hey kingsport ! i'm in bristol and i have been thinking about this for quite sometime. it's really a debatable topic for sure and something that needs to be corrected. all this info is my opinion and taught me by a good secondary coach long ago. good cornerbacks are hard to find. 1st if a wide-out is lined up on the QB's left the CB should line-up or jam the reciever on the LOS on short yardage situations. line up outside the receiver so as to keep him in front of you so you can see the ball in flight by only turning your head no more than 45 degrees. the CB will not have to turn his body in this way. this is great in defending the deep ball but at the same time will put the CB at a disadvantage if the WR chooses to run an inside route which is far more likely. to remedy that the CB needs to cheat a few steps inside which actually puts the CB out of position only if a deep route is to be run. any turning should take place almost immediately after the snap. i prefer the tight line-up where the CB is right up on top of the WR pre-snap because it sends a message,(mental), that the CB is superior. when you see a CB lined up 3 yds. deep, that mental message becomes one of the CB respecting the WR's speed or deep threat and that appears to be dominant way of lining up. spurrier comes to mind the most when i think of what's called "the quick slant." i personally would never concede this easy route and to stop it is to line-up inside and bump on the LOS. with all this in mind,you actually have a game within a game. it's not feasible to put our best defender on their best reciever because it interrupts the ability to change defensive schemes and leads to confusion in the secondary. UT was in cover two on eason's deep pass this past saturday but i'm not buying into it. abernathy was supposed to rotate over and give foreman help on the deep ball.more on that later. gaulden got lucky and put his hand up while he had his back to the play, and got a piece of and under-thrown ball. i say he was "out of position" and this leads to an argument. like you, anytime i see these defenders with there back to the play i feel they are out of position and this leads me to feel also that they are not being coached properly. it is probably the most difficult position to play because it requires a lot of athletic ability and immediate instinctive ability at once. the bottom line,to me, would be to get in good position,(keeping the WR in front of you between you and the QB), ASAP. this prevents the need for that last split-second attempt to get turned around and find the ball also,which is virtually impossible. then add to the mix a slightly under-thrown ball and the WR has to stop or slow down and the DB who has his back to the play isn't aware and 99% of the time you see defensive pass interference called. that is the correct call. my opinion is that because,like you, i see this occur far too often from UT's defenders our players are not being coached properly and the adjustment,(getting from inside position to outside position), is by no means anything easy to teach much less accomplish because of the many variables involved. i feel most CB's are naturally gifted for that position. UT needs to definitely improve in this area and it's currently a weakness as is our linebackers,due mostly to injuries. Opposing OC's are going to attack us and Lame Kiffen is coming to town.
