Stunts and Slants to Defend Run Game

By Bill Hawkins
Defensive Coordinator/DBs Coach
South Terrebonne High School (LA)
Twitter: @bhawkins44

 

 

One of the biggest commodities that a high school defense can have is defensive linemen. Most schools may have one or two players who have the size, strength, speed, and skill to play the position while having to fill in the rest of the spots with undersized players. Most high school defensive linemen have one or two of the above traits but most high schools I have coached for or played against have to play with players who are not “ideal” for the position. The majority of the players that we have playing the position are smaller, quicker players that are lacking in one or more of the criteria mentioned above.

When playing against teams who are run heavy (like the majority of the teams in our district) with the players we have, we cannot line straight up against teams who outweigh us and let them fire off on our defensive linemen all night long. Eventually they will wear us down if we don’t move and stunt our players. By playing in static positions and techniques, it makes the offensive linemen’s jobs easier because they can follow their blocking rules and fire off on the defensive line. However, by stunting/slanting/moving our defensive linemen (post-snap), we create moving targets for the offensive line to block, make them have to stick to and follow their rules on the run, and can make them chase and block the “wrong” player. This can allow for our defensive linemen to come through unblocked, run through lanes for our linebackers to go through untouched, or plug everything up inside and force the ball to bounce out wide to our overhangs.

In order to successfully run as many stunts, slants, and movements as we do, communication and simple reads for the players are the most important factors. We try to communicate everything that we can on the field so that the players can hear the call and play faster instead of having to think about their job, assignment, or technique. Categorizing the slants and stunts and giving them names helps with executing the movements and can be built upon to incorporate other pressures and blitzes down the road.

Our base defense is built out of 3-3-5 personnel, but we are often playing with 4 players at the line of scrimmage. Structurally, we run an under front and also utilize a tite front as our base. Strength is called to the passing strength of the formation so that our nickel always aligns to the side with the most split wide receivers and our Jack can line up on the line of scrimmage as a 4th defensive lineman. Our three down linemen include our End, Nose, and Tackle. The end and nose align to the strength (Under) and our tackle aligns weak in either a 3 tech, 4 tech, or 4i depending on the call. We utilize 4 different categories of slants which tells one or three of the down defensive linemen the direction they are moving. Everything is an R or L word to tell the players the direction they will be slanting to. Players have to understand that there are two different types of slants: head up slants and shaded slants. If the player is in a head up technique, then they are slanting to the gap and playing it like they are shaded on their man.

 

If the player is in a shaded technique (inside shade or outside shade), then they are reading the next adjacent offensive lineman in the direction they are slanting to.

 

From there, they will play a “Heads/Tails” technique. If the next adjacent offensive lineman’s head is coming to you, go across his head. If his tail is going away from you, scrape paint with his hip and your hip and work down their heel line as square as possible to get in the next gap. Working the heel line prevents vertical seams from being created vs the run which gives the ball carrier chances to cut back or pullers to kick you out.

 

Slant Group 1: Ron/Lynn

The tags “Ron/Lynn” tells just our nose that he is slanting either to the right or left (hence the “N’s” in the names). This tag is utilized in multiple stunts and pressures and is taught as a head up slant and as a shaded slant. You can use this in a regular bear front and slant the nose strong or weak, or you can shade him on the center, stunt him strong towards the guard, and bring a linebacker across the center’s face to blitz into a bear front (one of our more common pressures). We have multiple base calls and pressures that we use “Ron/Lynn” for, but it is a simple call to remind our nose the direction he is slanting without having a linebacker tapping his hip to tell him where to go.

 

Slant Group 2: Rhino/Lion

Like the previous tag, “Rhino/Lion” tells the two strong side defensive linemen (End and Nose) to slant to the direction called. We use this slant almost exclusively out of our Tite front because it will bring us from our 4i-0-4i or 4-0-4 alignment pre-snap into our Under front post-snap. This is typically used vs 11/12/21 personnel formations to make it look pre-snap like the offense would have the angles to down block us and beat us to the edge. By stunting to an under front, we can either eliminate the down block from the TE or whoever would be trying to get to the second level which keeps our LBs clean. If the TE still gets to the 2nd level, the C gap should now be closed due to the 4/4i slanting out. We continually stress to our players that if they come through clean off of their slant that they must not get up field and stay square and work the heel line to still be able to work to the ball carrier and spill pullers if necessary.

 

Slant Group 3: River/Lake

“River/Lake” is used exclusively in under and over fronts to move post-snap from an under to an over front and vice versa. Changing the picture from pre- to post-snap is key for us to not be static and give the offensive line a chance to fire off on us. This movement tells our nose and 3/4i tech to run a shaded slant to the direction called. We have several different ways that we use this call. Many times, we will just run the slant with no added pressure, and it is a great look and changeup to when we do play static (non-slanting or non-stunting) fronts and calls. This movement is also an often-used base movement in many sim pressures, creepers, and blitzes to help open up rush lanes and get 1 on 1s with a back in protection or create run-throughs for 2nd and 3rd level rushers.

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The 95% Model in Game Planning

By Mike Kuchar with Phil Longo
Offensive Coordinator
University of Wisconsin

 

 

Selecting the Projected 95 Percenters

Once these formation breakdowns are completed, Coach Longo and his offensive staff will begin their process of devising their play menu for the week. Here’s where the selection process becomes finetuned and the 95% method starts to take shape. Coach Longo will start to tally each concept he feels will be effective based on formation. “The first thing we do is put up a formation and list all the run, passes, screens draws, PAP’s and exotics we think will work with that formation,” he told us. “We go down the offense by the formation and ask questions like ‘what do they do against Reo off (trips attached)? What do we like against it?”

“Then we start to list the concepts we feel have a good shot that week and start to examine all the possible things defenses can do to take things away. As an example, we say here are their 5 fronts, 6 coverages and 4 pressures based on the formation. To us, it’s about finding answers. So, we’ll put up power and research what problems we’re going to get like maybe two off the edge, or spilling the H back on the kick out, etc. Most of the football world will try to solve those problems with push calls, fan it calls, etc. But the more issues that defensive coordinators present, the more calls and checks offenses have to have. Calls complicate things and that just makes things more difficult for your players. I like to be in a situation where I can tell them you’re only going to get a couple of different looks and we work them heavily during the week.” If there are too many problems associated with the concept, Coach Longo won’t run the play.

 

As noted in Course 1 of this report, the underlining principle of Coach Longo’s system is to contain concepts that can be universally tweaked to attack any front or coverage structure. This is why he’ll only carry four to five formations each game week. “80% of our offense we feel we can run against everything,” he told us. “So, every play we carry needs to be run against all those coverages. If they can’t we won’t carry it.” In order to keep the play menu tight, there will be weeks where he won’t even run a particular formation because they do a great job of defending that concept. “We may not want to run a trips passing concept against a coordinator that plays trips well because they can severely outnumber you to the trips side, maintain box integrity, and have a good enough corner to handle your X,” he told us. “So, we may get into Rock (doubles formation) because the defense may have more weaknesses against two by two. There is more potential grass in doubles.”

“The question always remains; do they do anything different that take us out of these universal plays that we are running?’ And we want to know does that often happen? A lot of times it doesn’t. The majority of times we have answers. Those are the ones we like and the ones we carry in the offense. I don’t want to have that plays that are less than 70% efficient because there is so much other teaching when you have to live in the 30% realm because you have to answer all of those issues. It takes away from them being instinctive and forces us to have to game plan the whole 30% for a minority part of the time. That’s not efficiency.”

Basically, Coach Longo and his staff will make a judgment call on a play based on how much we think we’ll see a particular coverage that may cause a problem for that concept. “Let’ say we have a concept that may have a great shot of being successful against man free, cover two, quarters coverage or three buzz and those are the four main coverages they run against this formation. But there is this one coverage like two man that we don’t like it against. But they only ran it two times all year. It’s a very small percentage of their defense. So, basically, we like it against 98% of what they do so we will carry it that week. But if they ran four coverages (against the formation) and one they ran 25% of the time we don’t like it. We will not carry that play.”

 

Getting to the 95%: Ranking Each Play

This process gets streamlined one step further by ranking those plays on a 1-3 scale based on how effective each could be for the current week. In order to do so, he uses the following ranking system:

“1”: A great play for the week. A must use. Projected 95% chance of being effective

“2”: A good play for the week. Projected 75% chance of being effective

“3”: Possible successful play. Projected 50% chance of being effective.

Some coaches tinker back and forth during the game week with the possibility of using “threes” based on how they progress during practice week.  But in this offense not only are the three’s non-negotiable, they won’t even run the two’s during game week. “I’m not running those plays because 25% effectiveness can get you beat,” he told us. “Some coordinators want to carry the 2’s. We don’t. If they’re just good, it’s not good enough. I want to call runs that I can run at any time. But if I can’t run it against almost everything, I won’t run it.”

“For example, in the passing game if a defense is able to take the first look away by structure, a decent job of taking the second look away and forcing you to the third look we’re not running it because you know you’re holding the ball against them,” he told us. “In that case, their defensive line just got better because I’m holding the ball. That is a bad play.  I’m trying to get to the perfect call all the time but when I’m not right I want the QB to make us right with plays that have a high percentage of being successful.”

 

Building the Projected 95 Percenters:

While Coach Longo’s system only consists of up to 28 total concepts (as detailed in Course 1), he’s able to mix and match several of them together to get into the projected 95% effective play call. In other words, different concepts can be paired to exploit a particular defensive structure or scheme. Offensive analyst Josh Snow calls them puzzle pieces.

Consider the following scenarios:

  • Run concepts can be built in that week that may be opportune against certain front structures. An example may be an outside zone concept vs. a voided alley.
  • Pass game tags can be built in that week that may be opportune against certain coverage structure. An example may be a double slant concept vs. two-high coverage.
  • X game or free access tags can be built in that week that may be opportune against certain personnel advantages. An example may be verticals or stops based on cornerback leverage.

 

Game Planning the One-on-One Advantage via Structure:

Once the plays are ranked and each coach presents his research based on the formation he is assigned to, it becomes time to formulate the game plan. While there are several components to devising the game plan, there is one overriding premise that trumps all: construct plays that access the one on one matchup. The best offenses thrive when they have a numbers advantage; for Coach Longo, he’ll take the matchup if the numbers are even. If he gets a numbers advantage that’s a bonus. He game plans for the 50/50 ball because it’s his belief his player will be aptly prepared to win them. We provide a couple of scenarios of this below that illustrate this concept: both in the run and pass game.

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In-Season Situational Football Part Four: “The S-Squared Model:” Prepping for Unique Situations

By Mike Kuchar
Senior Researcher/Co-Founder
X&O Labs
Twitter: @MikekKuchar

 

 

Case 3: Practicing Unique Situations

Situational football is reactionary by nature. Coaches typically don’t understand the value of a situation until they win, or more importantly lose, by not practicing it. Therefore, these situations are not created until it’s too late. But most coaches will use this prior knowledge to be proactive in the future by working through the situations they learned from. Because, more often than not, it will arise again. In this case, we are going to present the unique situations that our sources have encountered, and subsequently practiced, to make sure their players know what to do when it happens again.

Our research is segmented into offense, defense and special teams. And they are in no particular order.

 

Unique Offensive Situations:

Scramble Situations- If practice correctly, these situations can turn turning potential coverage sacks into explosive plays.  While coaches work these scramble situations daily, base rules are as follows: if you’re short go deep. If you’re deep, come back to the quarterback. If you’re away from the quarterback, get in his line of sight.

  1. If the QB scrambles to your side, the widest receivers run deep; the ball will never be underthrown
  2. If the QB scrambles away from you, break parallel to the QB and get in his vision
  3. Backs who block, fake or run routes, should run a course parallel to LOS with the QB, looking for the open spot
  4. If the QB decides to run, all receivers and backs sprint to get a block. Don’t clip!

 

Overtime Periods – How many coaches are reviewing overtime with their players? Getting players comfortable with the overtime period rules (both in high school and in college) and go a long way in building their confidence to execute. It’s important that coaches review what calls they are going to make and why they are going to make them. At Towson University (MD) defensive coordinator Darian Dulin spends extra time defending the mandatory two-point play in the third overtime period. As it’s shown, it will often win or lose game.  And on the offensive side of the ball, coordinators need to be prepared with at least 5-7 two point plays in case the game drags on past the second overtime period. “You also have to train your players to understand momentum,” said Jason Eck, the head coach at the University of Idaho. “In the second overtime, the team that scores second goes right back out there. It’s a challenge mentally so you need to get your composure.”

Wet Ball Situation – These situation teaches quarterbacks how to handle a wet ball in inclement weather. Time needs to be taken to teach QB’s how to fall on the ball when it hits the turf and how to protect it.

Six-Second Play Situation – This was referenced earlier. The typical offensive play lasts six seconds. So, when an offense is down to one play and it has to run out the clock, time has to be spent preparing the offense on how to do so. Most coaches will design a sprint out launch point for the quarterback and throw the ball as high as he can out of bounds. This can generate up to 13 seconds of killed clock. It’s important to work on fourth down when an offense doesn’t want to punt the ball.

“Bingo” Transition Situation – These situations are built for offenses coming off a turnover to line up in a unique formation (that has never been seen) with the purpose of creating defensive confusion and stealing a time out.

“Hold or Hang Play” Situation – This is another way to kill the clock. Coaches work on letting the QB run around and basically tackle the defense to kill the clock.  The purpose is to get the clock down to where an offense can take a knee. One of the issues that comes up with the hang play is the question of how far the sidelines are from the stands. Coach Eck told us that while in South Dakota (his previous stop) the ball traveled far to get to the sidelines and out of bounds in an adequate amount of time. But now at Idaho in a Dome, the ball will go out of bounds more quickly because the stands are close to the sideline. It prompted him to come up with his “Safety” play, which is discussed below.

