Customer Reviews

Complete Linebacking

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(10)

 

 

I concur with the guy from Baton Rouge. Under the guidance of this supposed "defensive genius", Lou Tepper, the LSU Tigers had two of the worst seasons defensively in the history of the school. Several opposing offensive coordinators and QBs hinted at how easy it was to read Tepper's schemes and pick them apart. Thankfully, he is gone, and none too soon. His concepts for defense are rudimentary at best, and are now outmoded. If you want to read about real defense, get the book by Fritz Schurmer or one written by Bill Arnsparger.

Lou Tepper has demonstrated in the past 4-5 years that his coaching abilities may either be far outdated or just bad. Guiding his defense the past two years to the worst overall rating in the school's history shows his inability to coach quality players successfully. Tepper needs to "reinvent" his coaching techniques to adjust to the student-athlete of the 21st century.

The "Reader" from Baton Rouge (January, 27, 2001)and "klabbath" seem to take joy in calling LSU (Which Finished #7 Nationally in 2001)a "Lower echelon team". Which is interesting as LSU is Always a Perennial Top 20 team. Tepper's book is not for a Linebacker playing the game in today's world. Lou Tepper took an LSU Program fresh off a Bowl Win over Notre Dame, highly ranked before the season, and proceeded to Produce The Worst Defensive team LSU has EVER fielded. He was fired as the Head Coach at Illinois and an internet site called S.A.L.T (Students Against Lou Tepper)was formed while he was at Illinois. Two examples of How Tepper's Book/Philosiphy do not work: 1)ANY Coach in America knows better than to line you DBs up 10 yards off the line of scrimmage. 2) Real Coaches do NOT line up a LB'er with 4.8 speed (Recruited specifically by Lou Tepper)to cover a 4.3 Wide Receiver. Tepper once claimed Florida was using an "Exotic Offense"(??), while back in Reality, he had the DBs Backpeddling downfield & Florida would simply toss the ball 10 yards or less, and since the DBs were already lined up 10 yards behind the Line of Scrimmage, & backpeddling to boot, it resulted in a 20 yard gain. This lasted all game, with NO adjustments. His Infamous "Drop Linebacker" Position does not work. A Drop Linebacker is a Glorified Safety, that must possess Wide Receiver speed, yet be able to cover the Run up the Middle & Corner contain. In the SEC, that is a 240-250 Lbs LB'er with Legitimate 4.3 Speed. How many LB'ers have you seen with that Weight & Speed? Exactly. About those Player Stances in the book, *Several* High Profile SEC coaches quipped that these Silly stances Tepper devised, always gave away the Defensive scheme away. Lou Tepper is currently Losing at Division II Edinboro, Pa., with 5-6 & 4-7 seasons. At least he is far, far away from Division I talent. *LSU under the guidance of Nick Saban who has NFL Defensive experience, finished the 2002 season with the #8 Ranked Defense in the Nation. #2 in Pass Defense.

I'm not sure why LSU fans are responding to this book, as the failure of a team isn't solely because of a single coach. Football is the biggest team sport, which in fact, makes it the greatest and probably most difficult sport to manage. This book is about linebackers, not creating or implementing a defensive scheme. It's not the best book I have read, but it will certainly have a place in my football library. Overall, Tepper has developed a book that I believe is easy to understand, apply to your practices/program, and increase your linebacker productivity. Some of his techniques I do not completely agree upon, and some of them are not applicable to every defensive scheme, but all-in-all, Tepper puts his heart in to this book.

I first read this book when I was in 8th grade and played for a city youth league. I went from playing the defensive line for every snap of my 4 year career to being the best linebacker in the league my first year playing. This book taught me all of the techniques I needed to know and gave my coaches good resources to improve performance. Now I go to high school and my freshman year I went up to varsity and played 50 lbs below the average backer at my school. This book is really a great way to learn and master the position. Any linebacker or anyone wanting to become a linebacker should definitely buy this book ASAP.

I was playing offensive line last year for my high-school football team, and I wanted to get in shape and be prepared to play linebacker, and this book has done just that! It provides in-depth analysis of what a linebackers job is, and how to make him better at it. I recommend this book for aspiring linebackers and coaches alike.

This is simply the most thorough and the best written book on linebacking available. I wish all coaching books were this useful.

I concur with the other reviewer that the negative reviews of Coach Tepper's book come exclusively from whiny LSU fans. It is not helpful in any way to claim "This guy is lost." or to point to Coach Tepper's defensive record at one lower echelon school when reviewing the book. The issue is whether or not you, as a reader, found the book helpful and insightful, not whether or not you, as a fan, think the Tigers' defense was poor.

I found this book EXTREMELY helpful. In almost every defense in modern football, linebacker is the most important position. They must have the speed of the defensive backs, the intelligence of the quarterback, the might of the linemen, and the fearlessness of the running backs, and they must use every bit of it on every play.

This book will give you the information needed to not only find these traits in the players that have it already, but evoke them in the players that don't quite have it yet.

Diagrammed on page seven is a drill called the "Jingle Jangle" that, in itself, is worth the price of the book, since it will greatly assist in determining which of your players has "change of direction" ability and speed. Both man to man and zone coverage skills are described in great detail, and drills are shown to effectively teach these defensive systems.

I greatly recommend this book to anyone who coaches football. It will have an immediate impact on your defense, regardless of the specific system you run.

Good luck,

"Coach" Wade

Well written in plain english for coaches with some experience.
Tepper is an authority on defense with a whole line up of players that played play Pro ball.
When I buy a book, DVD or listen to a speaker I try to think in terms of " What can I learn for the money invested? I feelif I can get a few good ideas from a book and impliment what I learned, it's worth it.
Tepper offers lots and lots of good ideas and coaching points that are interesting and practical. Writtten so you can explain it to others.
Thanks Coach.

I do not take LineBacker lightly! This auther has "IT". Probably the ONLY book that you need on this position. It's better than I expected! Couldn't ask for more frome one man. This is the kind of stuff that is kept secret from you unless you are playing for someone who knows this stuff. Increase you entire football I.Q. NOW and get this book. HIGHLY recommended for young guys wanting to learn the position.