also: shading · shade the center · a shade
Standing on a defender's shoulder rather than head up on him. A number in one room and a word in the next, and occasionally a verb.
3 meanings, all below. Jump to the one you heard.
Any alignment on a shoulder instead of directly across from a man. On the technique scale these are most of the odd numbers plus the i techniques, so a one technique is a shade of the center, a three technique is a shade of the guard and a 4i is on the tackle's inside shoulder. Not every odd number is an outside shade: a seven is on the tight end's inside shoulder, and a nine sits outside the tight end rather than on him. Being a half-man off is the whole point: it declares a gap before the snap and lets the defender attack it rather than read.
shading, a shadehead up, technique numbersIn ordinary conversation a shade with no other qualifier means the nose is on one shoulder of the center rather than head up, and a defense described as playing a shade is usually being described by that one player. This is the sense a coach means when he says the front is in a shade. It is narrower than the general alignment sense above.
shade nose, one techniquea zero technique, which is head upUsed as an instruction rather than a description. Shading a safety toward a formation's strength, or shading a linebacker toward a gap, means moving him a half-step that way without changing his assignment. Nothing to do with the line at all. It is the sense most likely to be heard in a secondary meeting.
cheat, favorthe line alignment