The 3-4 Defense: Developing the Personnel for the 3-4

*This is the 2nd post in a series on installing a 3-4 defense for use in high school and small college football.

In my last post I briefly discussed the skills you are looking for in each of the “Box” players. Box players are the positions that we use to identify the front 7 (Anytime I add a safety to the Box with a pre-snap alignment we alert the front 7 with a “BOX” call from the safety to remind them of his presence). Our goal is to play multiple fronts to defeat the offenses personnel, formations, and tendencies. Despite the effort to be multiple, I try and limit the number of techniques and skills that each player must learn. Below is a rundown of the alignments and skills each player must focus on:

NOSE-Alignment: Our Nose will only play two alignments. He will play a shade on either side of the offensive center, he will also align in a head-up Zero but will never be asked to two-gap as he will always slant with the call.
-Technique: The nose has one major rule – demand a double team. We want to keep the linebackers free to make plays. The Nose will always try to fit into the block and make it tough for any zone scheme or double to work up and “trade” him off to another lineman.

TACKLE-Alignment: The Tackle will play three alignments. He will align in a tight 5 technique, a 4i, and a 3 technique. He will play a three technique on either side of the center (Under and Solid), but the technique is the same. *Note: some coaches I know have chosen to use either a 4i or 3 and not both*-Technique: Like the Nose, the Tackle will always fit into the block and fight pressure with pressure. He will squeeze any down block.

END-Alignment: The End only has two alignments. He will play a 5 technique and he will play a 4i.
-Technique: In an “Open” formation – without an in-line TE – will focus on squeezing any down block. Against any other block he will try to fight up field and turn the ball back inside unless a stunt sends him anywhere else. He will align in a five and slant inside to B gap. Against a TE, or when in a 4i, he must fight force with force play into the block.

The 3-4 Defense: FRONTS/ALIGNMENTS/PLAYERS

A SERIES ON IMPLEMENTING A 3-4 SCHEME APLLICABLE AT ALL LEVELS OF PLAY

One thing I feel certain in saying is that there is no defense that serves as the definitive “answer” for stopping offenses. At the end of the day your ability to stop offenses relies on 1) the player’s that you have on defense, 2) your knowledge of the defense and ability to apply it against your opponents, and 3) the opponents ability to both excel and/or shoot itself in the foot. There are many great coaches that swear by certain schemes, fronts, and coverage’s. You look around the country and you see different schemes working all over the football map. TCU’s 4-2-5 has been a hot topic lately. The success of Dom Capers (Green Bay) and Dick Lebeau (Pittsburgh) in the NFL has kept the 3-4 newsworthy. Too many programs have success with the “multiple” 4-3. I see merit in each and every scheme out there, but at the end of the day I have a certain affinity for one: the 3-4.

Why the 3-4? Several reasons:
Personnel: some areas/schools seem to “grow” a certain type of athlete, but at most of my stops I see more hybrid type kids than I do true defensive ends. I think find it easier to find a hybrid kid that can do multiple things than I do kids that I feel safe anchoring down as a four man front DE. I think that this defense also lends itself Nickel and Dime package(s).

Box Alignment: I think the 3-4 allows you to be multiple in your box alignment. I also think that your alignments can more easily be tailored to your strengths in this front.

Secondary Alignment: My preferred coverages will come later, but I think that a 2-high shell is the best starting place when designing the back end of your defense and the 3-4 allows you to use the 2-high shell but still adjust as needed.

Balance: I think that the “base” alignment for a 3-4 defense allows you to balance up to any formation. This benefits the defense in the run game, passing game, and also in the pressure/blitz game.

DISCLAIMER: Below are a few things that I want to put out there before I go any further, some of this applies to football schemes in general and not just this post –

1. We all know that the last guy with the pen wins on the grease board. Players make plays, not markers and diagrams.

2. Almost all schemes are related in some way. This scheme, like others, employs certain principles that make it akin to other defenses so I know some things might enter your head as being “contradictive” to my argument for the 3-4.

3. Most of my 3-4 knowledge comes from a good friend and former co-worker and an outstanding clinic weekend with the defensive staff at Liberty University (Parcells/Belichick/Groh line of 3-4 coaches) and a staff I worked on.

4. It is my blog so I can say what I want.