By Kai Smalley
Head Coach
Snohomish High School (WA)
Twitter: @fbcoachsmalley

Introduction

With so many programs running the spread offense with a no-huddle tempo, it is critical to be prepared for any formation or personnel grouping, especially empty sets. Even teams that aren’t “Air Raid” style offenses are spreading the field more and almost every team that does spread the field has some sort of any empty package.

Empty formations present a unique set of problems for defenses. They create numbers advantages for the offense, force the defense to adjust their coverage, and can force the defense to walk defenders out of the box. If your defense is not prepared, an Empty set can cause major problems. To address these issues, we have decided to have a base package that you use to attack Empty formations, that way you aren’t scheming different week to week. That said, it is important to have a couple of options to choose from depending on how an offense attacks your defense, as well as having change-ups to disguise your defense and pressure.

Attacking Empty Formations

We base out of a 3-3-5 defense, which allows us to use multiple fronts without having to change the assignments for the defenders. It also allows us to disguise our fronts and coverages. Diagram #1 shows our base alignment versus an empty formation.

Our philosophy in defending empty is to be aggressive and disguise. We align this way against empty no matter what we plan to do, that way it will always look the same. We have three different checks we can use against empty sets and depending on the team we may use all three or possibly just one or two. We teach them all to our players early, so that we are not throwing them something new in the middle of the season for one team or being caught unprepared during a game.

Every spring we install our empty checks as part of our base defense, that way we carry them into the season and we can use them as we see fit. It is important to be able to disguise our intentions pre-snap so that the offense cannot get a read on what we will do, so all three options look the same pre-snap, but each has a different number of actual rushers.

The checks can bring a 6 man pressure, a 4 man pressure or a 3 man pressure. The 3 man pressure has probably been our most effective attack because it involves a read-rush technique that allows us to disguise who will be rushing and where they are coming from depending on the protection the offense uses, it is also a favorite of all our players. This is the pressure will be covered in this report. It should be noted that this scheme is only used against a 5-wide empty look, if they have a true tight end, we will use a different scheme.

Against empty we are always aware of the threat of QB draw, so we reduce from our odd front to an even front by walking our backers up and mix it up from there. This gives us the ability to put 8 defenders into coverage while giving us the option to try and overload the offensive line with the appearance of a 6-man rush. Our base coverage is zero, but we may also mix it up between Man, Man-Combo and Zone coverage. We will always align to show straight Man coverage and keep the offense guessing as to what coverage we may end up playing.

Smack-It (3-Man Read-Rush)

Our most effective option is showing our 6-man pressure and only bringing 3, but doing it creatively with a Read-Rush technique. This is the curve-ball to our empty package. As I mentioned, we have a 6-man pressure and play straight man or bluff pressure and drop into zone coverage and they both have their benefits.

The key to it working is our alignment. The read-rush allows the offensive lines blocking scheme to dictate our rushers angle of attack. It also allows us to us to exploit open rush lanes and match ups.

Front-6 In Smack-It

The front 6 defenders have the ability to make or break this pressure. They have to be smart and disciplined, and once they are, they can have a lot of fun with this call. The defensive linemen like it because they have a chance to drop into coverage. The linebackers have a chance to pin their ears back and come untouched at the quarterback.

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

Introduction

It’s difficult to generate an odd front conversation without the issue of two-gap football surfacing. The odd front is synonymous with two-gap play at the line of scrimmage. From Nick Saban’s system at LSU to Rex Ryan’s system at the Baltimore Ravens (just to name the more prolific examples), the odd front continues to be utilized to defend many of the run game concepts presented at all levels of football.

We’re aware that many defensive coordinators will find ways to corner an offense into third down to bring those exotic pressures associated with the odd front. But this study is not about that. It’s about living and dying in the odd front in run situations. We’re talking about first down defense, here. Because while it may be exciting to draw up those pressures with three down, the odd front purists that we researched have bought in completely to using this scheme. Our research consists of those coaches who use odd front structures in at least 75 percent or more of run-downs.

