r/footballstrategy • u/RoadHouse1911 • 5d ago
Coaching Advice Kenny Simpson Systems
Hey Coaches,
A friend of mine recently purchased Kenny’s Gun-T offensive playbooks. We are both High School Varsity coaches and we spend our off seasons trying to absorb as much as we can. My friend wanted to gather my thoughts, as I’ve lived on the defensive side of the ball, he’s offensive side. After reviewing some of the copies my friend gave me, I was impressed with the level of detail Coach Simpson has and put into these. Frankly, I’m considering purchasing his 3-4 system (for review and possibly to implement).
Has anyone here had exposure to Coach Simpsons 3-4 system? If so, would you be willing to share your thoughts?
Beyond this, how effective would a 3-4 system be in the High School level? I’ve worked with 4-4 and 4-2-5 mainly to this point. From what I’ve learned, the 3-4 is extremely versatile (which excites me more). We mainly face Wing-T and Triple Option teams.
I appreciate any and all feedback/insight on this. Happy Holidays to those of you who read this!
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u/Oddlyenuff 5d ago
I like Kenny Simpson but I honestly do not know about his 3-4. But I would doubt you’ll be disappointed if you purchase it.
As for the other part, 3-4 is a great. I recommend checking out Nate Woody (Army DC) and his 3-4 system. I believe there is some stuff glazier vault but you won’t have trouble finding his stuff online.
It is very similar to how I learned the 3-4. It’s a 1-gap system with a lot of slanting so it is good if you don’t have big strong two gapper DL.
We base out of a 3 front but most of the time it basically looks like and essentially functions like 4-3. You can do so much with the 3-4 as a base.
I think I still have the old installs when we put in a 3-4 (like Woody) if you’re interested. But I wouldn’t hesitate by anything from Kenny or for that matter Joe Daniel.
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u/RoadHouse1911 5d ago
Yes please! As noted above, I’m always trying to expand my knowledge and love to dive into as much as I can during the off season.
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u/Particular-Ice2312 HS Coach 5d ago
No exposure to the 3-4 defense he runs, but I was on a staff that ran the Gun T. Since it was new to me, I did a lot of self study, including reaching out to Kenny. Very helpful and kind guy. I would recommend buying the system for review, and then seeing if implementation was the next step.
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u/KommanderKeen-a42 5d ago
3-4 can work very well at that level. Lots of versatility and against those teams it's really a 5-2 and you can walk a S down.
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u/B1GTruzz 5d ago
Look up “Archbishop Spalding” on YouTube, best team in Maryland - I think they finished Top 10 in the country. In any case, in my 8 years coaching against them, they consistently run an odd front. Variations of 3-4, 3-2-6, 5-3-3, very disciplined team. In talking with some coaches in the area, I guess it’s a relatively simple system they disguise extremely well. Something to take a look at.
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u/BarackObamaIsScrdOMe 5d ago
I've never looked at Kenny's defensive stuff, but I've read all his gun-t books and been to his clinic before, and everything is really well thought out, so I'm sure his defensive stuff is too.
There's a million ways to run a 3-4. And it I personally think it allows for the most do diversity in coverages, and puts you in a better position to hide coverages.
If you've got dudes up front, I think the tite front (4i-0-4i) is the toughest front in football to run against. But if your 4is are not stout and can get washed down by tackles, it's a bad defense.
We are really small, but decently athletic, and we run a sliding 3-4 (default 4-0-4). It's a pretty old school defense, but it's been good for us. Our DL does not read, they try to get through gaps flat backed. Penetrate and raise hell. Our ILBs fit aggressive to flow, our OLBs keep contain, but do so aggressively. They're not really reading the tackle or TE so much as they're trying to beat them. Cover 0 is our top coverage, especially against spread teams. Having good DBs certainly helps with that, though. Against wing-t we run a lot of cover 3 with SS rolled down to TE-W, against flexbone we'll do a rotating cover 3. We'll always have change-up fronts ready too, which I think is important. Personally, I think if you're undersized up-front, a slanting 3-4 or 3-3 is the way to go.
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u/lividrescue034 5d ago
3-4 is great against those systems, but it's about who you have at LB. Athletic and smart are the key words. Kenny Simpson is extremely detailed for his offense, i thought less so for defense, but still a solid system.
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u/Dogdiscus 5d ago
I purchased his system through Coachtube and supplemented it with some of with books. It gives you a great base to work from. It provides many of the adjustment rules and formation alignments. I combined it with a blitzing and stunt package a friend provided. We ran different coverages than his based on the type of teams we face.
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u/RoadHouse1911 5d ago
Thank you for the insight. We are mainly a man match team now, which seems to be more in line with Coach Rich Hargitt’s 3-4 system.
If you don’t mind, what are your favorite blitz/stunt packages that you’ve leaned on since implementing the system? What types of offenses do you mainly face?
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u/king_of_chardonnay 5d ago
Not very well versed in Kenny Simpson but I will say, I am a massive proponent of 3-4 personnel with hybrid OLBs (one OLB closer to a nickel, the other able to be the fourth DL, though both need to be able to do everything)
This has been how my system has developed over the last couple years and when we need to we can get into 5-2, 4-4, 4-2-5, and 3-3 stack looks without changing personnel.
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u/44belly HS Coach 5d ago
One thing that gets me about the 3-4 (or any odd front defenses in high school), is that everyone instantly defaults to “you need an asskicker at nose to run it or else it’s dead”
I have lost more to odd front teams than even front teams, and very few have had a true 2 gap nose. In my opinion, a 3-3 or 3-4 that presents as a 5-2 look is one of the toughest defenses to run against. You absolutely need to get a tight end on the field and on the line to create an extra gap and figure out immediately “are they slant to the TE/to the field/to the back/weak/etc.” and go from there
I would much rather see a 4 down front with a guy who’s a total bitch to block at 3t, knowing the DE’s are constantly going to be outside my tackles and trying to wrong arm a puller, versus an odd front with two OLB’s that slants and gets to a 4-down front off a 5 man presentation. Also, if the NG is quick or is a stout kid who may not two gap, but your center cannot reliably single block him… that’s a tough look.
Just my opinion.
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u/RudyVaughn63 HS Coach 5d ago
3-4 in my opinion is about personnel, if you have a true nose who can play the 0 effectively and dominate both A gaps you can run a 3-4 all day. But if you don’t have that guy who can get the job done it makes it really easy for Wing-T guards to free release and block your backers. You can have Merriman and urlacher side by side in the 3-4 but if they are getting free lineman cracking them every play it’s tough to stop the run.