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AFM Subscribers Ask with Joe Willis (Part I) Head Coach, Cedar Park High School (TX)

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Joe Willis is the head coach of 2012 State Champion Cedar Park High School (TX). A defensive specialist, Coach Willis uses multiple looks in his 3-4 defense to slow down an up-tempo offense. Cedar Park calls their defense like they call their offense – marrying the front and coverage calls together and using disguises pre-snap on every play. They use a combination of slants, stunts, and blitzes to help defend the no-huddle offense. Coach Willis answers your questions.

How do you best defend the trips formations and 2 X 2 sets when your opponent runs both the zone read but also passes out of it? Mike Sherlock, Assistant Coach, Richmond High School (MO).

Let’s start with the 3 x 1 formation because it presents the most significant coverage dilemma, especially if the solo receiver is a vertical threat. We believe the key to defending the QB read game is to account for him on the LB level. The advantage of the 3-4 system is being able to hold or “backfit” linebackers into QB fits on the mesh.

When you do this, however, you are going to need cutback or box support from your solo side safety. If you do play cover 2 of any kind to control the solo threat, you put that safety in a run/pass conflict. Our schemes are designed to avoid that conflict by dictating where the ball goes through the slant game and solo safety disguise.

Our slant game works on any one-back read game and the direction of our three down movement can be based on QB/RB threat controls or field/boundary pre-determinations. If a 3 x 1 team is using the read game paired with play-action, my best advice would be to push the ball back into the boundary (spill it) with front movements and play press 2 for boundary run support. You can easily mix that with a safety spin to the field paired with a boundary slant. That would be where our zone plan starts. We also use pressure man stunts with clamp coverage for the primary target or zero coverage if we feel good about the match-ups. In 2 x 2 sets, we start with quarters coverage, but we also use field/boundary stunts when the ball is on a hash.

All in all, the best answer for a dual threat team is to have multiple looks with sound run support schemes. Remember, when you scheme, execution and not extreme ambition is a good rule of thumb. But I do think it is important to have a plan to account for their best ball carrier and be able to double the best receiver. Multiple fronts and stunts give you that flexibility.

How do you teach “toughness” or install the attitude of “toughness” throughout your summer conditioning program and then into the fall season? Todd Fulton, Defensive Coordinator, Hugoton High School (KS)

I’m not sure there is any stand-alone concept that builds toughness, but it is more than likely the same thing that builds confidence. We coach our players through a set of expectations in the summer identical to those that we use during the school year. They are based on an athlete’s ability to be accountable to his teammates by being there and by finishing every drill. We focus on developing our players three-step burst, body control (core movements), overall test scores through summer challenges, and conditioning through a 10 second exertion to a 30-40 second recovery model.

I am a big believer in mental toughness through accomplishment. For me, that process begins with the idea that you: 1) show up, 2) grow up, and 3) build up. I think we sometimes spend energy and effort on developing toughness from the neck down when in fact most of the work our kids need is between their ears. Mental toughness can be developed in a lot of ways, but when your kids trust you enough to be where you said they’d be, I believe you can sell them on any level of physical toughness you choose.

In terms of drill work developing that trait, competition-based drills have worked the best for us. If you can turn a drill into a game and get your athletes to compete, you can find out pretty quickly which players are willing to get through the pain, to get to the win.
 
What is your primary adjustment between coverage and front vs. a two tight end set? Eric Bennett, Head Coach, Saranac Lake Central School District (NY).

Because we are a three down front, we don’t really have to make an adjustment to front or base coverage. But if you are a four down front, I know exactly what you are thinking. While both fronts are seven-man fronts, a three down front allows you to play both safeties in a “C” gap alignment in quarters (the same as in man coverage). We play our base three down with 4i techs, so the run gap for the safety is a natural fit if the TE blocks. This makes a 3-4 effectively a nine man box when facing 12 personnel (tight pro). If we get 22 personnel looks, we will adjust our outside linebacker and corner to the nub side based on our game plan. If we have a corner we don’t want in run support, the easiest rule is to “pinch or spike” the outside linebacker to the nub.

One other thing to consider is going zero to two-tight personnel groupings and moving the front to the dominant TE. If everything is equal personnel wise, zero is a good adjustment. If it is 22 personnel and the Z is a one-on-one problem, I would suggest adjusting to cover 2, which would put your nub safety in a middle of the field cover zone. This coverage is really cover 3 with a press/funnel corner on the flanker.

In my mind, a 3-4 is the best base defense vs. this structure, but I think you must consider who the deployed receivers are outside of the core. This may change your nine-man box plan into an eight-man middle of the field cover look.
 
How do you adjust your scheme when you do not have a big run-snuffing nose guard and are forced to rely on a smaller and quicker player? Bryan Gray, Head Coach, East Hall High School (GA).
 
We all want exactly what you described in a zero tech nose guard. For years, the 50 defense was built on the premise that you have three two-gap players in the interior three down linemen. The TNT concept proposed that the best of these would be a stud nose. In our three down set, if we have a 2 gap player, that is still where he goes but when we don’t have a dominate nose, we try to play the most disruptive (vertical penetration) player we have at that position. Stems, slants, shades and twist all play into smaller players’ strengths and that is what we have evolved to in our 3-4. Even when we do play our nose in a zero tech, we seldom do so on a run down without protecting the other A gap.

