re: a question about angles

It comes down to this...

A Linebacker sent me a DM:

Coach, how do I take better angles?

Some thoughts:

—

Angles come down to two things:

Leverage and space.

Let’s dig into it…

Leverage

To play with good leverage, you need to know where your help is.

(Your help is either a teammate or the sideline.)

To take a good angle, you need to fight to keep your leverage.

Stay on the proper hip of the ball carrier.

Don’t overrun the play.

Don’t waste your help.

That’s step one.

Space

As you keep your leverage, you must eliminate space.

Close ground on the ball carrier so they don’t have any room to work with.

This includes horizontal space and vertical space.

Suffocate the ball carrier.

Give them nowhere to run.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, angles come down to leverage and space.

If you can understand those two concepts, you can understand angles.

All the best,

PS - When you’re ready to take a deep dive into Linebacker fundamentals, click here.

All the best,

Jon Svec
Defensive Coordinator
St. Francis Xavier University
X-Men Football
Email: jsvec@stfx.ca
Twitter: @jonsvecx