Woodson New Coach

[Apraser99 168]

In regards to special teams, specifically ko coverage.....I would be willing to bet very little time was spent on that since we had a kicker that kicked out of the end zone roughly 80% of the time. The 20% is what killed us.

[WFE12 9,191]

I sure hope this eases our secondary worries by a good bit. Would love more interceptions....when we get interceptions it's mostly from the pass being deflected...I want to see our db's baiting qb's and then picking the ball and also winning more 50/50 battles.

[bigbird 60,371]

7 hours ago, WFE12 said:

I sure hope this eases our secondary worries by a good bit. Would love more interceptions....when we get interceptions it's mostly from the pass being deflected...I want to see our db's baiting qb's and then picking the ball and also winning more 50/50 battles.

Most team's ints occur while they're playing zone coverage. It allows other players to fold under routes and undercut routes while still being protected over the top.  When you do that while playing man you get what happened to Carlton this year against LSU when he jumped the route and missed.(50 second mark)

 

 

It's much more difficult and dangerous to try and jump routes in man coverage which is what we run primarily. 

As far as 50/50 balls goes, most of those are back shoulder throws. Here is a link to another post on it.

 

[WFE12 9,191]

5 hours ago, bigbird said:

Most team's ints occur while they're playing zone coverage. It allows other players to fold under routes and undercut routes while still being protected over the top.  When you do that while playing man you get what happened to Carlton this year against LSU when he jumped the route and missed.(50 second mark)

 

 

It's much more difficult and dangerous to try and jump routes in man coverage which is what we run primarily. 

As far as 50/50 balls goes, most of those are back shoulder throws. Here is a link to another post on it.

 

So you think Woodson infuses more zone into our defense? Is that what he ran at his previous stint?

[bigbird 60,371]

3 minutes ago, WFE12 said:

So you think Woodson infuses more zone into our defense? Is that what he ran at his previous stint?

No, I was saying that you won't see a lot of INTs because we routinely run Man coverages. Those that do occur will most likely be born from deflections

[WFE12 9,191]

15 minutes ago, bigbird said:

No, I was saying that you won't see a lot of INTs because we routinely run Man coverages. Those that do occur will most likely be born from deflections

Nah I know what you were saying, I was just asking.

[bigbird 60,371]

32 minutes ago, WFE12 said:

Nah I know what you were saying, I was just asking.

No matter who coaches the position, they will be running Steele's scheme.

[Jfsmoncrief 10]

Regardless we should be getting more than 6 picks a season. Our corners rarely play the ball. Seems like any pass downfield on us is either a completion or pass interference 

[bigbird 60,371]

8 minutes ago, Jfsmoncrief said:

Regardless we should be getting more than 6 picks a season. Our corners rarely play the ball. Seems like any pass downfield on us is either a completion or pass interference 

[HarrisBoy334 63]

I don't think playing the player instead of the ball is taught as the primary technique like it was before Steele. Its used by some players more than others and I think its a confidence/comfortable situation. Both Davis boys had the speed and confidence to mostly play the ball. Dinson and Dean were more prone to play the player.  Dean/Dinson are long and strong but wrs were able to get behind them so watching the wr hands and eyes was their "go to".

[Gowebb11 9,310]

I would love to see more picks, but as long as Steele's scoring D remains in the top 10% nationally I'll take it. 

[Auhud08 596]

@bigbird do you think steele would use more zone due to db depth? Or Is there another scheme that gives you better chance with young dbs?

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

7 minutes ago, Auhud08 said:

@bigbird do you think steele would use more zone due to db depth? Or Is there another scheme that gives you better chance with young dbs?

I am not a fan of the zone D at the collegiate level.  You basically give the WR a 5-10 yard cusion to do what he wants.  You also make it easier on the QB as the WR is not getting jammed at the LOS to throw the timing off.  Gus' WR screen plays are awesome against zone coverage and have mixed results against man.

[bigbird 60,371]

22 minutes ago, Auhud08 said:

@bigbird do you think steele would use more zone due to db depth? Or Is there another scheme that gives you better chance with young dbs?

Really cant answer the 1sr part. As far as the 2nd goes,  man is good with younger guys. It's a see man, cover man. There are a lot more intricacies and nuances with zone coverages.

[aufan57 922]

Nice read, just disregard the writer. 

Quote

Marcus Woodson opens the year with a message to freshmen defensive backs: The ball is money.

"If I slapped $100 bill on the wall and I say the first guy to get to that ball gets a $100 bill, how hard would you play?," Auburn's newest assistant coach said during a workshop session at the American Football Coaches Association convention in Charlotte. "They all say, 'I'm going to get that ball.' It's money, treat it like that. The more you get the ball back, the more money you make as a football player."

Hired as Auburn's 10th assistant football coach last week, Woodson shared insight about the core techniques he teaches entering his 14th season coaching defensive backs.

The three areas Woodson said he stresses and works on every day in practice, regardless of whether it's in helmets only, shells or full pads, are block destruction, tackling and playing hard.

"In everything we do, every drill that we do, you've got to finish in a dominant position," Woodson said while showing clips of his players at Fresno State and Memphis perform drills and in games. "You've got to let (players) know how you want them to finish."

Woodson said it's still to be determined whether he'll coach corners or safeties at Auburn, where Greg Brown coached the entire secondary this season.

