The corner-back position in football can be a thankless job. Every time a receiver makes a great catch, your fans will often bemoan "Who was covering him?" But a great corner-back in a receiver-heavy league can stand to earn the respect of the opposing team's coach and never have to intercept a ball. He just has to increase his skill-set and game knowledge. This article will show you become a better corner-back.
Instructions
1. Train your body for the position. Every football position relies on explosive take-off speed and react time, but a slow corner-back can lead to easy scores by the offense. By training on getting a good start, or jump, you won't necessarily have to be a speed demon.
2. Study your opponent's tendencies. A run-heavy team will rely on one, maybe two, different backs to carry the ball with a lot of people that can tackle him. A pass-heavy team means the ball can go to 5 or 6 potential targets and you may be the only person responsible for stopping any of them. By knowing your opponent's tendencies you can better your starting position on each play to take full advantage.
3. Think and study like a receiver. If you plan to get a jump on the ball and break up (or intercept) a quarterback's throw, knowing where the receiver is going to be, before he gets there, gives you a heavy advantage. It isn't enough to be fast with good hands; a fast corner-back with good hands, who is out of position, isn't intercepting a ball. He's probably helping the offense score. Look at the game tapes and study receiver patterns.
4. Intimidate the quarterback. The best form of intimidation is by establishing a reputation through your play. The second best is by making someone think you are better than your skill-set. You can do this by looking into the quarterback's eyes before every play. Make him think twice before throwing in your direction. If you can do that on a consistent basis, you will become a "shutdown" cornerback. Even if the team has a star receiver, a quarterback may hesitate to throw to him if you are assigned to him.
5. Know when to intercept and when to break up a ball. Intercepting a deep ball early in the game at your own 5-yard line on third or fourth down can actually hurt your offense's starting position if you aren't a particularly fast runner. Breaking up the play is sometimes better than going for the intercept.
Tags: better than, good hands, opponent tendencies, starting position, with good