FORT DRUM, N.Y. — Fred Reed made it very clear to his defensive backs what he wants them to do in the red zone.

“If he shoots his hands up, you shoot your hands,” he told junior cornerback Julian Whigham. “Get used to that.”

From 5 yards out of the end zone, the Syracuse defensive backs ran a drill during Wednesday’s open practice at Fort Drum in which one of them played a wide receiver and one the covering cornerback, playing man-to-man. The receiver ran a fade into the right side of the end zone, and as soon as the receiver lifted his hands to make a play on the imaginable pass, the cornerback was to do the same.

Reed proceeded to spend approximately the next 10 minutes going through red-zone coverage schemes, especially on what he wants his safeties to do when a receiver heads for the goal line.

Prior to the red-zone lectures, the Orange’s secondary worked on a drill revolving around field markers that were placed in a square with an area of about 5 yards. A back would start by sidestepping to a cone, backpedaling to the next and then turning to either pick up a loose ball or catch a short pass from an assistant coach.

Another variation of the drill entailed the players backpedaling to a marker before running diagonally across the square to catch a ball. They’d flip it to a coach, backpedal on the other side of the square and move forward to haul in an interception.

The secondary also went through drills in which a player would throw a blocker to the side, square up his body with the line of scrimmage and keep his head facing forward to pursue the ball carrier.

Linebackers

As they did during Tuesday’s open practice, the SU linebackers started Wednesday by scooping or pouncing on a loose ball tossed on the ground by linebackers coach Clark Lea.

They worked on shedding blocks and moving forward to make tackles, and individually pushed a sled back and forth along the far sideline with the whole group following.

Later, the linebackers backpedaled in a zig-zag direction, touched a tackling dummy and charged forward to catch a pass from an assistant coach.

Published on August 13, 2014 at 9:03 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb