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Triangulation – The safety’s triangle alignment will keep balance in your defense vs. multiple formations

by: Bubba Schweigert
Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Southern Illinois University
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We are strong believers in the 3-4 at Southern Illinois and, as a defensive staff, we do not deviate from our commitment to running the 3-4 defense. Dale Lennon, our head coach, implemented this scheme as defensive coordinator at the University of North Dakota in 1991. During this time, I was the secondary coach and have been a part of coaching the 3-4 defensive system for 20 consecutive seasons.

    One of the advantages of running the 3-4 system is the ability to remain balanced vs. the multiple offensive formations that one will face throughout the season. The secondary alignment rules and landmarks are crucial to balance the defensive alignment. This is especially true when teaching the middle 1/3 safety’s (high safety) alignment when playing three-deep pass coverage. The high safety alignment rules need to be simple, yet sound vs. all types of offensive formations including two-back sets, single-back trips formations, and unbalanced formations. The high safety’s alignment should balance the defense and put him in position to be effective vs. the pass and both strong side and weak side running plays.

    We begin teaching our safety’s alignment vs. two-back sets (pro/slot) in a one-high safety look. The safety to the multiple receiver side will be the down safety and the safety to the single receiver side will be the high safety. The down safety will align outside the #2 receiver, five yards from the line of scrimmage and four yards outside if #2 is a TE. When the #2 receiver is a slot receiver, the down safety aligns seven-to-eight yards from the line of scrimmage and two-three yards outside the receiver. The high safety will align 10-12 yards from the line of scrimmage and split the difference between the #1 receiver from the single receiver side and the number #2 receiver from the multiple receiver side. The high safety alignment is referred to as the “triangle.” The “triangle” is represented by an equilateral triangle drawn along the line of scrimmage to the high safety from the two receivers which the safety uses to align horizontally and vertically on the field. The diagrams illustrate the safeties’ alignment vs. a pro set (Diagram 1)


and a slot formation (Diagram 2). An equilateral triangle illustrates the proper alignment for the high safety.


    After teaching the safeties proper alignment vs. two-back sets, we will begin to teach them their alignment vs. three-by-one formations. The safety alignment rules remain the same vs. three-by-one formations. The down safety will always align to the multiple receivers. The down safety aligns seven-eight yards from the line of scrimmage and two-three yards outside the #2 receiver. The high safety will align 12-14 yards from the line of scrimmage and split the difference between the #1 receiver from the single receiver side and the number #2 receiver from the multiple receiver side. The high safety may have to align as many as 14 yards from the line of scrimmage to make the “triangle” an equilateral triangle dependent upon the width of the #1 receiver’s alignment. The diagrams show the safeties’ alignment vs. both a trips formation to the tight end (Diagram 3)


and a trips formation away from the tight end (Diagram  4).


An equilateral triangle illustrates the proper alignment for the high safety in each of the drawings.

    After we teach the safeties proper alignment rules, we will illustrate to them the importance of their alignment by drawing a dotted line down the middle of offensive formations. We count all the players to the right and left of the dotted line and the players on the dotted line each are counted as a ˝ man. The defensive player numbers should be equal to the offensive player numbers to each side of the dotted line (Diagram 5).


    The diagrams will demonstrate how the alignment rules for the high safety balance the defense. Some factors that would slightly adjust our rules would be backfield sets, ball position on the field, or if the offense attack is strong side or weak side. We will allow ourselves to be a half man short to one side of the defense dependent upon the offensive attack, but we should never be a full man short on either side of the line (Diagram 6).



We feel that one of the advantages of the 3-4 defense is that it is easy to balance the defense vs. multiple offensive sets. Therefore, our safety alignment rules need to be simple to balance the defense.  

    The high safety alignment rules need to be simple and sound against all types of offensive formations including unbalanced formations or tackle over formations. The high safety does not have the time to count every player on the field to balance the defense, but he can find the #1 receiver to the single-receiver side and the #2 receiver to the multiple-receiver side. When a line is drawn from the #1 receiver to the single-receiver side and the #2 receiver to the multiple-receiver side to the high safety, the “triangle” should be an equilateral triangle. When the triangle is correct, the defense is balanced. 






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