By Mike Kuchar 
Senior Research Manager 
X&O Labs 
Twitter: @MikekKuchar 

Special Reporting by Adam Hovorka, X&O Labs Contributing Writer 

Introduction 

Playing a four down front, two-high defense can place a good amount of stress on the box defenders. In most 4-2-5 structures, these box defenders consist of the front four linemen plus the strong side and weak side inside linebackers. In 4-3 looks, the presence of the Sam/Nickel or strong safety is added into the equation. How a coaches trains those defenders can have a major impact on defending the first level option principles most associated with RPO offenses. After all, RPOs are option offenses at the core, and taking away the first two threats (dive and pull) usually equates in defensive success. Like defending flexbone schemes, the more the ball gets pitched the better off a defense is, the quickest way to gash a unit is north to south. And the while the onus of that responsibility falls on the box defenders, it’s the defensive line that has to be able to cancel gaps along the front.  

This case is devoted to how coaches are training their front four to react and defend the more common run sequences associated with RPO football (zone, single pull and double pull concepts). But before we uncover our research on how these coaches are defending them, we thought it necessary to briefly summarize the type of personnel each of our contributors are using in their base defensive outfits.  

Editor’s Note: Our contributors to this report all base out of a four down front, some are 4-3 in structure, while others are 4-2-5.  

Personnel  

Chris Endress, Co-Defensive Coordinator, Seneca High School (MO): “We play with a field defenisve end and a boundary defensive end. Our defensive tackles adjust to and from the call.  We always call our fronts to where the Eagle (3-technique) will go such as Eagle left or right. Tite or open is based off the tight end placement and field and boundary. We will also use back and bop, which is to or away from the running back. Our linebackers are the same. The Eagle linebacker goes with the 3-technique and the Hawk LB goes with the Shade. In our 2×2 looks, the Hawk LB is the one who leaves the box, but he is always to the boundary. He will have less ground to cover. Overhangs are similar. The Gorilla (SS) always goes to the field. The Willie (WS) always aligned to the boundary. So they can align pre-snap. It also allows me to cross-teach the reads, fundamentals, alignments, etc.” 

Rob Everett, (@nineinthebox) Defensive Coordinator, Bridgewater College (VA): “We play with a true quick defensive end and a guy who is more suited to go against the tight end.  Our 3-technique is the more athletic of the two tackles. We rotate many defensive linemen. Our Field Strong Safety we call our Whip. Our Rover is the weakside safety and he always travels with the backer, the weak-side inside backer. When we play against 2-2, we basically become 4-3 so that backer is a hybrid player. “ 

Adam Hovorka, Head Football Coach, Schneiber High School (NY): “We always play quick athletic types at defensive end as we want kids that can get off the ball and bend and chase. We will play with one bigger tackle as our 3-technique and one quicker kid at the Nose. We will play one true middle linebacker (Mike) and he is an old school plugger. Our other box linebacker is the Bandit and he is a hybrid inside backer and 4-3 OLB. He has to be able to run and be a great blitzer. We already play with quicker defensive end types to begin with. We want long quick kids that can pass rush and bend and chase. We play a field defense with a strong safety (Strike) that will go the field 90% of the time. He aligns with the FS and they are in split field coverage to the read side.   

“On the opposite side we play a weak safety (Whip) that will determine the coverage to his side. Verse tight formations, the Mike aligns to the strength and the Bandit opposite. In open formations, the Mike goes to the read side and the Bandit will go to the away side with the Whip. At times, we will sub out our Strike and put a pure pass cover player there also. If we do this we are probably moving our Strike either to Mike or defensive end. In obvious pass situations, we will play with the four best pass rushers and as much speed on the field as possible. If we are doing this we are either blitzing or we are expecting an obvious pass situation. We will have our Strike get some reps at walling of #2 or #3 in trips just like our Mike would.”  