"Coach Steele and coach Malzahn, those guys have been successful way before I got there," Woodson said. "For me, I'm not coming in and reinventing any kind of wheel. I'm just trying to do my part to the best of my ability to take that next step as a program. ... For 13 of my years I had the entire secondary for nine (and) four of those 13 I either had the safeties or the corners. Even if coach Steele came and said, 'I want you to coach the outside backers,' I'm going to find a way to critique my craft and perfect it and get better to make those guys better.

"Either way, coach Brown has been coaching football as long as I've been living. To get a chance to work with him and learn from him is going to be something I'm looking forward to."

Woodson showed mostly highlights of the play of his cornerbacks both against the run and pass to a packed room of coaches.

He teaches corners to backpedal as opposed to shuffle.

"I believe the more that I can stay square on the receiver to maintain my cushion and drive top-down on the route, the more successful we're going to be," Woodson said.

Auburn's defensive backs will likely spend a lot of time tackling large rolling donuts, which Woodson prefers to stationary dummies.

Woodson said the relationships between the coaching staffs at Auburn and Memphis, specifically between Mike Norvell and Gus Malzahn as being helpful in him ending up on the Plains.

He also cited the satellite camp at Memphis last summer, which Auburn coaches attended, as being critical to showing Steele and Brown his ability to coach.

"That specifically was when coach Steele and coach Brown were able to watch me work a little bit," Woodson said. "We had 1,000 DBs at that one camp and having to manage that many kids and organize the drills, they got a chance to see me work on the grass."

Norvell said Woodson will bring a "tremendous work ethic" to Auburn.

"He's a great person (and) teacher," Norvell said. "Obviously, he's deep-rooted in his ties in this region and did an exceptional job for us at Memphis. You hate to see anybody go, but the opportunity that's presented itself there at Auburn. I know the people that are there, I know the leadership. I'm excited for Marcus and his family and also what he's going to bring to Auburn football."

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2018/01/what_marcus_woodson_will_stres.html

[LKEEL75 2,566]

@bigbird what is your take on what he is saying.  It sounds like he is going to be teaching CB to be more aggressive to the ball and fight for INTs even though that is really contradictory to what we have been doing under Steele.

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

16 minutes ago, LKEEL75 said:

@bigbird what is your take on what he is saying.  It sounds like he is going to be teaching CB to be more aggressive to the ball and fight for INTs even though that is really contradictory to what we have been doing under Steele.

kind'a like the sound of a Steele/Steal Curtain

[80Tiger 899]

On 1/6/2018 at 12:55 PM, bigbird said:

No, I was saying that you won't see a lot of INTs because we routinely run Man coverages. Those that do occur will most likely be born from deflections

Question for you. In the late 60's early 70's it seems as AU was great at intercepting balls. Was that the talent? the coaching (Bill Oliver was secondary coach for a while)? or the scheme, more zone and less man?

[bigbird 60,371]

16 minutes ago, 80Tiger said:

Question for you. In the late 60's early 70's it seems as AU was great at intercepting balls. Was that the talent? the coaching (Bill Oliver was secondary coach for a while)? or the scheme, more zone and less man?

I would say less sophistication in passing schemes.

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

4 hours ago, bigbird said:

I would say less sophistication in passing schemes.

But even today there are teams that intercept a lot of passes. One thing I notice today are those DBs, LBs and DLs that make them off catching tipped balls on real hustle plays. Good example was the DL for uat making you hat intercept just because he was watching and alert to where the ball was

[bigbird 60,371]

4 minutes ago, Eagle Eye 7 said:

But even today there are teams that intercept a lot of passes. One thing I notice today are those DBs, LBs and DLs that make them off catching tipped balls on real hustle plays.

It's hard to catch tipped passes in man coverage. 

[doc4aday 1,887]

who was our punter that Jackie Sherril ranted on about him using helium in the footballs he punter? That was so funny and really made Sherril look like the doofus he really was.

[AUsince72 11,084]

28 minutes ago, doc4aday said:

who was our punter that Jackie Sherril ranted on about him using helium in the footballs he punter? That was so funny and really made Sherril look like the doofus he really was.

Terry Daniel

Dude kicked wounded ducks further than anybody else kicked perfect spirals.  Best punter I ever saw in person.

[doc4aday 1,887]

25 minutes ago, AUsince72 said:

Terry Daniel

Dude kicked wounded ducks further than anybody else kicked perfect spirals.  Best punter I ever saw in person.

He and Ray Guy were the best. Reggie Roby was another prolific punter. I remember being in the Superdome watching the Saints play I think the Dolphins and the dude hit the ceiling on one of his punts.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,225]

9 hours ago, aufan57 said:

He teaches corners to backpedal as opposed to shuffle.

This (shuffle technique) has been a knock on Saban's CB's, there's a fairly famous old video on Youtube  "...the most overrated thing about playing in the secondary....".

"As it pertains to technique, I’ve heard players say, specifically Kirkpatrick, that Saban doesn’t have them backpedal.  I never backpedaled,' he said in discussing his struggles his rookie season with Cincinnati Bengals (h/t to Bengals.com). 'We were always press man, Cover 2. It was never just sit there and reading the receiver on his route. It was something new.'  As a former DB, I couldn’t imagine not using my pedal. Once you begin to decipher what routes are run at certain depths, it becomes kind of rhythmic. 

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/alabama-football/film-study-sabans-dbs-improving/