Loaded Zone

If you're looking for an edge defensively next year, I will offer this tidbit. This is a concept we stole from Iowa State back in the late 90's. They called it "Cover 6" / "Cover 9", in which they would load a side of the field with cloud (corner) support. This provides the best of both worlds for some, as it allows the benefits of Cover 2 (loaded zone) as well as Cover 3 (backside).

Being a Cover 3 team (in the past, when I was a DC), this provided the perfect bridge (both in game planning and with implementation) between running MOFC and MOFO coverages. This video is a handout created (via Powerpoint and Camtasia) for the players to better illustrate what we're trying to do. The selling point is that we always show Cover 3 (MOFC) and jump the flats (rotate secondary) at the snap. This is perfect (and geared toward) strongside runs and the 2-man passing game. We would flip this strong or weak, depending on game plan. The clips are of Iowa State and us running it in season

I felt that this was pertinent to provide as a prerequisite before engaging future posts about the Under front.

This stuff is available in the "download" section (free). We called this Cover 6 (though most teams Cover 6 is a weak rotation) and we would adjust / communicate with color call signs for all our coverages.