How’s and Why’s of the 3-5 Defense

by: Curt Block
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Mike Toop, now head coach at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY, has a coaching resume that spans 31 seasons with stints at Union, Colgate, and UConn before accepting the top job at Davidson. So when Toop observes that a Big East powerhouse like West Virginia has caught his attention by utilizing a 3-5 defense it’s worth hearing him out.

“The 3-5 is starting to come on,” Toop told AFM. “The thing about the 3-5 that people like is the ability to blitz as many as five guys from the second level. Today speed is the name of the game in football. You can have really strong guys who can bench press the building but that can’t run from here to the wall in four seconds. Those guys won’t do you any good.

“Coaching is the ability to recognize your talent and put that talent in a scheme that will be the most productive. I do not believe that one particular scheme is better than another. I do believe you need to have a scheme which you believe to be the most productive for your personnel and at the same time has the ability to be flexible without creating a large amount of learning. Coaching is teaching and communication.

“Regardless of the level of competition, the game of football is the same, that is to say scheme is no different. Offense will always have the advantage as they control the ability to put the ball in play and the QB will always have the ability to change a play if he recognizes the defense. Coaches must be able to make players learn and understand the defense and how they fit in the system. It does not matter how good the scheme is or how good your personnel is if they do not understand what the concepts are. I have been exposed to a number of different defensive schemes. I have settled on a defensive philosophy that revolves around a 3 down lineman defense. The more people on their feet, the faster they can get to the football.

“The trend in college football has seen a number of 3-4 (or 5-2 for the traditionalists) moving to a 3-5 or 3-3 stack with two strong safeties or OLB’s. The transition from the 3-4 to the 3-5 is fairly simple and ensures eight men in the box to defend the run game. It also allows for maximum base defense capabilities. “During cadence we like to jump around into different fronts. The basic premise on defense is to make the quarterback figure out what you’re doing after he takes the snap as opposed to before. The same thing goes for the offensive line. On a running play they’ve got different rules whether they’re going to block a 4-3, or a 5-2 or even a 3-3 or 3-5. We want to jump around to get them to think over the course of a game when you play 65 snaps you can get them to blow an offensive line call or miss or an assignment.

"In the blitzing game you can bring your strong safety, Will, Mike Dime or Sam, or any combination of these guys. From a protection standpoint it creates different possibilities and more work for the offense.

Nowadays, at all levels, college, the pros and even high school, it’s gotten to where you want to have that extra defender in the box against the run.”

"First let’s look at the base alignment in a 3-5 front. DT's are outside shade of OT’s in 5 techniques. Nose is head up on the OC. Sam and Dime LB stack on DT’s in 50 alignments. The Sam’s base alignment can be adjusted wherever you’re comfortable. We constantly game plan between a stack 50 or head up to outside leverage on the TE. At times we will put him up in the TE’s face as well. The Will and SS align in a walk-away position. Mike slides to his left where he’ll be aligned on the guard and the Dime will also be up on the guard. Cornerback’s align at normal CB position, 5-7 yards with outside leverage. FS aligns at 12 to 15 yards deep, splitting the width of the two #1 receivers. You can take the Sam and pull him back and slide the backers over and bring the strong safety down. It gives you a different look. At that point you have the Sam stacked on the tackle and depending on what play the offense runs you’ve got an extra defender sitting right there. Like many other schemes it is based on what the offense does tendancy-wise running the ball.

Defense for a run to the strong side: "The SS forces the ball inside, DT is C gap player, Sam is gap player on anything inside the OT and an alley player (bonus player) versus any full flow to the outside. The Sam does not need to be in a rush as the SS has force and the DT has C gap leverage. The Mike can be the ‘Shark’ and just go to the ball. The Dime and Will play cutback. If anything is run inside the OT strongside, the Sam will shoulder the ball inside to the Mike, the Mike will hit the blocker square and the RB make a decision. The Sam and Dime will squeeze from either side. The nose usually slants on every play. He will have one gap responsibility on every play. In the diagram above, he will play strong side A gap. The Mike plays his gap responsibility based on the direction the Nose slants. If the Nose does not slant, he plays the backside of the Center’s block and the Mike plays the A gap away from the Nose. The Dime and Will play cutback—the Dime backside A gap, the Will plays reverse and B gap cutback. The DT has C gap and plays boot.

