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AFM Subscribers Ask with Joe Daniel Defensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach, Prince George High School (VA) – Part I© More from this issueJoe Daniel has more than ten years experience coaching on the high school and college level. In 2009, Daniel began building a website which includes more than 300 articles on defensive coaching – www.Football-Defense.com Daniel is also the host of The Football Coaching Podcast and has written several eBooks, including Coaching Football’s 4-2-5 Defense, Installing the 4-3 Over Defensive Front, and Dominating Football Defense with the Zone Blitz. A frequent contributor to both AFM and Gridiron Strategies, Daniel currently has a blog on AmericanFootballMonthly.com, “Linebacker Keys in the Miami 4-3 Defense.” He answers your questions. What is your defensive installation schedule in the pre-season? What are some typical defensive practice plans (individual, group, and team) you use in the pre-season to get your defensive squad ready for the season? Scott Weissman, Head Coach, Clayton High School (MO). On day one we install the base front and coverage. From there, we base installation on what each player needs to know. The defensive line will learn basic line stunts on day two, while the linebackers learn to adjust the defense to formations and the secondary installs man coverage. Day three will focus on the installation of the blitz package and zone blitz coverage. This is the day we will put in our second front as well (Under Front). Installation on day four is minimal because that is the day we put shoulder pads on. Every time you add equipment, the kids forget. Aside from a couple of line stunts, day four is focused on review. Day five is a situational focus day. We need to install situational defensive calls like an empty check (e.g., 6 man, cover 0 blitz), end-of-half coverage (two-man) and goal line defense. The start of the next week is the beginning of our first scrimmage week. Based on the information that we get from the opposing coach, and our own knowledge of that team, we will formulate a game plan. The game plan normally consists of just two or three line stunts, three or four blitzes, and two or three coverages. I limit myself to ten complete play call combinations in a given game week, and we will work only those ten play calls (front, stunt, blitz and coverage make up one play call). For example, our call sheet will have “Over Tex Strong 3” as one of the ten calls. If that is the only time “Tex Strong”, a line stunt, appears on the call sheet, then we will only plan to run it from an over front with cover 3 behind it. Once we have installed everything in the first week of practice, each game week is a focus on mastery of the ten play calls against the opponent’s top formations. We are not a 2-platoon team, so we have to work both offense and defense in our practice day. Our practice time must be efficient. Every practice will include a 5-minute pursuit drill period. We open the defensive portion of practice with pursuit drill and set the tone. Once we have established the importance of pursuit, we only run one or two reps as long as the effort is strong and there are no mistakes (See Diagram). The best answer to defending 10 personnel is to gameplan. Is the opponent getting into spread formations to throw the ball, or to run it? If they are spreading you to run, we are going to play a 3 on 2, quarters concept to the wide side of the field. This is played similar to a soft cover 2. On the short side, we will play a man coverage concept with the safety and corner. That allows us to keep a 6-man box with the Mike and Will. If they are really only capable of running the ball, we can play cover 0 and keep 7 defenders in the box. When the team is spreading us to pass, and we want to use zone coverage, we need to get into the 3-on-2, quarters coverage concept on both sides. Our Will linebacker will stay as tight to the box as he can, while still being able to get to his pass coverage responsibility; that is, wall the #2 receiver (Diagram 1). Diagram 1. Sideline Pursuit How do you deal with a double tight end formation and what do you run against it? Also, do you have any proven motivational methods for your defense pre-game? Ron Woitatewicz, Head Coach, Dakota Ridge High School (CO). I am not a big proponent of motivational speeches or other tricks to get the defense hyped up. We come to work four days a week in practice. The game should not require any special motivation. The game itself is the motivation. Games are a lot more fun than practice. That being said, I am much more emotional on game days. I have never been a “rah rah” guy, but I’m sure it is clear to my players that I’m more amped up for games. Our whole staff is. That translates to your players. Against a trips closed formation (three receivers to one side, tight end on the single receiver side), we do not have to make any significant changes. We call strength to the multiple receiver side. The Will linebacker makes his ‘Heavy’ check. From that point, we start game planning to get the ball in the hands of the player we want carrying it. We want the ball moving sideways, not downhill, so we start by influencing the quarterback to keep the football, and then to pitch. If the quarterback is exceptional, we will use a tag to have the defensive end squat, instead of bending down the line of scrimmage and attacking the dive. The best advice I ever received on defending the zone read came from Jim Reid when he was the defensive coordinator at the University of Virginia. When you game plan for the zone read, always go in with three ways to defend it. You have your base plan, and then two adjustments to confuse the quarterback’s reads and timing. We can use fronts, stunts and blitzes to create those looks for the offense. Start working option responsibilities early and often in your defensive practices. Even if you do not see option very often, you are reinforcing the assignments of your base defense. We key the near back in the backfield as the primary key. In an I-formation, the Mike linebacker keys the fullback and the outside linebackers key the tailback. The only exception is shotgun split backfields, which we cross-key. Our first two steps will always match the primary key. They continue on their path to fit the play unless they get a pull or high hat from their secondary key, the offensive guard. We always follow pullers and stress that guards don’t lie. A high hat from the guard indicates a pass play, and we will then get into our pass drops. The defensive linemen are almost always playing in an outside shade, regardless of position. This makes them interchangeable between the ends and tackles on either side. We focus on the “Strike Point.” The inside hand strikes the outside number and the outside hand strikes the shoulder, framing the armpit. If the strike point comes at us, we try to beat the block and control our gap. If the strike point goes away, we bend down the line of scrimmage and look to attack pullers and kick outs. Reaction to block away is always to treat it as if the play is a run play away from them. They then bend and sprint down the line of scrimmage. While this is simplistic, it is the basis of our entire defensive line play. We teach that there are really only three types of blocks to defeat: block to, block away, and pass block. |
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