Written by
Roderick Rogers
8/29/2024
Your visual acuity is one of your most vital senses. If you would like to become an elite defensive back, then your eyesight will be extremely helpful. I am speaking of your ability to have disciplined eyes and unwavering focus throughout the reps. The eyes will facilitate rapid decision-making and enhance situational awareness, both of which are pivotal in keeping track of both teammates and adversaries on the field.
Why are your eyes so important? A defensive back, who gets caught looking in the backfield as a receiver slips behind them, will cost the team. Each time the ball snaps, defensive backs are given an individual challenge, and you need to stay focused on that battle with your eyes. It doesn’t matter if you are a safety reading your run/pass keys or a corner performing coverage on a wide receiver.
I’ve spent a lot of my life watching and playing football. From experience, many times I would miss a tackle after losing eye contact with the ball carrier's hips. Others will close your eyes right before contact and open them to see that the person with the ball has eluded you.
How about the fade or go route, when the defensive back has their back and eyes turned away from the ball trying to track the receiver, never having vision on the quarterback and the location of the receiver at the same time. Often times, that doesn't turn out well for the defender. They end up getting head topped or not able to make a play on the pass, which can turn into a touchdown score for the offense putting your teammates behind at important points in the game.
Another example is when a safety starts chasing the football, that is in a running back's grasp and loses sight of the ball only to eventually learn that the ball carrier redirected and reversed his direction back to the other side of the field. What I am trying to explain is this, the minute you lose focus on the football field and your eyes are undisciplined, you will take yourself out of position and mistakes follow. When you continue to make the same mistakes over and over, you will eventually lose you spot on the depth chart and ultimately surrender your spot with the organization. This game is tough and requires you to keep a satisfactory performance, building the team up with your abilities.
Football is a game built to get you distracted and focused on the things that do not matter, rather than locking into your responsibility. Do not fall for the bait, instead make it a point to get your eyes on your task and keep them there. If you do so, more than likely you will experience success.
All Eyes DB Camp, Chad Wilson, speaks about in his article, the importance of visual tracking exercise to develop eye discipline and their ability to track moving objects. One activity is tracking a ball with your eyes as it moves from hand to hand or tracking the flight of a bouncing tennis ball. Another exercise is following the fingers of another individual as it moves around, forcing your eyes to work on visual focus.
DB Coaches get fed up with athletes who have amazing talent but never in the right place because of the poor eye focus. You need to be able to play what you see but how can you do that if your focus is on the wrong thing. Many players will make mistakes because they are responding to what they thought they saw or what they believed was going to happen. My college coach at the university of Wisconsin would have a saying for the safeties on the team and that was “Sit, see it and then React,” which kept us from chasing our gut and attacking what we see.
Reference
Fix Your Eyes on More Interceptions with these 5 Techniques, Author Chad Wilson
Fix Your Eyes on More Interceptions with these 5 Techniques - alleyesdbcamp
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