Coach ,

If you could take out two players of the offense, how big is that for your defense?

We will get into that in a minute, but before that, we would like to congratulate one of the members of the Coaches Clinic Community of Coaches.

Congratulations to Sam Houston State University and Coach Gary McGraw on the 2020 FCS National Championship which they won Sunday over a tough South Dakota State.

While South Dakota State is known as being a dominant run team the Bearkats held them to 12 of 24 for 123 yards passing. The Bearkats had one interception. 

The Jack Rabbits had only two passes of 16 yards or better.

The success in the passing game starts with being able to take away the perimeter.

In this clinic talk, Coach Gary McGraw teaches cornerback technique at the Line of Scrimmage and the drills to perfect those techniques.

He utilizes press man to successfully stop downfield passes on the perimeter. It limited opponents to a 10% completion rate on perimeter downfield throws.

Whether it's stopping the long ball or discouraging RPO throws, you will find the techniques and drills here helpful in creating success for your secondary players.

#1 Stance: For McGraw winning on the perimeter for a corner begins with stance. He explains the details and coaching points here (Click on images for video):

#2 Know where you are on the field: Another key to being a shutdown corner is to understand leverage as it relates to the dividers. Understanding these allows the corner to position himself for success. Coach McGraw illustrates the dividers here:

#3 Detailed Technique: Once a player can get in a good stance and understands the leverage he needs to take in relation to the divider, then he can get into the details of mirror and match rules and techniques as McGraw explains here:

Having the talent to shut down the outside of the field certainly is important, but the development of the rules and techniques goes a long way to setting those players up for success. Coach McGraw’s clinic talk certainly illustrates those details.

All clips are taken from Sam Houston’s FCS National Championship, McGraw’s Clinic Presentation Defensive Back Technique at the L.O.S and Downfield

Good luck as you head into summer and continue the process of developing your players.

Always be growing!

Coach Grabowski