Chris Kappelmeier, Defensive Coordinator, Sparta High School (NJ) 

“We play a field defense versus open formations. We will read the wide side of the field. The Strong Safety and Free Safety align to the wide side of the field regardless of the formation. The Free Safety makes a reading right or a reading left call to call the passing strength of the formation. He then makes a coverage call for his side of the formation which will be the corner, strong safety, and one of the linebackers. The Weak Safety now makes a coverage call for his side, which is the away side, for himself, the corner and the other linebacker. Our defensive ends are generally linebacker type players to start with so we do not sub them out. We will play our regular strong safety who is a linebacker/defensive back hybrid.” 

By Mike Kuchar 
Senior Research Manager 
X&O Labs 
Twitter: @MikekKuchar 

Special Reporting by Adam Hovorka, X&O Labs Contributing Writer 

Introduction 

In defending the RPO game, a decision has to be made by defensive coordinators on whether or not they stay in two-high or one-high safety structures. While the protocols of this decision can be influenced by several variables—running ability of the quarterback, a potential mismatch on the perimeter—essentially it will boil down to what facet of the option game a defensive coordinator wants to commit to defending. While we will analyze this decision making process further, we’ve found that the philosophy behind making this decision relies on the following: 

• If the quarterback is a running threat, it’s essential to equal numbers in the run game so that there is a player responsible for tackling the quarterback. 
• If the running back is the most proficient element in the RPO game, gap exchanges need to be made to make sure the ball is being pulled by the quarterback in the run game.  
• If a particular receiver is the most proficient element in the RPO game, coverages need to be dictated to defend him. 

Many coaches still believe that playing a single high man structure, such as cover one, provides for an adequate answer in the RPO game because a defense has equal numbers to defend each potential receiver along with a single high safety that can be tied into either playing the quarterback in the run game or giving help to any potential receiver in the pass game.  

But the coaches we researched with in defending the RPO element believed that equal numbers is a detriment, particularly if your defenders are not as talented as those on the other side of the ball. Then what? It becomes necessary to find a way to get a plus one or a plus one and a half numbers advantage to whatever element of that option game a defensive coordinator is choosing to defend. That is being done by playing two-high safety structures where help is given to both the run and pass equally.  

So, now the dynamic has shifted to defending the RPO game with two-high safety structures and the thought process is to keep those two safeties high so they can trigger quicker on the run or pass game by studying a pre-snap (or post-snap) visual cue rather than being tied to the reaction of a particular receiver as they would be in man coverage. It allows them to be an extra player in the run game or an extra defender in the pass game based on the formation presented by the offense. While we will detail the pre-snap cues that trigger these reads by the safeties in a later case, the roles of the overhang defenders (or invert players) become even more prominent. These are the dual read defenders, the ones that the quarterback is reading to make his choice to run or throw the football.  

It is a defensive coordinator’s job now to protect those overhangs. In this case, we are going to study the means in which these defensive coaches are protecting those overhangs, either by defensive structure, pressure or by adjusting to the offensive formation.  

Editor’s Note: For teaching purposes, the techniques and fundamentals of the overhang defender will be presented in 2×2 open formation. We will detail how coaches are adjusting to other formations later in this report.  

Identifying the Overhang Defender Based on Coverage 

In order to keep two-high safety structures, there will be an overhang defender responsible for playing either run or pass and it is this same overhang defender that the quarterback will look to manipulate based on his movement. This is the defender that is tied to both a gap in the run game and a responsibility in the pass game. Consider the following formations and the overhang defenders that can be influenced. While there are a multitude of formations that can be presented by the offense, we wanted to present the most common ones associated with RPOs, according to our research and the stress they place on a defense.  

10 Personnel Doubles Formations (Diagram 15) 

The challenge in defending 10 personnel doubles formations is that the width of the receivers can solicit a five-man box to defend six potential gaps in the run game. This is nothing new; defending this formation has become an ageless paradox that has plagued defensive coordinators since the early 2000’s when then West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriquez was dicing opponents with the zone option with running back Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White.