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Teaching Situational Football Part Three: “Mock Game Thursdays” and the 4-Day Situational Teaching Workweek

By Mike Kuchar
Senior Researcher/Co-Founder
X&O Labs
Twitter: @MikekKuchar

 

 

Once pre-season camp concludes, the teaching of special situations does not. Now coaches will be more opponent specific when working in situational football during the season. This case will focus on how our sources segment their game weeks to work situations in practice. We noted that the prior model of waiting until the day before the game (Thursday for a high school model) is an outdated method of working in situations. Fact is that if you’re not working in some form of situational football in the beginning of your prep week, you may be doing your players a disservice.

Since high school and college programs work off two different schedules, we segmented our research into days. For the most part, coaches work off a five-day work week. One day a week is always off, usually Sundays for high school coaches and Mondays for college coaches. And with games being played on Fridays (for high school) and Saturdays (for college) that leaves a five-day workweek for our coaches. We wanted to provide a snapshot of how our sources are filling that five-day workweek with various special situational periods.

 

Day 1: “Choice Down Emphasis and Situational Review” 

For the most part, Mondays are designated as “non-consequential down day,” meaning this is where coaches will spend time working through opponents’ first and second down tendencies. Texas A&M Kingsville defensive coordinator Jamie Bisch calls these situations “choice downs” meaning this is where he will spend a large chunk of his time working on open field (-16 to +31 typically) downs. Here he can tweak and adjust our defense to any twists and quirks the offense might have. “On Monday I want to have a pretty good set of ideas we want to run on choice downs and this is a collaborative effort by our whole defensive staff,” he said. “After choice downs I will start to gather ideas for 3rd Down, 4th Down, Red Zone (Approximately +30 to +11) , and Goal Line (Hi +10 to +4, Lo +3 and In) at some point on Monday evening. At this point I just want to start thinking about those things but won’t always have a game plan in place just yet.”

At the high school level where most Mondays are designated as JV football day, Brookfield Central High School (WI) offensive coordinator Clay Iverson spends his time working walk throughs with his varsity players against opponents base fronts and coverages. After conditioning, he will work in a 35-play script specific to his opponent and what he wanted to attack that week. After this, he’ll compose a 20-play script to work the “green zone” ( -30 to the +30), then 10 plays in the “Red” zone (+25). Finally, he’ll finish practice with a 5-play package for his emergency quarterback. These are five plays he knows his non-QB emergency guy can run. As high school coaches can attest, during the course of the season, this turns out to be an invaluable period.

Mondays can also be a day for coaches to make cutups of the specific situations that occurred during the previous game and discuss what went right and what went wrong. There are coaches like Matt Kelly, the offensive coordinator at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (MA) that will go back and score his players efficiency in situations- using the metrics in case one of this study- and spend time reviewing them. “We will go through if we didn’t do something well enough or we screwed up really badly,” he said. “We’ll talk about hey, ‘this was a two-minute scenario and you got 8 yards but instead of getting the first down or going out of bounds you didn’t do either.’ It’s a reminder for them.”

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Teaching Situational Football Part Two: Clock Management Scenarios

By Mike Kuchar
Senior Researcher/Co-Founder
X&O Labs
Twitter: @MikekKuchar

 

 

Introduction:

The last facet of situational football is teaching players about the various clock situations that occur in a game. Essentially, there are three distinct clock situations that coaches need to emphasize and players have to familiarize themselves with.

  • Two-Minute Offense
  • Four-Minute Offense
  • End of Half/End of Game

 

We will present how coaches are teaching these situations to players and what they are emphasizing.

 

Two-Minute Offense:

Offensive Standpoint:

For a tempo offensive team, this may not be applicable. But we did find that many Tempo teams will conduct a two-minute offensive period in practice so that players can become familiar with the expectations. These are the common points that coaches will make to players when working through a two-minute period:

  • No heroics
  • Don’t force the ball down the field
  • No turnovers
  • As a QB, if you anticipate a timeout, approach the referee before the play begins and tell him that you want a timeout. If a time-out is desired, get to the official as soon as possible, even if the play is in progress.
  • On QB scrambles, get as much as possible and get out of bounds or on the ground.
  • Huddle quickly. The official doesn’t have to wait on the defense to get set.
  • Request measurements as much as possible.
  • Only huddle when clock is stopped
  • QB never throws the ball away on a fourth down
  • Never spike on first down inside the plus twenty yard-line. Keep defense on its heels.
  • When ball carriers are tackled from the hash mark to the sideline, they will run the ball to the hash mark or give the ball back to the official if tackled in bounds.

 

Defensive Standpoint:

  • Keep the ball carrier in-bounds
  • Take your time getting off players when making tackles. Some coaches refer to this as “using opposing players, not the ground” to get up.
  • Play some form of outside leverage coverage on the perimeter to keep the ball in bounds.
  • If you’re hurt, stay down. Allow official to stop time or have trainer come out (allowing some recuperation in this tempo).

 

 

At Florida State University, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller breaks down two-minute defense into two specific scenarios: 50/50 downs or chunk play downs. 50/50 downs are situations where an offense can still run the football at least in the form of draws and screens. Whereas, “chunk” downs refer to where the offense is forced to push the ball down the field and there is a small opportunity that the ball will be thrown under 10 yards. “Let’s say that there the offense has one minute left with one timeout and they need a field goal,” said Coach Fuller. “Everybody in the world thinks that’s two-minute drill. But to me, that’s still a 50/50 situation. They are not going to run zone read, power and counter but they will still runs draws and screens because every 10 yards the clock stops.” Coach Fuller and his staff will start addressing these two-minute walk throughs the first day in camp where he will have a staffer compile various time situations to work through. He says putting those players in that specific situation is the only way to get them to succeed or fail.

 

Four-Minute Offense

This is a situation where the offense is trying to “milk” as much clock as possible to not give the ball back to the defense. Below are the objectives from an offensive and defensive standpoint:

 

Offensive Standpoint:

  • Stay in bounds
  • No time outs called
  • Make use of all of 25-second clock
  • The ball carrier stay on the ground and make an official take the ball from you
  • Do not ask for measurement on the first or second down
  • No foolish penalties (be prepared for cheap shots)
  • Injured players get off the field on their own
  • Use a simple snap count
  • Get one first down

 

There are many offensive coaches like the staff at Southern Miss that have buzz words to alert the offense they are in four-minute tempo. We found many use words that are associated with milk such as “Frosted Flakes, Cheerios or Cereal” to identify this tempo. These calls will tell a running back is taught not to score at the end of the game. “If he breaks it, he falls down and we don’t give the ball game,” said offensive line coach Sam Gregg. “We will be ahead and we don’t want to score.”

And being in four-minute tempo doesn’t always guarantee that you will slow the ball down. Coach Gregg- who worked for Lane Kiffin at Liberty- said they would continually alter those tempos to keep the defense off-balance. “Even if we want to run a tempo play, we can be in “Milk” it and run a tempo play,” he said. “That’s when you really get defenses uncomfortable when we were at Liberty. We would run it down to 8 seconds and run a tempo play. We would run time off the clock and run our tempo offense and pick a play that we can run against anything. I thought it killed the defense. We were holding the ball and a defense got comfortable. Then we struck them.”