We asked these coaches why they use the odd front in run downs. Despite a myriad of reasons, we disseminated the top six frequencies in our research:

Benefits of the Odd Front Against the Run Game

• Opportunity to get your most athletic players on the field: subbing out a defensive lineman for a second level player provides for a more athletic body which helps to defend many of the quarterback run concepts utilized by offenses today.
• Gets more eyes on the quarterback: Similar to that first example, having two hands less in the dirt helps with quarterback vision in both the option game and in the pass game. This study will strictly focus on the former.
• Eliminates angles in gap schemes: With so much of the Ohio State/Ole Miss spread gap scheme concepts circulating football, being in an odd front eliminates possible angles and double teams on the play side of these runs. Odd front coaches are using the two-gap method to negate these blocks.
• Flexibility and disguise pre-snap: What may look like a three-down front pre-snap, 85 percent of odd front coaches are slanting or stemming their front pre-snap to get in different looks by the time the quarterback has the ball in his hands.
• Alternating run fits post-snap: Contrary to the “single gap control” element present in even front structures, the odd front provides for varying run fits simply because it’s difficult to determine whether or not first level players are two-gapping or single-gapping at the point of attack. The majority of coaches, 47 percent, will two gap their defensive linemen some of the time. They alternate between two-gap play and single gap movement. Of course, we detail both these scenarios in case one.
• Increased preparation time for offenses: All this pre and post-snap confusion causes offenses to spend more time trying to attack the odd front.
• A dominant nose can affect the game: We have an entire case on the play of the nose, so we won’t expound too much here. But we will say it’s no surprise that many of these odd front coaches put their best defensive lineman right on the center. With the majority of offense being in shotgun or pistol formations, this player can create havoc if he’s coached right. We will present the drill work that the most successful coaches use to work this kid.

This case will be centered on the varying methodologies between the two-gap and one-gap technique up front. We will examine the techniques associated with each including the circumstances in which coaches use them. We will begin our research with the play of the nose, but before we get into the specifics, we wanted to share some general research among defensive line play.

• 59 percent of coaches choose to have their front three crowd the line of scrimmage as much as possible

• 42 percent of coaches choose to teach a toe to instep stagger among their front three

We wanted to present these issues because they continue to be hot topics among odd front coaches. We will present all methodologies and perspectives on these components, but the responses above were majority answers.

Play of the Nose Guard

There is no question that the success of the odd front is belied upon the success of the defender covering the center. Looking back at the most successful odd front nose guards in the history of football, Vince Wilfork (Patriots), Tony Siragusa (Colts), Gilbert Brown (Packers), Heloti Ngata (Ravens), one can make the somewhat obvious correlation between great defenses and great middle men. So we wanted to reach out to some coaches on how they teach the nose position, being that it’s so vital. Sure, this player may not attain the accolades, but these odd front coaches rave about him being the motor that makes the defense run. Perhaps Coach Pitman at Half Hollow Hills West HS (NY) said it best when he said, “Toughness must be both physical, but especially mental. He is in a position where he determines our success on defense, but will never get outside attention or build up any noticeable stats.”

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

Introduction

The presence of a closed tight end may raise some concern for odd front coaches and for good reason: it creates an extra gap along the front. So in order to account for that space, we found that 45 percent of coaches will use a 5-techinque alignment with that player. This was only four percentage points lower than the 4-techinque alignment, which was the most common answer. Only 5 percent of coaches chose to stay in that 4i technique alignment that is synonymous with the closed or boundary side defensive end.

Characteristics of the Closed Side (three-man surface) Defensive End

We surveyed coaches to find out the differences in technique between the boundary and open side defensive end. Many of our responses stressed the need for this player to be explosive with his hands and “rangy” enough to cover ground to the field side. We found that many coaches will also target this defender to be one of the better pass rushers among the front because he will mainly be matched up with the tackle. While this report is purely focused on defending the run game, we did want to highlight which characteristics coaches were looking for to fit their personnel in defending the run.

Below are some of the qualities that odd front coaches look for in developing their field side defensive end:

Coach Sturgis, Clinton Central High School (IN): “Our defensive end to the tight end side is typically a little of a better of an athlete than his counterpart to the open side.”

Coach Busmente, Sterling High School (CO): “He’s more of a plugger type for us and less athletic than our 4i technique. He’s most likely bigger.”

Coach McClain, West Laurens High School (GA): “We prefer a bigger plugger here if possible. He’s more like an athletic 3-technique in the even front. This guy will bump down into a 3-technique on occasion and we want a run stopper here.”

Coach Sarchet, St. John Paul the Great Catholic High School (VA): “He’s probably a bit bigger than the open side tackle. We don’t look for kids to get up the field as we do as maintaining gap control, taking on trappers, and squeezing our feet.”

