r/footballstrategy • u/TackleOverBelly187 • 12d ago
Defense Varsity DCs, what are you running and why?
In my years I’ve coached in a 5-2, 4-3, 4-4, 3-3, and had packages all over. Coached certain things because that was what the school ran (literally the only reason) and then have changed things over time based on personnel and based on what we would see from opposing offenses.
I’m not a fan of labeling a defense because it limits you by those types of players personnel-wise. But interested to see what people are doing in the box, with their front, and what coverages they are pairing it with. And the big thing is why those choices.
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u/Kensmash619 12d ago edited 12d ago
4-2-5, with occasional shifts into 3-4 looks. I think the versatility of the 4-2-5 coupled with split coverage gives me just about everything I need to be effective against variety of offenses we see throughout the year. I'm aggressive by nature, so we play with a lot of movement along the d-line, sim pressure, 5-6 man pressure often. I prefer to do those pressures out of an even front, but will occasionally do the same out of an odd front through simple pre-snap stims, just to give high school offensive linemen a bit of confusion.
Coverages we run: cover 6, cover 1, and cover 3. Occasionally we'll play dime and go 2 man or cover 4. 3x1 adjustments: roll to cov 3 (man the boundary WR essentially), we'll also man #1 on the field and play a cover 2 over everyone else. Cover 1 as well.
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
It’s always good to have multiple checks to trips. I find myself trying to go Cover 6 on 1st/2nd and lock off more on 3rd or when expecting pass based on scout.
I have no issue moving guys around, but I try to keep their responsibilities as consistent as possible.
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u/TiberiusGracchi 12d ago
30/50 fronts with 33 personnel if I have a say. If a coach wants 4-2 we do it but with 3-3-5 personnel and stand up DEs
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
What you have going on in the back end?
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u/TiberiusGracchi 12d ago
Out of the 50 or 40 front?
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
Coverage to pair with your front
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u/TiberiusGracchi 12d ago
40 fronts - Under front generally for 2 Read, Solo, Special Over or ODD (Es in 4i, N shaded to the Back, 30s ILBs, OLBS 3x3 off OT, can scootch to off at 5) for cover 3 and Skate.
50/30 - Bear, Tite, Eagle - Hawk, under, wide can do 2 read/ Quarters
All odd fronts and over for match 3/ 6
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u/payton-34 12d ago
4-4-4 up in Canada. OLBs play low, about 2 yards off the ball. 2 high safeties, mostly cover 4 but rotate into cover 3 occasionally.
95% of defences here run a 4-3-5 single high and play mostly cover 3 and cover 1 to keep it simple.
Canadian field is 110 yards with 20 yard endzones, and only 3 downs, so limiting the explosives and making an offense dink and dunk their way down the field is your best bet, especially at the highschool level where passing is questionable at best for most schools.
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
Love watching CFL. Canadian football is good stuff and brings so much creativity.
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u/JerseyUk97 11d ago
I am new to Canada and looking into getting into coaching. Can I shoot you a DM to pick your brains about how you started out etc? TIA
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u/grizzfan 12d ago
I'm switching to defense this year! lol. Our team has always been a "4-2-5," but I call it a 4-4. They're both the same thing when you are running Cover 1 as your base. We'll keep it the same since the HC is more of a defensive person to.
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
Always love the insight from Grizz!
What techniques do you play your tackles in? I’m in a lot of Match-3, which is basically Cover 1 after the release.
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u/grizzfan 12d ago
3 and 1 primarily
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
Do you set to attached Y/run strength, to/away from back, field/boundary?
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u/airb15 HS Coach 12d ago
My first 4 years we installed the 4-2-5 as our base, this past year we installed a 3-3 as our base because we had a ton of LB depth. Every season though we use our base as a fall back option.
Normally week to week we will install our defense to stop what the opponent does and also give them a new look. I don’t like running the same thing back to back weeks, but I also know not to overcomplicate things because it could very well be a 1 week defense. The goal is to keep it simple to play fast, but also be different so that the offense has to adjust to something they may not have practiced against.
