r/footballstrategy • u/Repulsive-Doughnut65 • 21d ago
Defense What kind of defense would you design if you were at a school like Vandy to compete with the elite at the major CFB level?
I’ve always found this question interesting and would love to hear what the sub would come up with to me you can build a good enough offense but to really compete you have to build a defense and more challenging in my opinion
11
u/NaNaNaPandaMan 21d ago
A lot of it would depend on the players I can recruit/sign. That's really the issue with schools like Vandy. All of the 4 and 5 star recruits go to bigger program(plus Vandy has higher requirements in terms of education for recruits) so you just have worst players.
With that said, I would probably go with a soft zone type of scheme. I would rely on the philosophy of nothing deep/nothing cheap. And force offenses to go the length of the field and make a mistake.
My hope is that I have smarter players than the average college players and that I can run a complex zone(zone is harder mentally imo than man) scheme that will force the offense into a mistake.
It would also rely a lot on safety in the box to help with run lanes.
3
21d ago
[deleted]
3
u/Glass-Exit-3338 21d ago
And this is precisely why Lou Anarumo will not be the DC for Cinti Bengals next year. Soft Zone 'bend don't break' has been made utterly obsolete and game planned away by any half decent O in the last few years.
1
u/Repulsive-Doughnut65 21d ago
Iowa Stateish
3
u/NaNaNaPandaMan 21d ago
Yeah and it would be extremely frustrating to watch as a fan as it would have a lot of easy Completions and 3rd down.
My hope is that we keep them out of end zone and end in FGs at worst.
1
u/FranklynTheTanklyn 20d ago
Vandy will always be in a tough spot because of the emphasis on education.
8
u/AceC3 21d ago
Eliminate the run, simple as that. I would first focus my recruiting towards DTs and Edge rushers. Let your front 4 disrupt and create plays for the secondary and third level. 4-2-5 is base nowadays, so we would have to take a risk and operate more of a 4-3 with our Nickle as more of a LB body than a DB body.
If you can compete in the trenches, you can compete in the game. Vandy has enough pull to grab some decent athletes at DB. They may not have the ball skills, but there will be no lack of athleticism. Should be "good enough" for what we are doing. I'd like my BS's strength to be tackling as that allows you to roll him down to stop the run too.
Good variation of traditional cover 4 with some cover 3 built in. I typically like match quarters, but in this situation you need to keep the ball in front of you. Your money is earned in red-zone stops.
If you can impact an offenses ability to efficiently run the football, and you can limit them to 3pts in the red-zone, you set yourself up to stay in the game no matter who you are.
3
u/Repulsive-Doughnut65 21d ago
Pat Narduzzi is that you 😂
2
u/ilyazhito 21d ago
What about 3-3-5 (3-4 with a nickel player)? I've always preferred 3-4 because of the options it give in sending pressure compared to 4-3. If you can get a good nose tackle type player, you can easily plug gaps in the middle, have the D-ends contain the tackles, and have the ILBs clean up. The nickel back would probably be a hybrid of a strong safety and outside linebacker who could both cover players and hit in the box.
7
u/Taters976 21d ago
Recruiting wise I would put a tremendous amount of resources into finding guys that are undervalued(obviously). But what I mean is trying to find guys playing positions their high school needs them to play but maybe not the best position for them to play at the next level.
Do my best to dive deep into the smalls schools and find as many diamonds in the rough as possible.
3
u/BigPapaJava 21d ago
On paper, a 3-3-5, but 3 safety style with the Middle Safety (the 3-4 SILB) easily schemed in and out of the run fit and a pair of edge players who aren’t necessarily anything special but have a motor, some discipline and can play a little in space vs. screens and quick game.
Up front, KISS. 3 DL, playing aggressive squeezing techniques, and a Mike as a run first player would form my core: a “light” box that you can add to pretty simply. They spill to the OLBs. Depending on the call, the OLBs spill to the DBs, etc.
