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Stopping the Run With the Odd Front Defenseby: Mike WilliamsAssistant Head Coach , Running Backs, University of Tennessee-Martin © More from this issue The 3-4 defense can be very effective against the run by mixing combinations of stunts, slants, and loops. I grew up learning and then playing defense with an even or four-man front. In my early days as a defensive coordinator, I ran a 4-3, 4-2 and bubble or desert storm defenses. We had some success stopping the run but nothing like the achievements weve had recently at Missouri Valley College. Since I arrived for the 2005 season, we have finished either #1 or #2 in team rushing defense among all NAIA colleges. Why have we been so successful against the run? Here are the key reasons great players, solid schematics, great defensive assistant coaches and an outstanding head coach who controls the clock and likes to run the ball. We run a 3-4 defense and believe our success is directly related to our movements. We believe our defenders are very hard to block when they are slanting, blitzing, looping, and wrapping. Most college coaches have the misconception that you need four big and strong defensive linemen to stop the run. This is simply not the case. You can effectively stop the run with a three-man front. Ive included some of our fronts, stunts, and coverages that we use in order to stop the run. Diagram 1 is of our Viking defense and diagram 2 shows our 50 defense. Diagram 1: Viking Defense Diagram 2: 50 Defense Out of our Viking front, our favorite stunts include slanting the defensive lineman strong or weak and bringing the outside linebacker off the edge and slanting our defensive line to the strong side. We call this our Viking Bandit 2 (Diagram 3). If we wanted to bring the strong-side outside linebacker off the edge and slant our defensive linemen weak, we would call Viking Stud 2 (Diagram 4). Diagram 3: Viking Bandit 2 Diagram 4: Viking Stud 2 Diagram 5: 50 Moss 2 Diagram 6: 50Water 2 After running combinations of various stunts, coaches will learn that certain stunts are much better vs. certain formations and plays. As an example, you may find that an outside linebacker stunt is much more productive vs. the zone read than an inside linebacker stunt. There are a number of advantages with the 3-4 defense: Monty Roe is the Assistant Head Coach, Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach at Missouri Valley College. His defenses led all NAIA colleges in rushing defense in four different seasons 2005, 2006, 2009, and 2010, Roe previously coached at Wayne State University (NE) for five years. He also coached at Dakota State, Nebraska-Kearney, and Sioux Falls. Articles on this subject are on AmericanFootballMonthly.com |
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