Kamikaze Kickoff Coverage Scheme

I stole the bomber kickoff coverage from someone. Probably on the internet. There, that’s off my chest.

We used it for one season in the late 2000s, and I got chicken after that. For that year though, it was a huge success.

No kicks were returned for touchdowns. Zero. We kicked deep nearly every time, too. And we made most tackles inside the 25 yard line.

We made a lot of stops inside the 20.

Kickoff Coverage Basics

The Kamikaze Kickoff Coverage is the name I used because it’s not only is the name of one of the key players, but it fits the idea behind the design. There’s a definite high risk to running it. And a big reward.

It is very aggressive. That fits my mentality toward the kickoff. You want to make a statement!

Place the ball on the hash and kick it between the hash and the sideline to one side. It’s really important that your kicker can directional kick accurately.

If he starts putting a lot of balls in the middle of the field you’ll have a disaster on your hands. It’s probably the biggest reason I’ve never gone back to this kickoff coverage.

For the first four games that year, we lined up on the left hash and kicked it down the left hash every time. Teams started to try to take advantage of that.

We switched it up later in the season and eventually even put the ball in the middle of the field. But we had a very good kicker. I don’t think I’ve had one I trusted that much for kickoff coverage since.

The Kickoff Coverage Positions

Closest to the sideline on the kick side (the side the hash is on), will be your first contain guy. His job is “Protector of the Sideline,” because if anything gets between him and the sideline, its lights out.

The next 4 guys in are Daggers. They are working to the ball, keeping it on their inside shoulder. The reality is that Dagger #1 and #2 should be on the outside of the hash, and the #3 and #4 should be on the inside of the hash. Assuming the ball is kicked on the hash.

The diagram is a little off there, as #3 is outside the hash. #1 and #2 are keeping the ball on their inside shoulder while #3 and #4 keep the ball on the outside shoulder.

Critical Players

The Kamikaze is right on top of the ball. He can fall in behind the kicker and sprint right off his hip at the kick. Or do whatever else he’s comfortable with. Don’t slow him down.

He’s a laser to the football – no responsibility, other than to tackle the ball-carrier. The Kamikaze isn’t wrong unless he doesn’t give 100% effort down the field. He should be your best (and a little off, too).

The next 3 guys are the Bombers. To this point, the kick-off is a pretty standard directional kick. But the bombers fold on behind the daggers. They fill in the spaces. Bomber #1 fills in between Daggers #1 and #2. Bomber #2 fits between Daggers #2 and #3, and Bomber #3 fits between Dagger #3 and #4.

If everyone does what they are supposed to do, there are a lot of bodies in a very small area. And no where for the returner to go.

The Most Important Player

The final player is the contain guy on the outside – “Protector of the Hash.” You condense the field down to an area between the kick-side sideline, and the backside hash.

This guy needs to be an athletic and excellent open field tackler. He doesn’t need to be a big hitter, but he has to have lateral movement.

The biggest breakdown you could have is this guy losing his contain. Like I said, it never happened for us – but… well, it’s another reason I got scared in later years.

Below is a video of this kickoff coverage in action. I don’t have any end zone shots where you could really see it happening, but you get the idea (I’m not claiming this as a perfect example, either).

Why Don’t We Still Run It?

So after all of this, the next season we ran a traditional kickoff coverage. Why? I started questioning why we needed these gimmicky things, when we could do it just as well with a regular lanes kickoff coverage.

I don’t regret the decision, but I do think this was more aggressive and created a bit of an attitude on the kickoff team. Also, I was scared to death that it would eventually not work.

Teams were trying everything to attack and beat it, but couldn’t do it. The biggest problem was I didn’t know if we had another guy who could be the “Protector of the Hash” out there.

Today, we almost never kick the ball deep. Everything is hot squibs, pooch kicks and onside kicks. It’s too dangerous kicking the ball deep to an elite athlete, and hoping he doesn’t end up in your 11th best guy’s lane.

One advantage to the Kamikaze Kickoff, though. It took a lot of work to get it right. Why is that an advantage?

Teams tend to under-coach their special teams, at the same time giving tons of lip service to how important they are. You know a kickoff coverage strategy like this is scary. So you coach it to death!