nick saban is a heck of a coach and he's got a heck of a coaching tree his defensive schemes have trickled both up and down with high school teams now running variations of match quarters and more and more nfl teams are basing out of two safety shelves his influence on the game especially at the college level has been immeasurable he's produced a laundry list of big name coaches at both the college and nfl level guys like kirby smart jimbo fisher jeremy pruitt will mushchamp lane kiffin jason garrett dan quinn mike malarkey pat shermer steve sarkesian and many many more have coached under satan he's a fantastic recruiter and he's a fantastic teacher nick saban's cover 7 uses zone with man match principles at its simplest the saban defense creates rules to allow defenders to attach and man coverage based on the depth of the route and receiver alignment what's more no matter how many top tier players he loses to the nfl draft his defenses just keep on producing it helps to have a string of five star recruits waiting in line but that doesn't mitigate the fact that his defensive scheme is just incredibly sound saban has a ton of checks adjustments and calls based on unique formations and game plans but his base and core system is consistent he uses two safety shells and always works to have a plus one man advantage as all defenses really do and that means when there are three receivers to one side he wants four defenders there to protect against it a well-structured defense will always strive to have that man advantage so let's dive into saban's bread and butter and explain the general gist of what his system does and how it works there are a couple terms that will recur through this breakdown and these three terms are the most important number one is apex defender number two is meg and number three is mod the apex defender is gonna be the first underneath the fender inside of the cornerback and a two safety look that means that there's one apex defender split out to the called strength which is usually the passing strength and for our purposes we're going to call one apex defender in the box that box defender can be a linebacker safety or anyone else but apex defenders are both usually responsible for the number two receivers to keep things simple even though there are a lot of names for that box linebacker we're just going to call him an apex player we'll talk a lot about the apex's responsibility and they're a big part of the pass coverage for saban's defense meg is a common term that tells the defensive players what type of coverage to run on a single receiver meg stands for man everywhere he goes so no matter what if defender is in meg he is following that receiver regardless of where they go in the duration of the play mod is similar but is the core of savin's man-match system mod stands for man on demand in mod coverage the defender will only attach the receiver if they run a route over five yards if the receiver runs vertically five yards or less or goes inside within five yards the corner will become a zone player and let the receiver transfer to another member of the defense so in a two by two set which means there are two receivers on each side of the formation if the number one receiver outside runs inside and short they will pass them off and look to bracket the number two receiver mod is the base call for most of the quarters coverages that save and runs when using mod coverage the apex defender will take the first man to the flat that includes the number one receiver if they run a 5 yard hitch otherwise they will have the number 2 receiver if they run a quick out or a bubble or the running back if they swing to the flat since the apex defender is attaching to the flats and the corner could be attached to number one vertically or dropping to their deep quarter that leaves the safety to take number two vertical if number two doesn't run vertically into their zone and instead goes to the flats or runs a corner route outside the safety will help bracket the number one receiver or wait to collect anyone entering their zone that leaves the inside linebacker to defend any number three receiver that isn't covered by the corner apex or safety that's a lot to take in so simplistically the apex defender has the first receiver to the flats the corner and the safety had the first vertical receiver to enter their deep quarter zone and the inside linebacker collects the number three receiver wherever they are and they carry things vertically to alleviate stress on the deep defenders mod is flexible enough to be called versus three by one sets or two by two sets the base for everything in saban's system is mod coverage with a two safety shot everything we'll talk about from here on are our variations in that scheme to give different looks defend different types of concepts and create advantages for alabama's defense that means the defense may be in mod coverage in its vanilla form to one side and a triangle or box coverage variation to the other triangle coverage simply refers to three defenders over two receivers which creates a triangle and box coverage is four defenders over three which creates a box how those triangles and boxes are created are the different calls and statement system first we'll start out with cut and cutters are coverage that saban typically runs versus balanced two by two formations in cut the cornerback traps the first receiver to go outside to the flat it's essentially a variation of cover two with pattern matching instead of the apex having the first of the flats it's the corner in turn the apex will cover number two if they go vertical and if number two goes outside they will look to bracket number one from the outside using cut allows saban to prevent quick throws outside that may out leverage the apex defender it can also bait quarterbacks into making throws right into that waiting corner defensive schemes really make their money in how they choose to defend three by one formations they have to decide how to cover three receivers that can overload zones or create rubs and picks while still being able to defend against the single receiver on the back side saving has a number of solutions for three by one sets based on match ups and alignment we'll start with some of the ways that saban defends the backside of three by one sets the simplest is just to have a meg call for that player and let the coroner take him one on one when alabama needs help on the backside saban's most common calls are either dog cone or tough dog creates what is essentially a cover 2 man look the corner will still be in man coverage like meg on that single receiver but he's going to play with a trail technique because he has help over the top with the weak safety that allows him to be in better position for curls or comebacks because he doesn't have to worry about being beat over the top cone is very similar to dog except with an inversion of the leverage from the corner instead of playing like pure matte coverage where he takes away the inside the corner will take outside leverage and create a high low and inside out bracket in combination with the safety the safety will help protect the inside and the corner can squeeze him to that direction for help if that receiver runs a dig for example alabama will have the safety come down on it with inside leverage tough on the other hand is a little bit more of a unique way to defend the single receiver and involves the safety spinning down safety rotates down to the curl flat zone and attaches to whoever is first in the flats and that includes taking away the slant window from the number one on the way there or covering a flare from a running back sabin will either have his corner and mag coverage and have that safety help with the quick throws and the those windows inside or he'll have the corner invert and cover the deep half which creates a quarter quarter half or cover six look to finish up we'll cover two of the more common ways saban defends the three receiver side in stubby the corner will have press alignment and be meg on number one the apex will be in man on number two except when number three goes to the flats if number three is out they will take them man-to-man if number two runs under and in they will drop into zone and collect anyone in the curl the inside linebacker will now take the first player that goes under and in and match that crossing route if number three goes vertical now they will carry them to the safety and the safety meanwhile we'll take that number three vertical or bracket number two the rules and trips can be a little hard to follow there so essentially the number one receiver is removed and man coverage and then it's just mod coverage on the number two and number three receivers inside that number one receiver is usually the longest and hardest throw and it's the least likely to get targeted so saban's comfortable just leaving them in single coverage and going meg with the corner there and using his basic man-match principles with the guys inside lastly we have stump and stump is very similar to stubby the only difference is that when the corner sees a quick hitch from the number one they'll give a smash call to the apex defender that lets the corners slough off and get underneath the corner or vertical route from the number two or number three and that then allows the apex of defender to cover the hitch it's essentially just mod coverage out of trips and allows alabama to defend against specific route combinations and sort of rob underneath and get into passing lanes there are a ton more variations and adjustments that saban makes but those are the core principles he uses he ties man coverage into zone schemes which allows his players to create tighter coverage without the downsides of zone overloads or rub routes versus pure man coverage saban's a master at teaching his rules and making sure his defenders are disciplined despite the turnover he experiences in personnel and coaching staff his defenses continued to produce and help make him one of the best to ever do it hey guys i appreciate you watching all the way through make sure you drop a comment let me know someone scheme idea person who you want to see broken down here in the future i'm also releasing a speaking football course that goes over the basics of the language of football what techniques are what alignments are so if you're interested in that check out the link in the description