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Quarters Coverage vs Quarters Defense

By Coach Kip | September 21, 2007

Quarters coverage should not be confused with a Quarter Defense.Quarters Coverage is also known as Cover 4 or 4 Deep Coverage. This is where a defense will keep its current personnel on the field and deepen its coverage. A typical look would be as such:

As you can see the Corners have the deep field from has mark to Sideline, the Free Safety takes from the middle of the field, to the other side of the hash, and the Strong Safety takes the other half of the middle of the field to the hash. I always like to slightly overlap coverages so there is no confusion where one player starts and one stops.Quarter Defense is where there are 7 defensive backs. Nichol Defense has 5 defensive backs, Dime Defense has 6 Defensive backs and Quarter has 7. Typically arranged like so:

Any Coverage can be called in Quarters’ Defense but it is typically run during the end of the game where it is almost guaranteed that the opposing team will pass. Every player just keeps all the offense in front of them and does not let them score.

Although Quarters is not taught very often in High School and Youth Football it is not a hard defense to learn. My advise would be to leave you current personnel on the field and teach Cover 4 defense. It is easier to understand.

Best of Luck

Coach Kip

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