Coach Calloway, Madison Middle School (NC): “He’s our best defensive lineman against double teams and getting off blocks.”

Coach Godwin, Gulf Breeze High School (FL): “This player has to be a little leaner and longer than the other two defensive linemen. He needs to have more speed because there is more ground to cover in defending the run game.”

Coach Desrochers, Sunrise Mountain High School (AZ): “We are looking for the lineman who is long enough and tough enough to play against a tight end, yet has enough wiggle to get a good rush on.”

Coach Baechler, Canton High School (MI): “We normally will have him be our Loop or C gap tackle. We would like him to be a bit bigger, but again speed and strength are more important than size.”

Technique of the Field Side (3-Man Surface) Defensive End

Once that player has been identified, we researched exactly how odd front coaches were training that boundary side defensive, based on the blocks he was seeing.

Some of our survey responses are below:

Coach Busmente, Sterling High School (CO): “He must drive into the tackle and help squeeze the B gap. He cannot get his shoulders turned out by the offensive tackle to create a seam there. Try to keep the outside arm ‘free’ as much as possible.”

Coach Bell, Missouri Western State University (MO): “We have two distinct stances that we teach our kids. We have our ‘BASE’ stance and our ‘JET’ stance. In our Base stance, our kids’ feet are wider than their shoulders with about 40% of their body weight on their down hand. We have flat backs with our off hand up and ready to strike the offensive line gap shoulder in front of us. We align with down hand to man, so our kids have to be comfortable with either hand down. On the snap of the football, our kids are coached to shoot their off hand, or what we call their GAP hand to gain control of the OL gap shoulder. Our kids shoot their down hand to the V of the neck. Their first step is a very quick 6″ step and their eyes are trained to go from the ball to the offensive line screws in which they are aligned on. If they are aligned in a 4i or 2i, their eyes go to the offensive line to inside of them for a quicker read on against zone schemes. If the kids are head up on our nose, then they can put whatever hand down they are most comfortable with and they shoot both their hands to breast plate of the offensive line and are looking to get vertical push after the first initial 6″ step.”

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

Introduction

We’ve found that most odd front coaches do not typically stay in the odd front, they will stem and shift with a good deal of consistency into even front structures. Our research indicates that the majority of odd front coaches, 38 percent, will move their front three defenders on at least three quarters of snaps. We’ve also found that 61 percent of coaches will move those defenders both pre and post snap.

Most of these movements come in the form of “reductions,” which essentially means where the first level B gap defender (or 3-technique) will be placed either pre or post snap. We found that the three most common reduction placements will be formed in the following ways:

• Boundary reductions: the first level B gap defender will be placed into the boundary.
• Field reductions: the first level B gap defender will be placed into the field.
• Formation reductions: the first level B gap defender will be placed in accordance with the offensive formation. These can depend on where the back lines up in 10 or 11 personnel formations or can be dependent on which side of the line of scrimmage the tight end aligns.

Boundary Reductions

The majority of odd front coaches will reduce to the boundary more so than the field. The reasoning is to get a 3-technique to boundary while slanting to the tight end or three man surface side. We found that the majority of coaches, 27 percent, use a quarter, quarter half coverage structure in boundary reductions.

Some specific reduction concepts are detailed below:

Under Front Reduction, Trinity College (CT):

At Trinity College, defensive coordinator Lewis Acquarulo uses the following strength calls:

1. Call strength to the passing strength.
2. If ball is on the hash, strength is called it to the field regardless of formation.
3. If ball is in the middle of the field, it goes to the two quick receiver side.
4. If it’s balanced, strength goes to the quarterbacks throwing arm or the offset back in one-back.

The Under front is a pre-snap movement that moves the stout, boundary end, to a 3-technique. The nose is in a shade, while the field defensive end is the 5-technique (Diagram 40B). The coverage is a two-high pre-snap look, but eventually will roll to some form of cover 6 or quarter, quarter half coverage. Off of this front, Coach Acquarulo will use several post-snap movements based off of call. Several examples are below:

Under Go: This is a two-gap movement to the tight end side. The boundary defensive end contains through B gap and the nose works across center while reading the guard. “If the guard blocks back, he crosses face. If not, he works into A gap,” said Coach Acquarulo. “The Bantam will be the dropper in passing situations, but if it’s run, we tell him to step to the tilt and make the tackle block him. As soon as color crosses his face, he chases (Diagram 41).

To see cutups of the Under front reduction, click on the video below: