Fronts

the system we use to call fronts and gap control is very similar to how most of you probably call them in other defenses; a 2 digit number and a word.

The 2 digit number signifies the technique played by our Ends (first number goes to the strong side end, second number goes to the weak) - now when i say technique, i do not mean alignment techniques - but which gap they take from a head up position:

• 3 - Ends play the inside shoulder of the tackle
• 5 - Ends play the outside shoulder of the tackle

This is a very very simple system that allows us maximum flexibility. Next we use a word, this word tells us what the linebacker alignment is. we have two different alignments for our linebackers that we will talk about.

Stack

Stack is our base alignment, if we could, we would live in this front every down of every game, I have no problem hanging my hat on this front.

The benefits of the Stack front are that the linebackers are concealed and protected from base blocks, and each linebacker and linemen have a "2 way go" making it hard for offensive linemen to guess where we will go.

But, there are times, as shown in the example, that we are outflanked by formation (for example by a 1 TE set), and we need an answer for that. this is where our "Pull" front comes in.

Pull puts us in a head up 4-4 look, the great thing about pull is that the reads and reactions don't change, save one person, the down linebacker who is now a 6 tech player, but we have simplified his responsibility to: "blow up the Tight End, then read and react to flow as you normally would".

The down linebacker is always C Gap responsible no matter what the call was. 

Books, Blogs and other stuff

Hey Everyone!
I wanted to break up all of the football goodness with a post simply about the football books i love to read (mostly about defense) and blogs I follow.

Books!

• Jerry Campbell - The complete 3.3.5 or 3.5.3 Stack defensive playbook
• Jerry Campbell - Combine the 3.3.5 with the 4.2.5 defensive schemes
• Lou Tepper - Complete Linebacking
• Richard Bell - Winning Defensive Football
• Tom Olividotti - Coaching Pattern Read Coverage
• Drew Tallman - Directory of football defenses
• (he who shall not be named) - Coaching Linebackers (the art and science of coaching)
• (he who shall not be named) - Developing Linebackers the Penn State way
• Pat Ivey - Complete Conditioning for football

These are the books that have shaped my philosophy of defensive football and everything we do can be found in each of these books.

Blogs!

There are a few great blogs on the subject of football that I feel like I need to link to, many of the writers I have met either on the web or at clinics. I have stolen a lot of knowledge from these folks and I really appreciate what they do in the coaches community

• Cripes! Get back to fundamentals...
• Football is Life
• Coach Hoovers Football site
• Blitzology
• RunCODHit
• Compete In All Things
• Strong Football

Defensive Back Fundamentals

Our last Personnel Group is our Defensive Back group, these are primary pass defenders, but also play key roles in the run.

Personnel

We deploy 3 Defensive Backs (3+5+3 = 11). Who split the field into 3rd's:

• Left Corner
• Safety
• Right Corner

Stance

Once again, We don't stress stance, ive said this in all 3 position posts because I really stress this to my coaches - don't over coach stance. we put the kids in a basic "athletic" stance which can be seen in just about every sport. 

See the Similarities?

 If our kids are comfortable, and can move in all directions - they will play better. 

Depth & Alignment

Depth and Alignment really depends on the coverage played (we will talk about ours in another post). But, our first day alignment is for our 3 deep coverage:

• Corners - 5 yards deep & 1 yard inside the widest spread receiver to your side
• If there is only a Tight End - you will be 5x5 outside 
• Safety - 7 yards deep and Head up on the Strong side Guard

Keys, Reads, & Run Reactions

The keys are simple - just like linebackers, we are reading flow. We do this for 2 reasons:

1. We have the ability to cross train - if a kid can read as a Linebacker, he can read as a Safety, and that's one less thing we have to teach
2. Communication - if all of our players are looking at the same thing, their communication should match.

Reads are very similar to the linebacker as well:

• Corners - 
• Ball to: Fill from the outside->In (DO NOT LET THE BALL OUTSIDE OF YOU)
• Ball Away: Take a deep angle of pursuit across field
• Safety - 
• Ball to, Or Away: fill - keep relative to the ball
• If you are inside the ball, stay in side, if you are outside the ball, stay outside.

Pass Defense

without getting too much into our coverage system (thats coming in a later post) I want to talk about our defensive back's role in the pass game. To put it simply, they are the deep defenders - no matter what coverage we run, they are covering anything vertical. the rules for them are the most simple: 

• Corners - Cover the widest Vertical to your side
• If there is no vertical - drop deep and look for work
• Safety - Cover the 3rd Vertical to either side
• If there is no 3rd Vertical, drop deep and look for work

That's all we are going to get into for this post, I am trying to keep these short and split as much of the information up into separate posts as possible. I hope everyone enjoys that format and gets something out of this series.

Linebacker Fundamentals

The next unit I want to talk about is our linebackers. Now, there are tons of ways to play your linebackers, and there are tons of people in the world who will tell you their way is "the way", but im just going to detail what I expect my Linebacker coach to know and teach.

Personnel

We deploy 5 linebackers; three inside, and two outside:

1. Right Spur
2. Right Backer
3. Middle Backer
4. Left Backer
5. Left Spur

This strategy allows us to maximize the amount of talent on the field, and enables us to be multiple in our fronts.

Stance

At our level, we don't coach stance too much. I know a lot of coaches do, and that's fine, but I honestly don't want my units working stance all day - we don't get enough practice time for that. What I want to see is an understanding of pad level and the relationship of pad-level and depth, more then anything else - i'm looking to make smarter players. 

We will work with our kids to understand that, the closer they are to the LOS, the lower their pads need to be. from their we only correct obvious issues (feet too wide, etc)

Depth & Alignment

Our linebacker's initial depth is heels at three yards, we want them tight to the Defensive Line - this helps in concealing intentions and better covers them up from being blocked by guards, Also Offensive Linemen will get nervous when they see 8 defenders that close to the LOS and make mistakes.

Their Alignments are as follows: 

1. Right Spur - 3x3 off of the End Man on the Line (EMOL)
2. Right Backer - 3x0 off the Right Offensive Tackle
3. Middle Backer - 3x0 off the Center
4. Left Backer - 3x0 off the Left Offensive Tackle
5. Left Spur - 3x3 off of the End Man on the Line (EMOL)

Base Linebacker Alignments

We are going to take each set of backers and talk about their roles one-at-a-time to get a better understanding of how we play linebackers

Spurs

We traditionally use our spurs as our contain players - even though most teams have gone to the "hybrid" safety model - we don't see enough spread in our league to worry about it - this is still a downhill running league we are in (we will talk about spread / spread option adjustments in another post) 

our Spurs read the EMOL to know whether it is a  run or pass and the read is very simple: 

• Base / Down / Reach Block - Run
• High-Hat Block - Pass
• Release (by Tight End) Assume Pass

Once they know - they go, and while on the move they need to confirm their read by getting their eyes into the backfield. 

• this is a VERY important step, if it is missed, you will get burned by play action or TE arc blocks on sweeps all night. 

Run Read

Once your Spur gets a run read, he needs to squeeze down on the EMOL hard:

• Run at a 45 degree angle to the near shoulder of the EMOL
• It is critical that he keep his shoulders SQUARE to the LOS
• His eyes need to be down the line of scrimmage checking which direction the ball is going
• Ball coming at you  keep the ball on your inside shoulder
• we call this a "Force" technique
• Ball going away from you - you need to cover the QB on bootleg or protect against counter/reverse (BCR) - 
• we call this a "Chase" technique

its important that your players call our their reads and reactions
this helps you as a coach know what they "saw" and what they "did"

Pass Read

When a spur gets a pass read - he needs to drop at a 45 degree angle to the sideline - getting his eyes on the #2 receiver. he has 3 reactions off of #2:

• Number 2 Vertical: Man Him
• Vertical route is anything over 7 yards
• Number 2 Out: Man Him
• Number 2 In: Continue dropping to the flat - cover first threat
• Flat is defined as the area between the sideline and the hash mark - from the LOS to 10 yards.

We are going to take a deeper look at all of our coverage and adjustments later - but this is the basics

Base Coverage 

Right & Left Backers

Our Right and Left Backers are "run first" defenders, meaning rarely will they have pass responsibilities - unless another call is made, we do this to simplify our reads and ensure we have  a 5 man rush almost all the time. 

Our linebackers Read backfield flow - they will get their run/pass read from the QB himself (very few Quarterbacks in our area give good fakes),

Run Read

The run reads are very simple:

• Full Flow To - all Running backs moving to the linebacker
• Full Flow Away - all Running backs moving away from the linebacker
• Split Flow - Running backs moving in different directions  

Full Flow To

If a linebacker gets full flow coming at him, he will close the nearest open gap and will keep his position on the running back (similar to the Defensive Linemen) 

Full Flow to

Full Flow Away

If a linebacker gets full flow away - he will press his gap locate the ball, and play cutback/counter.

Full Flow away

Split Flow

When we get split flow, we want both our linebackers to play exactly like its flow away. this avoids any confusion and we will just play solid gap control defense.

• Press your gap
• Locate the ball
• Make the play

Split Flow

Middle Backer

unlike our Right & Left backers which can be more aggressive play makers. our middle backer needs to be 'smarter' as he has a dual role (similar to the Spurs) he needs to be involved in pass coverage as our short middle dropper. 

His reads are the same as the Left & Right Backers - QB for run/pass, but the difference is, he does not need to worry about flow - it is always "Flow To" for him. also, unlike the Right & Left Backers he has one gap to cover - the A gap away from the centers snap hand. which allows him to play more conservatively and not so quick to fill. 

His pass Drop is simple, Drop Vertical Cover Running back Out, if Running Back stays in - Cover the first Inside breaking route you find. "look for work".

Thanks!

I will be updating this regularly, now that im on a roll, Hope someone finds this helpful!

Defensive Line fundamentals

I want to start by digging into the *new* way we are playing our defensive linemen.

Personnel

We utilize 3 defensive linemen: 

• Left End
• Middle Guard 
• Right End

Stance

I'm going to say this with just about every personnel group - we don't over coach stance, I want my kids in an position that they can be comfortable and also make their steps. We typically use a standard 4 point stance, this gets them the lowest and most comfortable (especially for new players)

Depth & Alignment

In our base scheme, we want our Defensive Linemen to be as tight to the ball as possible and in heads up alignment: 

• Left End - Head up on the Left Offensive Tackle
• Middle Guard - Head up on the Offensive Center
• Right End - Head up on the Right Offensive Tackle

Phases of Line Play

We look at Defensive Line play as three separate phases: Read, React, Release. Thinking this way allows us to drill each phase individually and work on specific portions of a players technique.

Read

In the read phase, our linemen will take a short 45 step with the down side leg - this is a directional power step - and a simultaneous open-hand punch to the chest with the same side hand.

React 
Once he has made contact; he will take a vertical gather step, and counter the steps taken by the Offensive Linemen: 

• Offensive Linemen is going away - Follow him (Squeeze) laterally, do not cross the LOS
• Offensive Linemen is coming at you - Drive through his shoulder (Drive)
• Offensive Linemen is trying to get outside you - Fight to keep your original position.

Release

Once you have countered the block, get your eyes into the backfield and play the flow of the play:

• ball going away from you, keep tight to the line and collapse - you are playing cutback 
• ball going to you, keep tight to the line collapse and keep the ball where it is in relation to you
• If you are inside of it, stay inside.
• If you are outside of it, stay outside.

this shouldn't be that unfamiliar to most D-line coaches. But really what i wanted to share was our method for breaking down the D-line into 3 separate - teachable and repeatable steps.

The Open Source Stack

Hi!
I'm starting this blog to detail our defensive system and how we not only defend and game-plan against our opponents, but talk about how we define, teach, and drill every position.

Thanks for reading! Im excited to start this project!