Put your 3 Deep Coverage in a Better Position with Zone Alert Rotations

• By Coach Grabowski

Is your 3 deep zone always in the best rotation?  Or is the offense getting ready to target your static 3 deep zone?

This is something that Chris Lachney, defensive coordinator at Southeast Louisiana feels is important to putting your defenders in an optimal situation.

Sitting in a single version of Cover 3 against every formation or personnel group makes your defenders sitting ducks that the offense can now pick on.

Coach Lachney likes using 3 Deep Zone because of its ability to get 8 players into the run fit quickly. He certainly understands the weaknesses and how the coverage will be attacked, but they’ve added a concept they refer to as “Zone Alert” to get them into the best rotation against the formations and/or the personnel they are facing.

For Lachney it starts with well defined pieces of the puzzle.  The SCIF player has an important job.  Lachney explained exactly why they added verbs for better learning if the SCIF assignment. Instead of teaching just “Seam-Curl-Flat,” Lachney’s players are taught and understand it this way:

Protect the Seam

Cover the Curl

Tackle the Flat

Lachney gives the details of how they coach the SCIF in this video:

Why be Multiple?

For Lachney it goes back to putting his personnel in the best position for their skill sets.  Having multiple options for rotation for the different formations and personnel groups allows them to do that.

Lachney explains it here:

Lachney covers their rotations for the following situations with instructionals and game film:

2x2 Formations

3x1 Formations

Y-off Formations

Formation into Boundary

Here is an example with Mike in the 4-man rush:

Having these in their toolbox for their Cover 3 allows them to keep their players in the best position possible to take away what the offense will try to do. Instead of letting the defense target your static 3 deep coverage, make it more dynamic with the Zone Alert Concept.

Coach Lachney’s explains it all in his clinic, “The Zone Alert Concept for a More Dynamic Formation Match 3 Deep Zone.”