Teach Your Quarterback To Protect Himself

Our philosophy at Ft. Pierce Central is to demand that the quarterback be the field general and leader. In order for him to do this, he must have the ability to command everything on the field, even the direction of the protection. We ask our quarterbacks to identify the possible blitz and protect themselves. One advantage of the spread is that defenders have to come from a distance. This distance forces the defense to show its hand. For the quarterback, it is his job to identify which direction to send his protection. In full-slide or 6-man protection, it is our philosophy to send the slide or double-read side toward the blitz. Even with a new or inexperienced QB, this is easier than it sounds if a few assumptions are made. We first assume that those in the box are not coverage defenders but automatically considered potential blitzers. Anybody outside the tackle box is considered a