 

Defensive Standpoint:

  • Must generate turnovers
  • Use your timeouts
  • Decline all penalties if possible

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Teaching Situational Football Part One: Pre-Season Models

By Mike Kuchar
Senior Researcher/Co-Founder
X&O Labs
Twitter: @MikekKuchar

 

 

It’s never too late to work on situational football, which is why many coaches use pre-season camp as a general introduction. The time lends itself to a more comprehensive teaching of situations and for most programs at the collegiate level, the head coach serves as the instructor. At Wake Forest University, head coach Dave Clawson guides a situational football discussion each night at the end of practices. He calls it his thing since he can’t coach offense and defense anymore). It’s a 5-10 minute meeting every night in the pre-season and is provided to educate both sides of the ball on the importance of every possible situation, an awareness that may get lost on this generation of players.

The following situations are taught and then re-enacted the next day in practice in the form of a competition.

Each of these situations is a lesson in-and-of itself. He provides several samples of what he discusses in each. For the Day 1 install (1st and 10), he will break down how often it occurs (45% at Wake Forest last season) and will devote the equivalent amount of practice time to preparing for it. He’ll talk about how different clock and field positions can affect play calling. “We tell them the play call is different if you are at your one-yard line than at your own 25-yard line,” he said. “It’s different from 1st and 10 on your 45 when you’re down by 7 points with a minute left in the game. Often times it’s a momentum down. Something just good happened for the offensive team such as making a first down, forcing a punt, or attaining a penalty. The only time it is not as if you just returned a kick. For us, we talk about the magic number being four downs to win the down.”

Essentially, situational football is broken down into three distinct elements:

  • Down and Distance Situations
  • Field Zone Situations
  • Clock Situations

 

In this study, we are going to present the various ways in which coaches are teaching these scenarios to their players so that they have a better understand of the importance of these situations. Case one will focus purely on what coaches are doing in pre-season camp to teach the value of situational football. We’ll start with our Down and Distance Situational Analysis. This will provide some clarity on the importance of these situations and the goals both offenses have defenses have to win the situation.

 

Below is an analysis of how coaches breakdown each down and distance and the objectives in winning the down:

 

Possession (P) and 10

Possession and ten is the first play of each possession. It’s a situation of utmost importance for most of our coaches and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Success on these early possessions are directly tied to success on the scoreboard. “When we win P and 10 on 70% of downs, we win the football game,” said Bridgewater University (VA) defensive coordinator Mike Giancola. “It’s that simple. Winning that down is huge for us.”

 

1st and 10

First and ten is treated differently than P and 10. It’s a transitional down within a drive after an offense achieves a first down. From an offensive standpoint the goal is simple- achieve four yards or more. From a defensive standpoint, the intent is to surrender four yards or less. But for South River High School (MD) defensive coordinator Steve Erxleben, the standard is lower. “A BIG weekly goal for us defensively is to give up 2 yards or less on 1st down,” he said. “We really want to get teams behind the sticks and we feel 2nd and long is a really hard down and distance to call an offense from.”

 

2nd and Long (8+)

For an offense this is an off-schedule down, meaning it did not achieve success on first down. From a defensive standpoint, it’s the opposite. Getting an offense in second and long is a win. But most offensive coaches will talk about this down being a “non-consequential down,” meaning the same menu on first down for an offensive will hold up on second and long. But the goal is to attain half the yardage needed for a first down. So for example, on a 2nd and 8 the goal is to acquire at least four yards offensively, making the third down manageable. That keeps an offense on schedule. Conversely from a defensive stand point, the goal is to keep the offense in third and long by giving up less than four yards.

 

2nd and Medium (3-7)

From an offensive standpoint, this means they are on schedule. The entire play book is still open and the intent here is to again, at least acquire half of the yardage needed to convert a first down. From a defensive standpoint the goal is to give up less than half the yardage needed for an offensive first down.

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Troubleshooting Tight Zone Run Schemes

By Mike Kuchar
Senior Researcher/Co-Founder
X&O Labs
Twitter: @MikekKuchar

 

 

Now that we are all in-season, X&O Labs wanted to provide you with some quick answers to protect the top runs in your offensive menu. So, for the entire month of August we are rolling out our series on troubleshooting the run game. This week’s focus is on tight zone run schemes where we will present research on how offensive line coaches are solving the most common problems that impede tight zone runs including: blocking play side 2i or “heads” techniques, handling the backside B-gap combination block and building in alternatives to cut the C gap in split zone runs.

 

 

Problem 1: Blocking Play Side 2i Techniques

Solution: Changing Targets from Inside V to Outside Armpit Aiming Points

Source: Sanders Davis, offensive line coach, Rice University (TX)

 

Like most conferences, the defenses in Conference USA have gone to using 2i technique defenders to hang on doubles at the point of attack. Running the scheme to the 2i has become a preferred choice for the staff at Rice because if you get that defender moved, you’re going to get as much guaranteed yardage as possible. The ball carrier just presses the combination and cuts it behind it. “We try to dent anything we can on the front side,” he told me. “It’s a vertical mindset. That happens vs. a 2i.”

One of the things that has helped Coach Davis teach those Centers is to teach him to “cross the T” of the play side shade, which means work to get to his outside armpit. It’s a different aiming point than the inside “V” taught for everyone else. The reason is, it helps the play side Guard to rock back on him and get the play dented. “We can’t inside target it because we get no stretch on him,” Coach Davis told me. “If you get your hat across, threatening his leverage and get him going sideways so now we deliver the down lineman to the rock back. Often times it’s a nasty hit.”

 

The Center is in a “trace” scenario working to execute a quick square drag technique to get hip to hip with play side Guard. It’s a vertical double until the second-level defender declares. The Guard is in a lead scenario with near leg and near shoulder contact. Against any lag technique by the 2i, he’ll get knocked back into the Center.

 

 

Problem 2: No Movement on Backside B Gap Combinations

Solution: Building in B-Gap Divides (Wham) Concepts

Source: Brian Gabriel, offensive line coach, Monmouth University (NJ)

 

But the increasing popularity of the Bear front has placed a great deal of pressure on the backside B gap combination block in tight zone runs. Often times, the backside Guard cannot find his way to backside linebacker because of a heavy 3-technique that can squeeze the combination block.

 

And the Bear front is a prevalent early down defense for good reasons- it draws double teams off zone and gap concepts in the run game and becomes nearly impossible to create movement along the run box. So, in order for offenses to get traction in the run game it becomes vital to split the front at the seams. And perhaps the best way to do so is by using some form of A gap divide principle, or better known as the “Wham” concept. While Monmouth University calls it “Able,” it has been a productive add for the Hawks this season, tallying a 7.6 yards per play efficiency.

The concept is built off tight zone by dividing the backside B gap or A-gap defender, rather than the C-gap defender most common in divide zone schemes. “We feel like we needed another way to divide the defense, rather than having the backside Tackle/Guard cut off the B gap,” said run game coordinator Brian Gabriel. “So, we divide at the 3-technique rather than the 5-technique. Some of the A gap divide worked us as well. We wanted to change the divide point from split flow zone and change who we’re cutting off, particularly against blocks we’re having trouble with.”