One way is to execute the “nose check,” which is a simple stunt performed by one of the inside linebackers and the nose. It is a great way to get a smaller guy on the move and speed things up for their offensive line. It can be an “X” stunt or a “Load” stunt based on backfields and by long-sticking your nose all the way to the B gap with a double load or a load and read on the inside (see Air Force,) you can create zone combo nightmares. We have game-planned this stunt on run and pass downs both, and as a rule “man-fan” protections are easiest to attack over the center, so it has been very effective as a down-to-down call.

One other concept to look at is playing your DEs in 4i techs with a smaller nose. If he can’t win the gaps, you can always squeeze B gap and overlap backside A with an inside linebacker. We accomplish this with typical “Eagle” shaded fronts and “Double Eagle” fronts as well. The reduction of one side or both of the other interior line kills a lot of daylight inside the tackles (inside zone destruction,) but you must have the ability to get your inside linebackers on wider platforms and funnels when you do this.

I do think the smaller and quicker linemen carry some advantages with them, but the days of just playing a nose and two 5 techs is not a good option if you don’t have a difference maker at the nose guard position.
 
How would you defend, within your own 10-yard line, trips to the field side and twins to the boundary side vs. a spread offense in the shotgun? John Simon, Head Coach, Sidwell Friends School (DC).

I don’t have many answers in that area of the field other than speeding things up for the QB. Football is a math problem for the defense, and my math says that I have to defend five guys that can catch the ball right now. That means that in our regular personnel we will have a linebacker in coverage on one of those “hot” receivers. That also means that we have one more guy to go get the QB.

From there, we are going to have to consider a few things in terms of our game plan, but all of our guys will understand that whatever happens must and will happen fast. We always plan against “LB vs Stud” matchups and we also spend a great deal of time on teaching linebackers the concept of “hot help.” We also have the ability to double a Stud through M1 Red concepts, but then our numbers in the blitz are evened out and, if the QB is mobile, we are one player short of contain.

In general, speed things up with max pressure, and understand that a three-step drop and QB run are your greatest dangers. The linebackers in a 3-4 must understand their role in your empty plan, because every offensive coach in the world is looking for that matchup!
 
How would you teach your linebackers to key against the Wing-T? Are they following the guards or the backs? Rodger Elander, Head Coach Westerville North High School (OH).
 
Our linebackers are taught from day one in our program that they will use both high beams (RBs) and low beams (Triangular Zones). High beams are like driving down the road at night and seeing ditch to ditch - you take in the RB and you observe the under-keys as well. We use high beams vs. all shotgun formations and we do so from a wide platform of the nearest back.

When an offense gets under center like that of the Wing-T system, our inside linebackers eyes go to low beams. Low beams take in what is directly in front of you like you would see if the traffic in front of you was moving around. That triangular view includes the gap created by the OL and the nearest point touching the ground of the nearest RB.

We teach our linebackers to “bug” their eyes on that space and look for one of two flow keys. Full flow or split flow will determine where his read step takes him. If he is keying through to the FB, he will match the first direction and redirect into an insert on any “cross hats or split flow”. If he is keying through to the offset RB, he will focus on the footwork off the OL. Anytime hats cross the line, the inside linebackers redirect to the first inside daylight. This has been a very productive way to play the Wing-T or Slot-T variation for us over the past four years. It also helps put pressure on their bootlegs because of the run-through potential we get with our inside linebackers.
 
How do you defend up-tempo, triple option offenses that use multiple sets? Specifically, offenses that use quick burst huddles and use minimal cadences that allow them to snap the ball immediately after its play is put in? Also, how does motion and shifts within this scheme affect your defense? Gerry Pannoni, Head Coach, South County High School (VA)
 
I believe that being sound is goal number one vs. any version of tempo. We have a variety of techniques we use in practice that condition our players to get lined up on time, but in terms of being multiple and making quick IDs and checks, it can be difficult to maintain fluidness on defense vs. multiple looks. This is especially true when they are doing so on the Umpire’s whistle. For us, it starts with the idea that our offense complements our defense by constantly putting it to the litmus test in practice. Our guys are going to see some of the fastest tempo all week in a good-on- good drill we call “Team Take-off.” Then they are going to be coached with urgency through the next 18 periods of practice, so there is something to say for how you present your kids with a challenge that is practice worthy.

I also think there is something to be said for the marriage of your front and coverage into one call system. That marriage will eliminate a lot of communication issues from the top down, especially when the offense employs shifts and motions in their system. I do believe it is important for the outside linebackers to have coverage concepts built into call + deployments. That helps eliminate the gap that occurs in call transfers from the safeties.

If you can get to a point where you are sound, the next step is to find triggers to use for your guys to stem and move themselves. Fast offenses of all kinds are usually based on simple schemes with window dressing. If you can move your fronts around and call various blitzes in a tempo situation, then I believe the advantage goes back to you. If your primary goal is to get lined up that is a sound goal, but it makes the job of blocking you equally simple.






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