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For Defense Lovers: Great Article

HurricaneU

HurricaneU

American Patriot
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Great piece on TCU's base 4-2-5 defense and how it works to stop hurry-up-no-huddle offense. Well worth the read.

I will let others debate the merits, strengths and weaknesses as it applies to UM's current situation. However, I do love having the extra athleticism of the type of athlete - such as a Jamal Carter - on the the field. A type of athleticism that grows in abundance outside UM's door. (Quote from article: "In true Miami 4-3 defense fashion, the Frogs are looking to put as much speed on the field as possible. ")

But it really is just a great piece if you love defense and digging into the details of scheme and execution.

Maybe the gem in the entire article:

"TCU is able to get younger players involved sooner than later due to the fractured nature of the system. It can teach them individual roles before eventually graduating them to oversight positions or teaching them multiple positions on the team."

(And sorry if someone else has already posted this. )

http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...ense-strategy-formations-xs-os-gary-patterson
 
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Nobody makes better use of those hybrid safety/linebackers then TCU does. THIS is the kind of defense Miami needs to switch to if you want old school Miami D updated for modern times. Traditional 4-3 is outdated and won't work anymore, 4-2-5 is where it's at now.
 
ProjectMKUltra5 said:
Nobody makes better use of those hybrid safety/linebackers then TCU does. THIS is the kind of defense Miami needs to switch to if you want old school Miami D updated for modern times. Traditional 4-3 is outdated and won't work anymore, 4-2-5 is where it's at now.
Click to expand...

Actually the 3-3-5 cover 2 is where it is at now thanks to charlie strong since 2000. An teams that run a true 3-4 front, which UM doesn't most times UM's front looks more like a 5-2 front which gives away the element of surprise that a 3-4 alignment gives you. Which is why our stunts and delayed firezone blitzs are often telegraphed in advance to the opposing offenses.

With all that said I have loved TCU's defense over the last 10 yrs. I miss the days of Bill Young's defense where we blitz getting off the bus and led the nation in tackles for loss while fielding a top15 defense. He is coaching High School football in oklahoma now so is available and would be cheap, but I think he is enjoying retirement.

Go Canes
 
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Love what TCU does. I model my defense off of what they do.

Splitting the field in half and/or playing split coverages is the best way to simplify things for kids IMO. You're basically splitting up your defense into two groups. The Free Safety, Linebacker, Strong Safety and Field Corner are working in unison and playing one specific coverage against the WR set they've been given while the weak side of the defense is playing another coverage against the set they've been given.

As long as they know how to play the handful of coverages you've taught them then it becomes extremely easy to adjust on the fly.

Let's say the offense comes out in 3x1 (trips). I can play Quarters coverage on the trips (3 WR) side and Cover-2 on the single WR side by simply saying a couple of words. My front remains the same. If I add or change a word now I can play Cover-3 on the single WR side and remain in Quarters on the 3 WR side. Say a different word (like "Solo! Solo! Solo!") and I'm playing man on the single WR side and Quarters on the 3 WR with the weak side Safety rolling towards the strong side to help with anything vertical down the middle.

You can program your kids to play certain coverage against specific WR sets. You can tell your CB and Safety to play "this vs this" or "that vs that", basically allowing the WR formation/set to dictate what coverage your kids will play on that side of the ball. This allows your defenders to play the best coverage available against certain WR sets. Now your kids can think on the fly. It's the DC's job to let the kids know "if you get trips to your side, this is what coverage we wanna be in." As long as your kids know their coverages then the mental errors should be cut down to a minimum.

Right now I have a Sam Linebacker who was playing DE last season and has never had to play coverage before.
Both of my Inside Linebackers are going into the 10th grade.
Three of my CB's are new to varsity football.
And both of my (current) starting Safeties are soccer players and have never even played football before.

And because of the simplicity, and the way everything is split in half, these kids are picking things up at an alarming rate. In 7-on-7 football the QB has 4 seconds to throw. We get a lot of "sacks" due to the fact that QB's have trouble finding the open man with the way the coverages are split in half and the way the defenders are pattern matching.
 
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The way they find players for their strong safety position is perhaps their most clever tactic. Their current star player in this role is Sam Carter, a three-star, dual-threat quarterback in high school who now plays a position akin to the nickel in a 4-3 defense. This spot is what makes the defense particularly flexible, as this player is ideally one who can play the edge against big formations, play in space against spread concepts, and match up with all manner of inside receivers without giving up an advantage.

Carter excels in each of these roles. He has unique size and speed as a 6'1, 215-pound athlete who will probably run a 4.6 at the combine and test well overall. He's also got great experience in his spot, which allows him to anticipate and set traps for the offense:


This is where TCU excels IMO. They don't care about stars, they just wanna find athletes that can do what they're asking them to do and fit into certain roles. I don't know if any of you guys remember when I posted one of my players, Adrienne Talan, on the recruiting board but this is why TCU offered him. He's a 6'1" 197lb kid with 4.4-4.5 speed that plays OLB on the high school level but has the athletic skill set of a college Safety. He doesn't have the body structure to gain enough weight to play LB at the major D-1 level. His ceiling is 6'1" 215 tops. He's got about 15 offers but he's not really a highly regarded kid. However, he's gold to a team like TCU with their 4-2-5.

TCU's evaluation skills are top notch IMO.
 
ProjectMKUltra5 said:
Nobody makes better use of those hybrid safety/linebackers then TCU does. THIS is the kind of defense Miami needs to switch to if you want old school Miami D updated for modern times. Traditional 4-3 is outdated and won't work anymore, 4-2-5 is where it's at now.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I like the 4-2-5 specifically against the spread but the 4-3 cover 2 will always be a staple of college and the pro's.
 
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The only difference I see between the 4-3 and 4-2-5 is the Sam Linebacker position.

Instead of a 6'2" 240+ pound Sam Linebacker, the 4-2-5 utilizes a Strong Safety/Linebacker hybrid type player.

I'd like to see how TCU plays against a 21-Personnel offense though.
 
Sigh. Our coaches seem to be the only ones who refuse to adapt. our outdated defense does not fare well against today's offenses. Very few teams line up and run the ball on first and second down anymore then pass on third. Some of the few teams who still play that way are Wisonsin, LSU, Alabama and Florida. Against almost every other team, our base defense gets exposed.

We're almost incapable of getting pressure if a team decides to pass the ball when we're in our base defense and our DL is 2-gapping. The only reason our defense fared so "well" against Florida is because they're one of the few teams who run on first and second then pass on third.

If a team comes out and passes on first down they have all the time in the world to find an open receiver. We rush 3 300-pounders and one true athlete.
 
RiDLer80 said:
Sigh. Our coaches seem to be the only ones who refuse to adapt. our outdated defense does not fare well against today's offenses. Very few teams line up and run the ball on first and second down anymore then pass on third. Some of the few teams who still play that way are Wisonsin, LSU, Alabama and Florida. Against almost every other team, our base defense gets exposed.

We're almost incapable of getting pressure if a team decides to pass the ball when we're in our base defense and our DL is 2-gapping. The only reason our defense fared so "well" against Florida is because they're one of the few teams who run on first and second then pass on third.

If a team comes out and passes on first down they have all the time in the world to find an open receiver. We rush 3 300-pounders and one true athlete.
Click to expand...

Indeed.

We don't struggle as much against offenses who use 21-personnel but as soon as a team spreads us out we're screwed.
 
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