 

Concept Installation

Like most inside zone teams, Monmouth University uses three different concepts in its base A gap zone installation and has the ability to insert the tight end on the front side or on the backside of the concept based on the tag. Often times, it becomes a check at the line of scrimmage.

Below are three tags Monmouth uses off its tight zone scheme. In each of these concepts, the backside is locking or “fanning” away.

 

“Easy”: This is a C gap divide concept. Tight end would come across the ball and kick out C gap defender. This is the most common form of divide zone.

“Nasty”: This is a B gap divide concept where the Guard takes his best release to the minus linebacker and the tight end will block the 3-technique defender. “This became a bear check for us,” said Coach Gabriel. “We prefer it to the 3-technique because that is the best release for the Guard. Good against Bear and Under fronts with 4i techniques”

 

“Able”: This is an A gap divide concept where the tight end will block the A gap defender weak, which can be the Nose in Odd fronts. According to Coach Gabriel, it’s a solid fix if you can get a tell against Odd outfits that move the Nose post-snap, but may be more of a challenge against the two-gap technique Nose. “One of our opponents this season were crossing the Nose so the Center was disciplined enough to keep going play side and the tight end would block the Nose,” he said. Many defenses are not true Odd teams with movement so you can live with it. We tell the Center to block him like he’s coming to your gap. If he disappears go and the tight end will insert.”

 

 

Problem 3: H/Y Not Physical Enough to Kick C Gap on Split Zone

Solution: Building in Horizontal Reads off Tight Zone Action

Source: Braden Layer, offensive coordinator, Bowdoin College

 

When I got to Allegheny College as the offensive coordinator in 2017, our slot receiver was one of the most-feared athletes in the conference. A true burner, he possessed the ability to score any time he touched the football. Thus, his “influence” on a jet sweep was incredibly powerful. We found that by devoting a handful of plays each game to the jet action with the original goal of challenging the perimeter, we were in turn able to dramatically influence the box, specifically in the zone read game.

This became a great fit when we didn’t necessarily have a dominant H-back that could consistently handle DEs on zone/split zone, and our QB was limited in his keep ability on zone read. We needed a way to encourage a handoff while still feeling solid about our numbers and angles, and matching zone read with jet motion allowed us to do just that. We married two different components of our offense without installing any new techniques or major learning, keeping it simple.

 

Zone Read With Jet Motion

On this play, our quarterback oversees putting the slot in motion. He aims to snap the football when the S receiver hits the outside leg of the tackle for our jet motion. Because we want to encourage our receiver to reach the mesh as close to full speed as possible, he tracks the motion in more of a banana path. Flat to the outside leg of the tackle, then bellies to directly in front of the quarterback.

On the snap, the quarterback turns and reads the defensive end towards the side the S will finish his motion. There is no dummy fake or show to the motion-man. Again, with the threat of the S receiver getting outside and finding a perimeter running lane, we are hoping to influence the read key to widen on the snap. Should the defensive end crash, our S now becomes an extra alley blocker for the QB on any keep read (can handle a hard squeeze/scrape).

 

At Allegheny and now as the OC at Bowdoin, we have clear visual keys for what is a keep read for our QB. Another reason we love this zone variation is that is allows us to encourage the give read if we are not the most dynamic runners at the QB position. Unless the defensive end turns his shoulders to chase and reaches a landmark of the BSG on his crash, we aimed to give. Obviously, depending on the ability of your QB, this read changes for your offense.

The jet sweep threat allowed our tailback to feel VERY comfortable with his backside cutback. Our aiming point on the zone play is the playside leg of the center, and our tailback is taught to press the heels of the center, reading the A gap. If we have a solid double team and get vertical displacement, our tailback is free to bang the playside open gap. If he sees a muddy A gap and no vertical push, we teach a one-cut rule on his cutback. He is free to jump-cut and find the open gap all the way back to the C-gap defender.

With the jet motion, we are hopefully encouraging a much clearer C-gap for our tailback. If he doesn’t find playside A-gap to be open, he is naturally thinking “hit backside C.”

 

Adding Bubble

Changing the technique of the S on this zone-read variation post-snap has given us the option of now throwing bubble on the perimeter.

We added this for a few reasons. First, if the slot is our best player, we need to continue to find ways to get him the football, especially in space. Second, if teams are reluctant to rotate safeties down to get a perimeter match as they are continuing to load the box for the run component, it allows us to win with numbers. Last, it gives another potential option for our QB to be effective without having to RUN the ball.

The S is nothing but window dressing, as he is taught post-snap to bend tightly around the read key and look to pick up the most dangerous alley defender. In this bubble variation, the S will now continue right down the line on a horizontal path following the snap, looking over his inside shoulder. For our QB, instead of teaching a true triple-option progression, we teach it in line with our RPO calls. He has a pre-snap indicator, and a post-snap read.

 

 

Conclusion:

Want more? Access into The Labs, gets you full access to the following reports as well as raw and narrated game film on the same concepts:

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Troubleshooting Gap Run Schemes

By Mike Kuchar
Senior Researcher/Co-Founder
X&O Labs
Twitter: @MikekKuchar

 

 

Now that we are all in-season, X&O Labs wanted to provide you with some quick answers to protect the top runs in your offensive menu. So, for the entire month of August we are rolling out our series on troubleshooting the run game. This week’s focus is on gap run schemes (such as power and G/Y counter) where we will present research on how offensive line coaches are solving the most common problems that impede gap runs including backside guard’s being too wide on entry points, Center’s struggling with the back block on penetrating Nose Guards, Fullbacks being too soft on kick out blocks, defenses triggering off Y movement in off-line counter schemes and first level defenders presenting edge pressure from the backside and running down the mesh.

 

 

Problem 1: Second-Level Defenders Triggering off the Y in G/Y Counter

Solution: Grounded Tight End Pulls

Source: Keegan Kennedy, offensive line coach, Harvard University

 

Like many offenses, Harvard relied on using more detached (Y-Off) roles for its tight on gap schemes. But during his off-season study this winter, offensive line coach Keegan Kennedy realized how much defenses were relying on keying that Y-off to rock back and fit split zone and counter schemes. So, he spent the majority of spring ball teaching the Y to pull from a grounded or attached position and found that defenses were rarely keyed in to him when he was on the line of scrimmage. “We find it to be a great advantage,” coach Kennedy told me. “ We wound up loving to pull the tight end from an on the ball alignment. Our tight ends are super athletic but they have to be good enough to run things in the box.”

 

Grounded Puller Coaching Points:

Coach Kennedy teaches the Y when he’s on the ball to open at 90 degrees and get in phase with the first puller. Because he’s a grounded tight end, he’s already in the ideal alignment of being 1×1 off backside Tackle so he doesn’t need to get any depth.

 

Coach Kennedy teaches the grounded tight end to key the inside hip of the Guard. If the end of line of scrimmage defender boxes the play, the tight end fits inside of him.

 

If the defender spills it, the tight end needs to get around it. Coach Kennedy talks about that hip being vertical, which alerts him to get around.

