Press Man Coverage From The Guy Who Started It In College Football


By FirstDown PlayBook on May 6, 2019

As many of you are going through spring football right now, this is the perfect time to try new techniques and broaden your horizons a little. For you defensive backs coaches it might mean looking into some aggressive press man coverage techniques like we discuss in this podcast.

In a lot of ways, Ron Case is the “father of press man coverage” in college football. As you will hear, he began doing it when it was generally something you saw on NFL Sundays that they called “bump & run”. Once coach Case began coaching it, he and the coordinators he worked with leaned on it heavily from that point on. It is one thing to teach and play man coverage once in a while, but Ron Case put a lot of corners in the NFL over the years playing press man coverage over 75-80% of the snaps.

Today’s podcast is an excellent example of a coach learning from the players and then taking that knowledge and giving it back to other players. Coach Case credits the players he has had a chance to work with, and as you will hear in the podcast, he definitely credits the defensive line coaches and the players up front who make this decision to play press man work.

The bonus, however, about this week’s podcast is that you are going to hear about a life story and a football journey that we promise you is unlike any coaching resume you have ever heard of. This coaching career will take you to Paris Island, two tours in Vietnam and then to a college degree achieved with honors while he was coaching at the same time. Not bad for a coach who never got his high school degree.

Buckle up. You are in for a lot of great football coaching help, but by the time you get to the end of the podcast you will be amazed at the path coach Case took to becoming one of the elite secondary coaches in college football!