When the ball is run to the weak side: "In this situation,the Will forces the ball inside, DT is C gap player, Dime is B gap player on anything run inside the OT and an alley player (bonus player) versus any full flow to the outside. The Dime does not need to be in a rush as the Will has force and DT has C gap leverage. On any run inside the OT, the Dime will look to shoulder the ball outside to the Will as he is unaccounted for. The Mike looks to fill the A gap. On any full flow to the outside, the Mike is a cutback player and should expect the ball to come back inside to him. The Sam will play cutback and is a B gap player. The SS plays for reverse and is a cutback player. The DT has C gap leverage.

"The DT’s and Sam and Dime have gap responsibilities in what we call a Natural X Principle. The DT will squeeze down with OT on inside release and play B gap. Dime will play off DT and replace outside on OT downblock and now play C gap. DT will create bubble and make ball bounce outside versus any blockers. Dime will take on inside part of FB and make ball bounce to Will who is force man. The Sam and DT will switch gap responsibilities as the OT downblocks. The DT must squeeze the OT and allow the Mike to run. The DT must take on blockers such that the ball will bounce outside. The Sam will play the C gap. DT will squeeze OT and look to play outside C gap. Mike will play A gap and stuff guard.

The Dime will take FB on with the outside shoulder and push TB to the Will who is unaccounted for. Dime will take on inside part of FB. The Will must see the OT and recognize the block on the DT.

Alignment adjustments: "Rather than simply align in a 35 look, we can disguise alignments and coverages. More often than not, we will align in a two deep shell and move to a 35 base alignment during cadence. The other capability provided by this alignment is the ability to play two deep coverages. Two deep coverages will make your defense a seven man front and will coincide with base 3-4 front rules. We now have the ability to play Cover 2, Cover 4 or any 1/4-1/4-1/2 coverage or strong or weak side roll coverage. You also have the ability to drop eight and rush three-maximum coverage.

"I have always been a proponent of aligning down linemen head up and slanting them to leverage rather than aligning them in a shade. Anytime you can make the person responsible for taking the football and bringing it up between his legs block somebody on the move, you have a better chance of winning that battle. For that reason we prefer to align our three down linemen head up and move them. The Sam, Mike and Dime play gap control relative to the direction of the line slant and direction of the ball. Again, gap control for the LB’s is contingent upon D-line slant and direction of the football.

Zone Pressures: "Our zone pressures feature unpredictability. The 35 front has several zone blitz capabilities. When we are in our two deep or more traditional 3-4 front, you are dealing with the Sam, Mike, Dime and Will as blitz people. Secondary people can be included but the 45 alignment provides for eight different defenders to blitz. We now have the ability to bring the Sam, SS, Mike, Dime or Will. We can still bring the CB’s or Safety if we prefer. There are eight defenders who being aligned have the ability to be a factor in the blitz game without telling the QB by alignment or needing to cheat alignment.

We have the ability to send any two of the five second lever defenders if we rush all three down linemen. We also have the ability to send three second level defenders and two down linemen when we drop a defensive lineman. There are a lot of different possibilities because they have to account for each guy.

Favorite blitz combinations: "The SS and Sam are interchangeable as are the Dime and Will. Rush lanes may vary but we will almost always game and D-line away from the blitz. You have the same options from the weakside. The Mike, Dime and Will, with any two of three going. Whether you drop the DT and send either the Mike Dime or Will as a change up are alternatives based on game plan and protection.

Man Free Coverage: "The 35 Front also makes it easy to utilize man free coverage and combine them with pressures. You can build whatever combinations of blitz’s you want as long as you can match up in personnel. Always remember to keep gap control in mind for the run game.

"These are principles we have utilized in our base 3-4 package while we also have the ability to utilize nickel personnel in our 35 game which gives us a different look in long yardage situations. All defenses hope to control the tempo of the game and field position with defense and special teams. This how we attempt to do it at the USMMA."

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