 

 

Problem 2: First-Level Defenders Running Down Mesh

Solution: Pistol Backside Mesh

Source: Ryan Olson, offensive line coach, South Dakota State University

 

Pistol Backside Mesh:

There are some alignment nuances that the Jackrabbits use to gain maximum efficiency on the concept. One of those variants is teaching a backside mesh from Pistol alignments. According to Coach Olson, the purpose is to provide a control mechanism any defenders able to run the play down from the backside.

 

The QB is taught to get off the midline and he’s responsible for clearing the way for the back. The running back is responsible for the mesh, while the quarterback’s eyes go to the backside C area. Wherever the QB sticks the ball it’s him to makes the adjustment. The quarterback is responsible for the D gap defender, so he is given the option of pulling the ball if there is smoke off the edge or the backside Tackle doesn’t do a good job on the hinge.

According to Coach Olson, the change in mesh has been really good in handling any backside issues. “When you have weak side linebacker’s walk up backside he’s usually accounted for in the count so you need a hat for him,” said Coach Olson. “In the past we would just pull it if he came off the edge. But the defense can have numbers if there is a safety over there. Or, you can put a tight end on the backside but you need to change the formation and be in different personnel groups. This is easiest and affects the least amount of people.”

 

RB Aiming Point:

The ball carrier is taught to be 1×1 off the inside hip of the puller (backside guard). Coach Olson teaches a “hips in” or “hips out” progression reading the block of the puller.

 

“Hips Out”- Puller’s ass is in the hole ball should stay inside the puller.

 

“Hips In”- If the puller skates it or he has to log it the running back has to go tight off the ass of the puller.

 

So, while the power concept is taught as an A gap concept, the ball carrier will often bounce the ball based on the read of the block. “We’ve never seen the ball hit in the A gap, particularly against an Over front if we’re getting the right movement on the combination,” said Coach Olson. “There is too much static in there so it becomes more of a B gap out insert point. It may look like it’s in the A gap because we are getting vertical movement. We’ve never talked about feeling flow of the backer. So many defenses come over the top of down blocks. So, now we tell them to check the backside A gap. If that Nose pops over the Center, we may want to hit them against fast flow teams.”

 

 

Problem 3: Center Backblock on Penetrating 3 Technique

Solution: Shuffle Technique by Center

Source: Arthur Ray, Jr., offensive line coach, Northwood University (MI)

 

Center Down Block Technique:

When we have a shade Nose he gains ground with the first step aiming point is V of the Neck. I want an inside hand on the defender’s frontside number and a backside hand on the defender’s side/back to prevent the defender from crossing his face.

Shuffle Technique with backside 3-tech remain flat do not gain ground in case of 3-tech hard charges upfield. The Backside Tackle should prevent penetration, so you are on track to take over!

 

 

Problem 4: Fullbacks Lunging and Whiffing on Kickout Blocks

Solution: Using the Gallop Technique for Fullbacks

Source: Danny Schaechter, offensive coordinator, Gonzaga College High School (DC)

 

Like many other coaches, when it came to fullback, we had coaching points: contact near foot, near shoulder, and explode low to high. We’d been giving those fundamental points to our fullbacks for years, and it had been fairly successful, but there were still issues with fullbacks on our kick-out blocks lunging and whiffing, being driven back into the play, and/or playing too high. This is because coaching points are not the same as technique. After asking a lot of college coaches, including Power 5 coaches who were known for physical fullback play, this was the common answer: we just find someone who can do it. Many high school coaches don’t have that option. Through the search for an actual technique to a kick-out block, our staff had an idea that stole from the biggest fullbacks on the team, the offensive line. For us, this was the birth of the fullback gallop technique for kick-out blocks.

 

The Gallop

Once again, this technique is borrowed from the offensive line’s gallop technique used by the drive man on double teams.

 

The technique is truly not complicated, and our fullbacks picked it up quickly. The fullback will drive from his opposite foot of the kick-out block. This means if the kick-out is to the right, the fullback will be driving from his left foot. If it were to the left, he’d be driving from his right foot. We refer to the gallop with his feet as “base replace.” This means the fullback is continually galloping, working to replace his catch foot, the foot nearest the defender he is kicking out, with his drive foot, allowing him to maintain a base and stay stable to the point of contact. Also, this delivers the first coaching point we give on the kick-out: near foot/near shoulder. Furthermore, the fullback will keep three-joint flexion in his ankles, knees, and hips while staying square to the line of scrimmage. This accomplishes the coaching point of exploding low to high when contact is made. More so, this helps us tremendously against teams who spill/wrong arm kick-out blocks. For the upper body, we teach our fullbacks to contact with the near shoulder and use a flipper. The inside arm can be used after contact, but we tell them that it’s insurance to maintain contact and strain. When the inside arm is used, we are trying to contact the defender’s inside hip, which gives the fullback the chance to control the defender’s body.

We taught our fullbacks to step with the backside leg when in the I formation on a kick-out block (note: this is what we taught before the gallop technique since our fullbacks would open instead of staying square, but we don’t think it will be necessary moving forward with the gallop technique). Then, he steps with his next foot which gets him in a good base. After the fullback gets into his initial base, he takes one gallop, driving from his left foot, which the endzone shot shows a great example of this “base replace” footwork.

 

 

Problem 5: Backside Guard Too Fast on Skip Pull

Solution: BSG Shuffle Pull Technique

Source: Bill O’Boyle, offensive line coach, University of Colorado

 

Shuffle “Slow” Pull Technique:

Coach O’Boyle credits learning the slow pull from former offensive line coach Reese Morgan from Iowa. It started with the concept of pullers keeping shoulders squared on second level blocks. While he started teaching the skip pull, he quickly released that the skip pull takes up too much depth and provides hesitation. At Kent State, the slow pull is taught universally to the following players in run schemes:

  • Backside Guard in Power
  • Backside Tackle in G/T Counter
  • Backside Y (or big slot in Kent State’s scheme in G/Y Counter
  • Backside or Playside Y (or big slot in Kent State’s scheme in Insert Zone

 

As these slow pullers are working into the line of scrimmage, they are searching out the linebacker right now and determining who is going to be in A gap. “We don’t chase linebackers,” Coach O’Boyle told me. “If my backer triggers, I need to block that immediately and the A gap will be pried open. We insert faster through the A gap with the shuffle pull. Here the pullers shoulders are square, his base is right when he makes contact because he’s not crossing over or coming in sideways where the linebacker can spill him.”

The coaching points for the shuffle pull are divided into three fundamentals:

  • Shuffle– The first step must be a drop step to clear the down block or back block of Center. It’s essentially a kick step to lose ground. Coach O’Boyle teaches this component of the technique by using a cone to teach depth.

 

  • Plant– Here the puller works to transfer his weight from his outside foot to his inside foot before inserting into the line of scrimmage. This helps to get power underneath them in preparation for the Gorilla touch strike point below.

 

  • Insert– When the puller inserts into the line of scrimmage, he’s taught to execute what Coach O’Boyle calls a “Gorilla touch” which emphasizes a low to high, near foot/near shoulder strike point. “Our coaching point is to touch the ground,” said Coach O’Boyle.

