How to Select a Dominate Defense

In my March AFM Youth Coaching Expert column I wrote about the 5 things that a coach must do in the off-season to be successful. Last month I talked about how to select a winning offensive scheme. I will complete this trilogy with this month’s article on how to select a dominate youth defense.

Proactive vs. Reactive
Offense and defense are primarily different. Offenses are proactive as they decide when a play begins. They can shift and go in motion and do a host of things while the defense must wait around until the offense decides be snapping the ball that the play has begun. This is why by nature defense is reactive as we are always trying to respond to what the offense does.

Matching Up Athletes
The goal of any good defense is to match up your best athletes against the offense’s best athletes. This is especially important at the youth level. I have been beaten by teams that talent-wise were no different than mine but they had one really fast kid that we just didn’t have the foot speed to keep up with. You want to make sure that the defense you select will allow you to put your best athletes against the offense’s best athletes.

Components of a Sound Defense
Many times we hear coaches state that “we played sound, fundamental defense.” I would bet many people wonder what that means. It means that your defense does:

• Defend against the sweep. The most important youth play to stop
• Must cover all 8 gaps (A – D to the center’s right and A – D on the left)
• Cannot over pursue as to leave the backside vulnerable to the counter
• Cannot under pursue as to leave playside vulnerable to the fake counter
• Must assign three players on each side of cover the triple option (dive, keep and pitch)
• All 6 eligible receivers (includes the QB) must be covered
• Attain a strong inside pass rush
• Attain a strong outside/contain pass rush to prevent the QB from scrambling for big yardage
• Prevent the big play as defined as any gain over 10 yards
• Has force which is equally balanced to that of the offense.

I would like to talk more about the last point in my list “Has force which is equally balanced to that of the offense.” I have a strong belief in matching force on force (balanced) with my defense. By balanced I mean that if the offense has 5.5 players to the right of the Center (Center counting as a half player) then my defense needs to have 5.5 players to the right of the Center. At no point in time do I want the offense to have 7 players on one side of the ball and my defense to have 5 players on that same side. Unless my players are vastly superior to my opponent then the offense will overwhelm us with force of personnel at the point of attack.

Understand Your League/Level
Every youth league has its own specific rules. For example, in my league a defender can make contact with a receiver until the QB releases the ball. Therefore, a CB can beat on the receiver all the way down the field until the QB throws the ball. As such I teach my CBs to maintain contact with the receivers until they hear their teammates yell “Ball Up” which is our signal that the ball has been thrown. I’ve had a couple of opposing fans and coaches just lose their minds with referees asking for illegal contact past 5 yards. The referees end up having to educate them that our rules are different than the NFL.

You also need to understand the type of players that you are going to have each year. This can be very difficult at the youth level as many times you will not know the level that you may be coaching until late in the off-season. On the other hand, there should be some trends which you spot. For example, in my franchise we tend to have very smart kids that have size. Unfortunately they tend to lack speed and can be too nice and polite.

Understand Yourself
Having been born and raised in Chicago I can tell you that when the Bears play football it is a “holy” day. If you schedule a kid’s birthday party or a wedding at the same time as when the Bears play you will make several enemies! As a Bears’ fan and a coach, I would love to run the 46 defense and have the same results Buddy Ryan did in the 1985 – 1986 season. Therefore, I have always had a desire to run that defense and get after the QB. After reading multiple books on the topic I realized it wouldn’t suit how I wanted to coach at a youth level. I am risk averse. I want to remove my opponent’s ability to get the big play. I want them to need 12 – 14 plays to score. Very few youth teams have the discipline necessary to go on 12 – 14 play drives. My approach has worked very well for my teams. We generate tons of turnovers, plenty of tackles for negative yardage, compliments my offense (ball control) and shutout almost 2/3 of our opponents. Even though I will always have a fondness for the 1985 Chicago Bears I think I’ll stick to my current approach.

I shared this story because I believe that it is critical to understand who you are as a person and make sure that the schemes you are using will match the manner in which you want to coach. If you are risk averse go with a 5-3, 4-3 or 6-2 style defense. If you want to really attack your opponent then maybe the 46, 10-1 or a stunting 4-4 is the answer for you.

Find Educational Materials and a Mentor
While there are many great places to get DVDs and books on various defensive theories and approaches, I do feel that these sources are not nearly as strong as they should be. Personally I used a great deal of information from many different places to create my 5-3 Flex (ible) defense; unfortunately, I have yet to find a book or DVD that I thought was truly outstanding. Finding a mentor is also very difficult in this area as many youth coaches are not nearly as sound on defensive theory as they could be. Luckily for me I did gain some solid defensive thought from my high school varsity head coach (John Hill, 1985, John F. Kennedy High School, Chicago, IL).

Regardless of what defensive approach you select you must have:
“All 11 players execute their assignments on EVERY play”

I can think of no better motto for a defense. Many coaches fall into the trap of congratulating a defender that makes a great play; however, the player made the play by neglecting their actual responsibilities. As a coach you must make sure that each athlete plays within the confines of his position’s assignments. If not a good coach will figure out that the player is freelancing and he will burn you. I remember coaching a 12 year-old semi final playoff game. I wanted to call a trap to my FB. One of my fellow coaches said “don’t run it to the right side. Their star linebacker plays there”. I said that is exactly the player I am going after. We burned him on 3 traps which all went for more than 20 yards each. These plays were available because he was so concerned with our off-tackle play that he was neglecting his interior assignments. That game spring boarded our team to a Super Bowl victory the following week. Had that player been more dedicated to his assignment we may not have won that game as it was a nail biter all the way.

I wish all of you the best of luck in implementing your defense. Understand that it takes time to teach players and convince players to execute their assignments but if you stick to it and be highly detailed-oriented you will have great success.

Coach David Marco – Biography
Coach David Marco is entering his 6th year of youth coaching and his 4th as a Head Coach for the Hinsdale Falcons of the Bill George Youth Football League (www.BGYFL.org). BGYFL is one of the largest and most competitive leagues in northern Illinois. As a head coach, his teams have earned 2 Super Bowl Runner-Up trophies and 1 Super Bowl Championship trophy. In his last 2 years his teams have been the Super Bowl runner-up at the 100 Gold (11 year old) and 80 Gold levels (9 year old). These teams previously had been perennial sub .500 teams that had never won a playoff game. Over the last two years Coach Marco’s teams have recorded 13 shutouts in 21 games. Offensively they have averaged 15.0 and 27.5 points per game in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Coach Marco utilizes the Double Wing on offensive and the 5 – 3 Flex on defense. He may be reached at CoachDMarco@gmail.com