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AFM Magazine


AFM Subscribers Ask – with Bubba Schweigert, Defensive Coordinator, Southern Illinois University

by: AFM Editorial Staff
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Bubba Schweigert enters his fourth season as the defensive coordinator at Southern Illinois University this fall. Since he arrived in Carbondale, the Salukis are 25-11 and last fall led the Missouri Valley Conference in total defense. His philosophy of defense is based on pressuring the quarterback and creating turnovers. 

Schweigert’s 2009 defense ranked second nationally with 23 interceptions and fourth nationally with 37 turnovers caused. Before joining the SIU staff, Schweigert was the head coach at Minnesota-Duluth. He also coached at the University of North Dakota for 15 seasons, helping them to a Division II National Championship in 2001. 

Coach Schweigert believes in the 3-4 defense, having taught it for over 20 seasons. “One of the advantages of running the 3-4 system is the ability to remain balanced vs. the multiple offensive systems that you will face during the course of a season” said Schweigert. He answers your questions:

1. How do you align vs. a one-back, two wide receivers to one side, double tight end formation?
Ray Hradek, Head Coach, Medina High School (OH).

We align in our base front vs. all formations. Therefore, our base alignment to this formation is an odd front with a one high safety alignment. Our concern vs. this formation is being able to get enough defenders in the box to defend the run while being sound vs. the pass. It is important to remember that the offense has nine players in the box when aligning in this formation. The defense needs to be able to find ways to get nine players in the box to defend the run effectively.

2. Is there an offensive formation, such as double digits or tight end-double flanker, that causes you to adjust your base alignment? If so, what’s your adjustment? Darrien Harrison, Offensive Coordinator and Wide Receivers Coach, Seneca High School (SC).

As stated in the previous question, we feel it is important to be able to play our base front vs. all formations. We will adjust to those formations based upon the plays that we are defending and that we need to stop. Our adjustments will vary – we may kick our front strong or weak to make the offense adjust or we will find a way to add a secondary player to the box. Football is a game of numbers and you need to match the number of offensive players in the box to defend the run. The only way to defend the run short-handed is to have better athletes than the offense. That may happen against some opponents, but one needs to prepare for the times that your opponents are equal to you or have a better talent level.

3. Could you explain your favorite coverages and blitzes out of the 3-4 base defense? Louis Nightengale, Offensive Coordinator, Perry High School (AZ).

Our base coverage philosophy is to match the offense according to the formation. Our base teaching is to be in a two-high safety look vs. balanced formations and a one-high safety look versus 3x1 or 2x1 formations. Our favorite blitzes are based upon the protections we will see from the opposing offense. We do not know what our blitzes will be until we scout our opponent and complete our video study. It is important to have your defensive alignment look the same before the snap whether or not you are playing base defense or blitzing. It gives the offense a big advantage if they can read your defense before the snap as opposed to reading it on the run after the snap.

4. Versus a double tight, double wing, Wing-T team, what is the best and most effective defense to use from the 3-4? Karl Asbury, Head Coach, Unity-Payson High School (IL).

We feel that the most effective way to defend the Wing–T teams is to bring both OLBs at all times. The general philosophy is to disrupt the mis-direction with penetration and to wrong-arm all blocks to keep the ball bouncing to the perimeter. It is difficult to disrupt Wing-T teams if you only bring four players. The defense will be able to force plays to the perimeter by bringing five players and wrong-arming all blocks by lead backs or pulling linemen.

5. Two questions for Coach Schweigert – (1) Do you have one safety be more of a run player than the other or do you teach both pass and run responsibilities so you can roll to either side? (2) With motion, what have you found is the best way to adjust your coverage? That is, bump responsibility or run with motion? Wes Montgomery, Assistant Coach, Sherwood High School (OR).

Ideally, we would like to have good balance in our safetys’ abilities to play both the run and the pass. We require them to know both positions so we do not have to move them across the formation when the offense shifts or motions. If you do not have good balance in your safeties, I believe the offense will shift and motion to gain an advantage in both the run game and the pass game.

With motion, we feel the best way to adjust coverage is to bump motion. We will run with motion to break tendency at times. Whatever you do, it is important to remember that your base coverage adjustments and blitz coverage adjustments need to look the same. If they do not look the same, you are allowing the offense to read the defense before the snap.

6.  When facing a spread team that is a tough match-up for your base personnel, what is the key substitution to be able to still play your base defense? Do you ever move into an under look with your Sam linebacker coming off the edge? Dirk Moran, Assistant Coach, the Baldwin School of Puerto Rico.

We choose to be a small defense compared to the rest of the defenses in our league. Our number one priority when looking for defensive personnel is speed. We feel that undersized defenders can play physical and defend the run, but it is difficult for big physical players to defend spread formations if they are unable to move their feet. The way the game is played by most of our opponents, we need to be able to defend spread formations with our base personnel. Offensive systems do not allow us to substitute based on personnel as much as in the past. If we feel a need to substitute, we would move our weak OLB to the strong side and move a DB to the weak OLB position.

As it relates to your second question, in the past we have moved to an under look with the Sam linebacker coming off the edge. This is always based upon the plays that we need to defend.

7. We made the transition to the 3-4 defense this past spring. As a coach that uses this defense, what are some of the initial problems that arise during installation and how do you solve those problems? What have been some of your best solutions to facing a traditional power running team such as a power/iso team or a veer option team? Zach Schneider, Head Coach, Washington High School (MO).

To install this defense the entire staff needs to be committed to making the move to the 3-4 scheme. This scheme needs to be sold to the players. You will not have problems installing it when all parties involved are committed to the scheme. Identifying what type of personnel you would like at each position and placing the proper individuals at those positions will really help during the installation. Players that are placed at positions that are able to execute techniques to play at a high level will be committed to the 3-4 scheme. 

Power running teams are difficult to defend as well as veer-option teams. We have found throughout the years that power/iso teams that are allowed to run downhill will be successful against our defense. Power/iso plays that are forced to bounce to the outside are much easier to defend. There is a reason power and iso plays are referred to as downhill plays. The defense needs to turn these downhill plays into perimeter plays to successfully defend them.

To defend the veer option teams, you need to begin by defending the option from the inside out. You begin by defending the dive, the QB, and finally, the pitch. Easier said than done, but if the dive is successful, all aspects of the veer option will eventually hurt the defense. Eliminating the dive is the first step to defending veer option teams. Once the defense eliminates the dive and QB keeper, defending the pitch becomes more like defending a toss sweep. Defending the toss sweep means staying on your feet and pursuing the football. One of the biggest mistakes made in defending option football is to determine before the snap who is the dive player, QB player, and pitch player. These responsibilities need to be determined according to the blocking scheme that is used on each play.






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