 

 

Conclusion:

Want more? Access into The Labs, gets you full access to the following reports as well as raw and narrated game film on the same concepts:

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Defending the Wing-T From 2-High Spacing

By Steve Erxleben
Head Coach
South River High School (MD)
Twitter: @CoachErxleben

 

 

In today’s modern challenge of defending offenses that feature multiple formations made up of multiple personnel groupings with multiple forms of tempo, Defensive schemes have to be sophisticated enough to challenge the run, pass, and protection schemes while also be simple enough to allow players to play fast. As a defensive staff here at South River High School, we decided years ago to transition from more of a base front and coverage team to a scheme rooted in zone pressure and match-carry-deliver principles on the backend.

Football is cyclical and as offensive schemes die out or become under-unitized nationally, they can be reborn or rebranded years later, forcing Defenses to adjust the systems they adjusted for more modern schemes just a few years before. In the past few seasons we have encountered several opponents who have abandoned primarily 1 back zone and power schemes in favor of versions and Hybrid versions of Wing-T Belly, Power, and trap while utilizing both balanced and unbalanced (3×1) formations to add gaps to be defended.

The Wing-T and its different versions put many defensive schemes in a bind and the old adage of “guards take you to the ball” may not be enough these days to counter what these offenses have transitioned to and the issues that they create with the enormous number of personal groups, shits, motions, condensed formations, and blocking angles they can create.

At South River High School, we have adopted the theory that playing Wing-T team is more relatable to playing an option team in that responsibilities have to be delineated between the front and coverage with the front having more of a spill or “set the wall” mentality and the secondary clearing the pass and boxing the run.

To combat this trend our defensive staff has begun to utilize more 2 high man-match coverage concepts with specific run fits and keys while still relying on a 5 man pressure philosophy. This article will begin by identifying exactly what we are attempting to defend from a formation and scheme aspect, then how we align and hope to attack it, and finally how our 2 high man-match coverage allows us to remain a pressure-based scheme. This topic generally falls under one of the more ill forgotten rules of blitzing: You must think coverage first!

 

BASE FRONT TERMINOLOGY AND HOW IT RELATES TO PRESSURE

Even though this article is intended to discuss and analyze our specific scheme vs Wing-T alignments, it is warranted to first touch on our Base verbiage and what the Blitz and non-pressure sides are doing (DIAGRAM #1). In our base defense, we will set our front either to the field or the boundary, to or away from the multiple receiver side, to or away from the TE, or to or away from the Back in the shot gun. Where we are setting the front is a weekly game plan decision. Every snap we make either a “Roger” or “Louie” call which dictates where the 4th rusher is coming from and, if we are in a 3 deep situation, where safety support is spinning. Our Interior linemen always slant away from the front call (Roger/Louie) as the 4th rusher (our call side OLB) becomes the C gap player/5 technique call side. The reduction side call correlates with a coverage call to establish who the force player is to the reduction side as well as who the seam player will be. All of our same-side ILB/OLB or “edge” blitzes correlate with a Roger or Louie call, which we feel makes it easier for our players to identify and gives them a chance to focus more on disguise and triggering the blitz from a proper depth and angle.

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Research Report: Building the Four-Surface Run Game

By Mike Kuchar
Senior Researcher/Co-Founder
X&O Labs
Twitter: @MikekKuchar

 

 

If you haven’t built your run game around four-surface formations yet this season, now is the time to start. Whether you’re a Pin and Pull, Tight Zone, Gap, or Duo outfit, four surface presentations not only create angles and combinations play side but also create extra cut points for the ball carrier backside. At Northern Illinois and Rice University, the four-surface Pin and Pull created the separation needed to get the ball carrier in the alley. At Rice University, the four-surface pin and pull alleviated the second puller from working to the point, allowing him to work to the high safety. And at the University of Minnesota and Davison University (NC) building in four-surface formations in the tight zone run game, allowed the unblocked defender to be positioned a gap wider from the mesh where he’s reduced to an arm tackle on the bend back. This week, we studied how four programs have built their top runs off four-surface formations.

 

 

Pin and Pull Concepts:

Source: Eric Eidsness, offensive coordinator, Northern Illinois University

 

Mesh Variations:

The Huskies utilize two alignments in its Pin and Pull concept: pistol and sidecar alignments. In both alignments, the ball carriers aiming point is one yard outside the tight end, which includes the wing element in four-surface formations.

The mesh rules for both are below:

 

Pistol Alignment:

  • Open to the play side at a 45-degree angle
  • Get the ball back to the ball carrier by the third step.
  • Drop back three steps after mesh to sell play-action pass (boot)

 

The ball carrier is taught to execute a “V” step, which opens his hips to get downhill. It’s the typical crossover, plant footwork. According to Coach Eidsness, the key coaching point is for the quarterback to keep him online with the D gap aiming point, which he calls “staying high.” “We don’t want to get downhill too fast,” he told me. The backside C gap can be controlled with naked or with motion or a backside tight end.

 

Offset Alignment:

In sidecar alignments, the quarterback sets his toes at 4.5 yards with the ball carrier’s toes at 5 yards. It’s the quarterback’s job to get off the line with a step-back technique or what some coaches call a “clear” mesh. “We want the running back to be able to run laterally and not run downhill and have to bubble back to the perimeter,” said Coach Eidsness. “The quarterback has to allow him to stay flat.” In sidecar alignments, it’s built-in for the quarterback to read the backside C gap defender.

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Drilling the 5 Catch Categories to Enhance WRs Production

By Eric Miller
Wide Receiver’s Coach
Twitter: @coachericmiller

 

 

There are five types of catches that a wide receiver can make: routine catches; jump balls; body catches; over-the-shoulder catches; and lastly, one-handed catches. Each of those types of catches correlates to either a different body position or hand placement that a wide receiver can be in when attempting to complete a catch. Routine catches are the typical catching opportunities that many of us are mostly aware of. Jump balls are any catch where the receiver has to vertically jump for a ball. Body catches are most useful when having to make a grab in heavy traffic, (i.e. situations in which there is more than one defender in the vicinity). Over the shoulder catches are used for catching more vertical type routes where the receiver must run up under a ball that has been loft high into the air. Lastly, one-handed catches are simply catches made with one hand, regardless of if it is out of necessity or for added flare.

In this article, I want to breakdown the 5 types of catches that occur in game competition. I will discuss methods and techniques for being able to make the appropriate catch for each of the five types as well as pointers on how to best execute each catch. Understanding the different types of catches that a receiver may get and how to apply the appropriate hand and body placement within a given situation greatly increase your player’s odds of being able to consistently make in-game catches.

Below are key coaching points for each of the 5 types of catches that my players work on both during the in-season and the off-season.