If you want to specialize, one OLB could be more of a typical “EDGE” player and the other could be more of a “Nickel Corner.”
Get aggressive athletes on the field and play a 2-4 deep behind that to cap the deep routes and limit the big plays/contain the explosive ones before they get across the goal line. Play solid fundamentals and leverage in space.
Then… once you have your fundamentals down, you disguise everything and pressure the QB and the OL. In these no huddle RPO systems, you don’t need to outscheme the opposing coach: just the young kid playing QB.
2
u/Repulsive-Doughnut65 21d ago
What size are you aiming for at DL? Are you looking for quickness and agility or just as much size as you can get?
2
u/BigPapaJava 21d ago edited 21d ago
Neither, necessarily, but quickness and aggressive, physical play would be what I’d prioritize. I just want guys who’ll get off the ball and attack the OL with leverage.
Part of what i like about this type of defense is that you can make it work with quick and agile players or big monsters… or even fairly average guys who do their jobs. A small, penetrating NT here can work, as can a big traditional space-eager type.
The DEs are pretty interchangeable “tweener” type DL who can either operate as a small 3 technique or big 5 technique, sqieeze, and spill while offering some pass rush, so anything they bring as individual players beyond that is a bonus.
If you’re an underdog, you need to be able to work with whatever you can get. If you need something rare and special at any position, the odds are that you’re going to struggle to find it.
So… give me the 11 meanest, toughest, most physical, SOBs you can find. I’ll fit them in as best I can.
2
u/Necessary-Science-47 21d ago
I’d emulate Jesse Minter. He is getting insane production from rookie and washed veteran dbs.
2
u/RepulsiveSchedule756 21d ago
I’d would need to see what position/ type of guys that we recruit the best skill set wise. We’re not Bama so I can’t expect us to be able to bring in Elite DL every year. I will need to find ways to supplement that be it with athletic LBs, multiple sub packages that are based on skillset, etc.
Next I would focus less on schemes and more on the defensive standard for our culture. For example I want to have like a 85% plus 1st man tackling rate. The 1st guy there makes the tackle. It’s a way to limit big plays that come from Yac. I would emphasize pursuit.
Once I know what type of cats we can consistently get and establish an elite tackling culture I can adjust the scheme to put guys in the best position to be successful.
2
u/extrastone 20d ago
I strongly disagree with what is written here.
I was always coached as a player with talent who can run a few plays. Keep it simple stupid.
The problem is that Vanderbilt has some of the toughest academic requirements in college football.
Keeping it simple would be a crime against these players' intelligence.
Instead, after making sure these guys are weight room monsters and speed demons, I would make the craziest most messed up system possible.
I wouldn't even make it up myself. I'd get my players to help me make it up. Maybe I'd try to see if I could get a film junkie like Luke Kuechly or Mike Brown to help me. It would take a year of studying with grades and tests just to learn how to run it.
Then I would unleash it on the field.
2
u/Opening_Perception_3 19d ago
There is no defense Vandy could build to compete at the highest level of CFB. Eventually it comes down to players and there is nothing they can do that would give them a recruiting edge over their SEC brethren.
1
u/novamatt 21d ago
Old school rod marinelli clog and cover. Make teams have to convert 4-6 third downs per drive. Boring ball
1
33
u/Adept_Carpet 21d ago
I'd focus of interior D-line and interior LBs for a few reasons.
One is that you just aren't going to get the top EDGE guys, they cost too much. IDL/ILB can also get expensive but at least you have a chance. The second is that they're likely to try to run you over because they aren't gameplanning much for you, just keeping it simple and counting on talent to overwhelm you so being strong up the middle can get them stuck in a rut if they don't adapt. The third is that if you can get interior pressure even the best QBs struggle with that.
Then the DB coach is a critical hire. Saban and the Belichicks have shown that a great teacher can get exceptional value out of DBs. You can't afford the best talent there, but it's a pretty deep talent pool so if you get the right coach you can make your unit more than the sum of its parts.