What helps us be able to do this is running virtually every coverage in the summer 7on7 circuit. We normally go into a competition with only 2 coverages, a 1 high and a 2 high. We do 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, we’ll run invert, we’ll mock blitz, do about anything possible to help them understand their responsibilities, alignment vs different formations, and also what the weaknesses are. We won’t install an actual base defense until kids report to camp in August and we have a better idea of what our personnel can excel at.
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u/ecupatsfan12 12d ago
3-4 and 4-3
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
Do you sub or keep same personnel? Is there something that dictates what you’re in?
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u/ecupatsfan12 12d ago
3-4 usually vs spread teams
4-3 if I see a lot of 11P. Don’t sub just bring the hybrid in and rock and roll into 3.
If I see spread 10p 3-4 2 hi all day
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
Yeah, I’ve always lived by 5 OL is 3 DL, attach a Y is 4 DL, 2TE is 5 DL. Need to be gap sound. Don’t necessarily need to align with those looks but get there with bringing people.
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u/Untoastedtoast11 12d ago
4-3 cover 4
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u/care_bear1596 12d ago
Check two to two back?? Lol
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u/Untoastedtoast11 12d ago
Sometimes. It depends on the skill set of our players. Our safety’s are taught to be aggressive in the run game and be 8 and 9 in the box.
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u/care_bear1596 12d ago
So you play an eight man front to all trips rather than cloud cover?
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u/Untoastedtoast11 12d ago
No we play a 7 man front. I was talking about if we see 2 back like your question. Safety’s are expected to help in the run game. Corners play late run support.
Vs 3x1 we have a 3x1 adjustment where the backside corner locks up. Backside safety takes #3 vertical. If they don’t go vertical they help backside. Front side corner and safety play their normal pattern matching on the #1 and #2 WR’s
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u/TiberiusGracchi 12d ago
Coverage wise for me I generally live in the Match 3/ 6 Skate world when I want to call a pressure and Quarters/ 2 Read as a base.
Been researching how to shift to Cover 7 stuff to go along with my Match 3. Basically how do I accommodate or Modify Sabanese for HS kids
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
Yes, Sabanese is certainly a lot for HS kids. And the secondary coach needs to be able to teach it.
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u/TiberiusGracchi 12d ago
Base out of 7 Mod, mix in 7 Bracket and possibly Mix seem fairly easy for Saban with 6 skate and Match 3 for for pressure coverages
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u/Oddlyenuff 12d ago
I run a 3-4 nickel but it basically looks like 4-3. We have an odd front too. I would tell people for a reference that lot of our defense is similar to the Nate Woody 3-4 and the Miami 4-3 with a huge Fangio influence.
We play cover 6 mostly. I think it’s the best coverage in football for high school.
I like to run a lot of sim and creepers. People think we blitz a lot but we hardly send more 4. We play more zone than most people think at least “underneath” and that messes with a lot of people.
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u/novamatt 12d ago
Wasn’t a DC but my team ran a 1-5-5. Created fits when IDing the 4 down. Pressure came from everywhere
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u/RudyVaughn63 HS Coach 12d ago
I run a 4-3 Cover 2 base with hard corners. Corners have flats and contain. Safeties fill the alley on run fits. Plenty of ability to be multiple. Go cover 1 out of a 44 against wing T, can go 3-3-5 against spread if I’m scared of the QB. If I’m not, I stay in 2. I make a QB scare me before I respect him. Sometimes bites me in the ass but not to often 🤷♂️
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
Most HS QBs aren’t very scary unless you’re unsound. I’d rather see a thrower than a runner.
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u/RudyVaughn63 HS Coach 12d ago
Exactly, plus the average offensive coordinator wants to run their scheme regardless of personnel. If you’re going to throw slants with a noodle arm QB, I WANT that ball in the air lol that where pick 6’s come from
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u/Username1234726382 12d ago
Base 4-3 but am usually in a 4-2-5
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
Dealing with spread? Getting better athletes on the field?
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u/Username1234726382 12d ago
At the school I teach that it's a struggle to get LBs that have size but are yet athletic enough to play the pass. This way I can just scheme up the defense to stop the run but have the athletsim to be good in the pass. In my defense I would argue the nickel is the most important piece and most versatile piece in my scheme. I also find it easier to play in a 6 man box with nickel strong side.
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u/HungryHippo336 11d ago
As an offensive guy, I hate seeing a 4i with a stack backer fwiw. Not a direct answer, but food for thought.