 

ROUTINE CATCH

 

HIGH BALL

  • KEEP PALMS AND FINGERS WIDE
  • HANDS FORM DIAMOND
  • FLEX WRISTS AND ABSORB BALL
  • SQUEEZE IT

 

LOW BALL

  • KEEP PALMS AND FINGERS WIDE
  • THUMBS UP AND FINGERS DOWN
  • ABSORB BALL
  • SQUEEZE IT

 

PROFILE (OVER)

  • KEEP PALMS AND FINGERS WIDE
  • HANDS FORM DIAMOND
  • FINGERS FACING SIDELINE, ALMOST PARALLEL TO GROUND
  • ABSORB BALL
  • SQUEEZE IT

 

PROFILE (UNDER)

  • PINKIES TOUCHING
  • KEEP PALMS AND FINGERS WIDE
  • FINGERS FACING SIDELNE, ALMOST PARALLEL TO GROUND
  • ABSORB BALL
  • SQUEEZE IT

 

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Alternating Middle Safety Inverts in 3-High Spacing

By Mike Kuchar
Senior Researcher/Co-Founder
X&O Labs
Twitter: @MikekKuchar

 

 

The versatility of the middle safety in three-high looks allows coaches to teach various insertion points in both zone and pressure coverages. The skill set and acumen of a safety (rather than a linebacker) allows him to rotate into several insertion points from snap to snap, including weak and strong hook, weak and strong flat, strong and weak half, low hole and high hole technique. And now coaches are building their sims around the three-high safety world so that underneath defenders can come from depth. We present the various ways in which coaches are changing the insertion points for that middle safety.

 

Middle Runner Insertion Point:

Source: Manny Rojas, Defensive Coordinator, University of Delaware

 

Best Practices: 2×2 Open Sets

Use Rover as Middle Runner – The corners play thirds with the Rover, while the Bandit and Will play the numbers (flat). In the image below, the Will is playing the numbers technique because of the three-surface formation. According to Coach Rojas, these insert variation is best against 2×2 open sets so that both safeties are in a position to play the hook/curl drop from top down alignments.

 

Best Practice: Immediate Run Support to Both Sides

Answer: Rover as Middle Runner- Along the same lines, the Kat and Field Safety can play numbers (flat) while the Rover plays deep third. The Bandit and Will now can play the Hash (curl). According to Coach Rojas, this adjustment provides better run support to the field.

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Flip Mesh Mechanics in Boundary RPO Concepts

By Mike Kuchar
Senior Researcher/Co-Founder
X&O Labs
Twitter: @MikekKuchar

 

 

At this point in the RPO evolution, most defensive coordinators know how to defend mesh with run action away. But when the run action is presented right in the face of defenders and the quarterback opens to them, they have a hard time adjusting to routes thrown over the top of them. Understanding this helps get the quarterback’s eyes in the right spot. So, when defenses are fitting away from the back- as many defenses do- that’s when the QB has to use opposite-side footwork in the RPO component. X&O Labs studied how four programs teach and drill opposite side (or flip) footwork in the RPO game.

 

Boundary Choice RPO System:

Source: David Weeks, Wide Receivers Coach, Fordham University (NY)

 

QB/RB Mesh: “Tight Mesh Alignment”

When you watch Fordham’s offense on film, one of the things that jumps out is how tight the back is to the quarterback. The back is usually less than a foot away with his toes on the QB’s heels.

 

It was something that Coach Weeks learned at UCF under Coach Heupel. The closer distances help the quarterback get his eyes on his read when the RPO is away from the back. Coach Weeks teaches the quarterback two base fundamentals on his mesh mechanics based on if the RPO is two his throwing arm or away from this throwing arm.

  • If the QB’s throwing arm is away from RPO- he just re-adjusts his feet into the ground, plants on his insteps and delivers the football.
  • If the QB throwing arm is to the RPO, he’s taught a “pop” technique, which means he flip hips to deliver the ball.

 

Regardless of his positioning, one thing is certain, the QB cannot drift with his footwork, it’s something that is worked continuously in mesh drills. He cannot get any depth or drift on RPO’s. So, in order to do so, he takes a quarter turn and get his eyes away from the back on his read. “Basically, we tell him to pick up foot closest to back and put it down,” said Coach Weeks. “It’s a 45-degree turn. Now he can get his eyes over there. We want to get his hips to a 45 and get his feet to a 45. It’s a front hip to back hip ride on the mesh.”

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Teaching Face Read Fundamentals in Mug Presentation Pressures

By Mike Kuchar
Senior Researcher/Co-Founder
X&O Labs
Twitter: @MikekKuchar

 

 

For years, DC’s have taught a long stick fundamental in pressure scenarios. But recently they have made the shift away from traditional first-level horizontal movements and have now gone to “face reading” linemen to vertically affect gaps in pressure scenarios. When taught correctly, these face reads can not only alter protections but can also generate free rushers at the line of scrimmage. In this report, X&O Labs highlights six programs (Illinois State, Indiana, Baylor, Austin Peay, Angelo State, University of St. Thomas) and how each of them teaches the face read fundamental in its pressure packages.

 

“Face” Read Fundamental:

Source: Travis Niekamp, Defensive Coordinator, Illinois State University

Here is where the advancement of the scheme comes in. Illinois State doesn’t rely on any long-sticking in its zone pressures. Instead, all players are taught a “face technique” for both first and second level defenders. The footwork is more lateral in nature and is used any time the front is being moved. Rather than having a gap mindset, first level defenders will read the next interior offensive lineman for the following reads:

  • If the offensive lineman blocks down, he’s off his ass.

 

 

  • If the offensive lineman is out, he works across his face.

 

 

According to Coach Niekamp, this has been one of the most efficient tweaks they have made to the scheme and it’s done across the board with both first and second level defenders. “Some coaches prefer long sticking to the pressure side and gap fitting away from the pressure but we are a face technique with all of them now,” he told me.

He prefers not to put a lot of responsibility on his front three defenders. They just get good at reading the demeanor of offensive linemen. The benefit comes not just in the pass game but in the run game as well. “It’s really good vs. gap schemes because you’re facing all guys up front and creating issues with movement and you still have a hard spill and contain player (both rushers),” he said. “Often times we’ll bring two off the edge and send the ball away, getting guys chasing the ball from behind with two linebackers that can scrape and fit.”

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5 Sequences to Protect the Open Side Mid Zone

By Mike Kuchar with Brian Callahan
Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach
University of Minnesota
Twitter: @Callybrian

 

 

The two-surface mid zone continues to be a staple in Minnesota’s menu for good reason- it had the back in Mo Ibrahim who understood how to run it- and when the Gophers build its 12/13 “Elephant” personnel groupings, defenses across the Big 10 had to over shift their structure to account for it.

 

So, for run game coordinator/offensive line coach Brian Callahan the answer was simple: create a mid-zone concept to exploit the bubble of the defense. Teams like Penn State, Illinois and Iowa all majored in Under front reductions, so the scheme could easily exploit a three for three matchup to the two-surface.

 

It became the bread-and-butter concept for Coach Callahan and the offensive staff in Minnesota. Not only was it efficient, but it was explosive. It was generally mixed with tight zone from the same grouping, which we worked with Coach Callahan on previously (insert link).

Because of this, the concept generated explosive runs that hit to the front side. In fact, five different running backs ran for over 100 yards in a game in ’22 and the majority of them came in these mid-zone concepts.

We’re going to take a look at how programs like the University of Minnesota are able to protect the play side Tackle from penetration in the mid zone and how you can use these same tools to heighten the efficiency of the concept in your system.

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