at the bottom of diagram two will ready
themselves as those two at the top take
reps. The ball is brought to the opposing
quarterback within your column and rotated
back and forth for maximum reps. The
quarterback’s control the tempo of this drill
in early practice and will work hard to get as
many warm-up throws as possible in a cou-
ple of minutes.
On the coaches command, the
receivers move to the inside column of the
grid, as do the quarterbacks (Diagram 3).
Diagram 3
We will work the 90-degree speed out
break, which is the same basic fundamen-
tal of the flat control in our delta concept.
We emphasize the “pigeon-toed” fourth
step as the receiver sets his hips and rolls
outside to a depth of six yards. The receiv-
er should rub the elbow of his outside arm
on his ribcage as he runs through the
break. We want to see a “gunshot” reac-
tion with his head (The kind of reaction
one might have when surprised by the
sound of a gunshot!) on that same fourth
step.
Again, with the emphasis on ball place-
ment, we expect the quarterback to put the
ball out front at hip level. We do this
because in a game setting this ball is
thrown downhill from the crown of the field
to the outside. We want the receiver to
catch the ball before it crosses his own
nose. We preach this notion in all of our
catches, but it is particularly important to
reach out for the horizontal catch.
We tell our receivers that it is much
more likely to lose the visual track on the
ball when the ball crosses your face. Again,
we want to emphasize the violent yards
after the catch. We tell the receivers to “tap
and turn” on a dime immediately after the
catch. This means we expect a rapid chop-
ping of the feet after the catch and a burst
up the field for the extra yards. He should
get all of this done before running “out of
bounds” on the grid.
As we move from the “gridwork” individ-
ual period to a self-serve group period, the
coaches will now progress to the next
phase of our whole-part-whole teaching
progression. We explain how to read the
“triangle” as receivers before the ball is
snapped and during the route develop-
ment. Each receiver’s “triangle” is created
by the man on, first inside cover and near-
est safety (Diagram 4).
Diagram 4
In this example the flanker “triangle” is
“tall” with the corner off at 7x1 yards, the B
linebacker in a walk-away alignment of 4x3
yards and a free safety at 12 yards in the
middle of the field. This helps our flanker
identify the cover as three-deep zone and
places his attention on the B as the curl/flat
defender. With experience, the flanker will
learn to make slight adjustments (either
behind or outside) at the top of the route.
But at this point in the learning progression,
we want our guys to at least understand
who threatens the success of their respec-
tive routes!
Likewise, the tight end in our example
identifies the B linebacker as the curl/flat
defender that he must leverage to the
outside. He cannot be pinned to the
inside of this defender, and may have to
make adjustments as he climbs and
presses the outside shoulder of the B
linebacker. We now include the running
back in this drill (By the way, he has
worked the same comeback break on the
grid and now applies it to his “stop” route
at 3x3 yards.)
The quarterbacks have already been
coached to “hitch through” their progres-
sion of curl-out -stop and know see “the big
picture!” This is the point at which we
emphasize the “five big” footwork in our
drop back scheme. We include a move-
ment key (usually a coach) as the curl/flat
defender in a line drill.
We want a “hitch throw” to the curl, a
second hitch to the out and yet another
hitch to the stop route. If we must take a
sack, we say, lets have it be a four yard
loss and not a seven-yard loss! Finally,
we are ready to make the Delta concept
whole again for everyone, as we throw
the ball “verses air,” skelly and finally
“pup” (pass under pressure) in an 11 on
11 setting.
Diagram 5
I know that nothing I have said here is
revolutionary! My focus is on the teaching
process, which includes the “grid” as a
teaching modality and the whole-part-
whole teaching progression. Perhaps you
can apply one of these teaching method-
ologies to your own program. If you have
any questions or comments, please feel
free to e-mail me at michael.white@reedl-
eycollege.edu. Best of luck and GO
TIGERS!!