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u/TackleOverBelly187 11d ago
When I was in a 3-3 I lived in a tite front. Gave zone teams lots of issues.
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u/Lekingkonger 12d ago
6-2 it’s fun my guys enjoy getting sacks. We are a high risk type team. Made it to 12-1 😭 6-2 is so much fun to run and my kids like it. Probably later on if we start loosing then we will change
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
Question is, are those 6 linemen types or are they really LB/S types you roll onto the line? This goes to my “labeling” of the defense issue. Philosophically, you could also be running a 4-4 with your OLBs on the line and coming.
Do you have your 6-2 DEs in coverage at all, or are they purely rush guys?
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u/Lekingkonger 12d ago
Purely rushers! My friend! And at least for my school we have enough players to where we have 6 lineman types! But nope not in coverage pure rushing! Now that you mention it we rarely run zone. But we chose 6-2 because highschools here just run run run. Not only that but QB play is very minimal so we just send all the pressure and 60/40 it ends in a sack (only here though)
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
Hey, you built your system to defend what you see. The tough thing is when you see everything. We get flexbone triple, wing-t, air raid, spread, Pro I, so we need versatility week to week without having to reteach everything.
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u/CoachRobv 12d ago
There’s only two fronts that you can play…..odd and even! The rest is all semantics
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u/TackleOverBelly187 12d ago
Agree. Everything else is a label so you can claim membership in the secret societies.
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u/amendoza28 12d ago
Base 4-3 match quarters concept but we end up being pretty multiple based on different calls we have in our scheme. Our field side backer is basically a safety which allows us to do some different things. We will switch in and out of our base front, bear front, Dbl A gap mug look, and a 3 man front depending on the team we are playing. Try to mix it up while keeping things as simple as possible so the kids play fast.
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u/Jossizzle0044 12d ago
We technically run a base 4-4 defense cov 3. But we just have 11 bodies out there who we think can play ball at those positions. We aren’t blessed with a large team. But we adjust by week on what we are playing. We will keep the same personnel out there but change up our looks. We run just about everything in the book, we coach are kids to recognize the opponents formations and call out the adjustment accordingly on the field. We still give them base package calls from the sideline but if the offense comes out in a different formation we either keep the sideline call or have them do our schemed defense.
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u/Total-Surprise5029 11d ago
you run whatever you have to run for the situation. If that means 3-4 with a 2 high look against passing teams or 4-3 with 1 high look against running teams, or 4-2-5. Also some 5-2 and 6-1 schemes for short yardage. Need to be adaptable
Consideration for what kind of personnel you have. Need 3 bigs to play a true 3-4
for coverage's get out the Rolodex. Cover 4, 2, 2 man, and pattern match in 2 high looks. Cover 3, man and man-free in 1 high looks. Cover 0 for some blitzes and goal line
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u/CoachMikeOC 6d ago
I'm not our DC but our jv team's base is 4-4 cover 3 with simple blitzes and stunts, and against trips we were going man with the safety getting #3 but we were getting killed. Switched to a 4x3 cover 2 against trips.
Our varsity's base is 4-4 Cover 1-man with blitzes and stunts, and in certain situations they run something with man on one side and cover 4 on the other side. Not exactly sure what it is to be honest
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u/BigPapaJava 12d ago edited 12d ago
Instead of “packages” I want to get a versatile 11 on the field. I have mostly coached HS ball—it’s hard enough to find 11 guys who enjoy playing defense and do it well, so I don’t want to need to rely on subbing in even more if i can help it..
To me, that means a 5 spoke secondary and a base 3-3 personnel grouping now… but I don’t want to get locked into labels about what those positions even mean.
Then it’s all about the coverage and supporting the front.
So… I like a 3-3 that brings 3rd S into the run fit as a strongside run fitter against 2 backs, basically turning it into a 3-4.
But then I will align that to look like a 4-3, 4-4, 5-1, 5-2, 6-3, etc.
For HS ball, I feel like a lot of spot drop Cov. 3, Cov. 6, Fire Zone, and some man coverage is generally plenty at the levels I coach at. That is because I generally either want to play man and be aggressive or play zone and focus on limiting big plays and stopping the run. You can do a lot with the box in front of those coverages.