progression reads vs. position read

Question
I have coached at schools in which the best athletes must play both ways.  Consequently, I do not have the time to teach a complex passing game that requires the QB to make multiple progression/position reads.  I would like your thoughts on what "process" you would use to teach a QB a "systematic" procedure for identifying open receivers against various defensive coverages.

Coach Carter

Answer
Coach Carter -

Thanks for writing coach!  Well, in response to your question, I have good news and bad news.  Bad news first.  There really isn't any concrete way to teach a QB a systematic procedure that works in general for any offense.  Not that you can't teach one, it is just a situation where each QB in each system will have to learn that particular systems progressions.  Basically what I am saying is that unless I knew your offense, QB, goals, etc, I couldn't give you anything specifically helpful.  Let me give you an example of why.  

Let's say you and I (2 different teams) run similar offenses.  In these offenses, we both have the same play action pass play to the right after faking to the TB.  In my offense, I might want to look short first, always!   You however, might want to look mid level or long first always.  SO the QB progression will change dramatically depending on what your offensive scheme and philosophy says.

Now, that is a specific example of why there is no concrete way to teach general progression to QBs.  But there are things that every coach and QB should know going into every practice week in regards to progression reads.  When you are prepping your team / QB each week, decide your goals for each play beforehand.  When doing this, have general guidelines - On this play, if it is 4 yds or less for a first down, read FB, TE, then WR.  It if it 5 or more read TE, WR, then FB.  Getting what I mean?  Your progressions should be dictated by down and distance, formation you have in, skilled players in that formation and their strengths and weaknesses, play call itself, score, field position, etc.  This will allow your QB to not only be more effective, but it will allow him to learn the reads and coverages better by making those decisions AND getting on the same page with his receivers.  The QB knowing the teams goals on every play is key to success.

Now of course, I am sure you are reading this saying "Thats great, sounds good.  But how do I teach this to everyone with limited time, and how do I decifer when to do what?" Well my friend, thats up to you. It will depend on your goals each play, your offense, your talent, etc.  I do have some helpful suggestions though.  First off, I am in favor of only playing your QB one way, regardless of how good of a defensive player he is, or how many players you have.  Your loss of him on defense will be far outweighed by your gain of his preparation on offense.  I promise.  IF you need him for a play or 2, here and there, fine.  But use your team's defensive practice to further his knowledge.  While the D is doing footwork drills, running group D, etc, get him inside and study the game films, coverages, tendencies YOUR PLAYBOOK and ROUTES, etc.  You will find that this extra time will make a huge difference in him learning defensive coverages.  And, like I said, his loss on D will not outweigh his gain on O!

Put in a few terms that will dictate what your progression will be on a particular play.  For example - On that same play action play we talked about before, have 2 audibles a QB can call at the line.  We will say "SALT" and "Pepper".  I totally made these up, but that is how easy this can be.  SALT will mean SHORT, looking FB, TE, then WR.  PEPPER will mean LONG, WR, TE, then FB.  This is a very easy yet effective way for you to gain control of your QBs progression on a certain play.  Once he has a good handle on it, then you can let him go on his own more often.

The last is to just come right out and tell him his progression on certain plays while calling the play.  OK, same play action play.  Call comes in like "46 boot".  Change that to "46 boot-deep to short", or "46 boot look WR".  That works well too as a start.

Coach, of all I wrote, there is one thing that all of this depends on. Your QBS knowledge of the offensive system and pass patterns.  None of this matters if your QB doesn't know exactly where each receiver is supposed to be on each play!  So his mastery of the pass routes on every play is mandatory for any type of successful reading of a defense. That is the main reason I am in favor of taking the QB out of defensive practice and having him learn your offense daily.  Written tests weekly, game film tests, etc!  Anything you can think of.  It will make a huge difference in a short amount of time, I promise.

Well Coach.  Think about what I have written here.  Please feel free to write back with anything else you need in the future, or to go further with this topic.  I am always more than willing to help you out!  I am limited with the space I can use to write back per response, so if you want to continue this with more specifics, please feel free to do a follow-up! Either way, I am looking forward to hearing back on your progress and thoughts.

Best wishes and good luck

Coach Perl