Split Field Pressure Coverages From Odd Stack Spacing

By Travis Roland
Head Football Coach, and Defensive Coordinator
Flagler Palm Coast High School (FL)
Twitter: @COACH217ROLAND

At Flagler Palm Coast, we utilize what we call 30 Stack or what most call a 3-3-5 defensive front. We transitioned to this front for two reasons, one because we had an abundance of hybrid style players, and this front (or personnel grouping) allowed us to maximize the talent we had.  Secondly, we chose this front due to the lack of size on our defensive line unit, and using this front allowed us to slant, loop, twist, and turn, utilizing our player's strengths at the point of attack. This front allowed us to become much more athletic as a total defense.

Our philosophy at Flagler Palm Coast High School is to use the strength of our kids, which is their aggression and speed. Our sole goal on almost every defensive possession is to try and create all one-on-one matchups at the point of attack. We feel that if we can get to one-on-one matchups, our players' speed and aggression will put us in a place to be successful. Upon my arrival at FPC, I was a big man-to-man play-caller. Our Linebacker coach, Brian Cox, sat down with me and discussed how we could slow up the QB's reads versus our pressures if we split the field coverage with a man side and a zone side. There are also situations where we split the field with two different zone coverages. This allows us to present a multitude of looks to the opposing team to create confusion and flexibility in certain situations to allow us to be successful. There are times we take a basketball approach to our 6-man zone coverages and play matchup zone. We understand that there are always hots but our players understand the leverage they start with they must keep.

Who’s Who: Look at the following chart to see what names we call our positions. Our defense is broken down into Strong and Weak, but not your typical way. The left side is considered the “Strong Side” of the defense and the right side is considered the “Weak Side” of the defense.

In this diagram, you could see how we line up versus a balanced 2x2 formation if we chose to be one high pre-snap. As stated in the introduction, our players do not have to ever flip sides. Our Strong End, Sam, and Bull are always on the Left/Strong side of the defense. Our Weak End, Will, and Dog are always on the Right/Weak Side of the defense. Our Corners also play Left & Right (Strong and Weak). The "F" (Free Safety) is always the High Safety and in the middle of the field. He does not declare a side until post-snap (that's our goal).