As the trend on offense of substituting players
into the game grows and grows, it becomes necessary
for defenses to consider doing the same type of
substitution in order to avoid mismatches in
coverage and run defense. This is an area of your
total defensive package that you should incorporate
very early into your practice organization if you
see a need for its use sometime in the upcoming
year.
CLINIC SUMMARY
In preparation for the upcoming year the
development of our substitution defenses always
followed six basic principles. Before a defense was
accepted for use in our total package we wanted to
consider it based on these six areas.
1. We first wanted to clearly define the purpose
of any substitution defense under consideration
and at the same time it was important for us to
list the result that we hoped to achieve by
using this specific defense.
2. Whenever possible we wanted all types of
substitution defenses to be designed from one of
our base defenses.
3. We wanted to make certain that the practice
time needed to develop any substitution defense
be proportional to the actual time that we might
use it in a game.
4. We wanted to evaluate how one or two injuries
might prevent the use of any substitution
defense and what adjustments would be needed
based on injuries.
5. In deciding on a defense, we wanted to see if
it could be week to week specific and fill a
need we might have to stop a particular upcoming
opponent.
6. Finally, we wanted to be assured that we had
a substitution defense that allowed us to match
up favorably with any offensive personnel
ìsetî that our opponent might
use.
SUBSTITUTION DEFENSES
Any substitution defense that we worked into our
total defensive package began with our base
defense. Starting with either our 3-4 or our 4-3
base defense we would substitute in a defensive
back [either a corner or safety] for the
weak side linebacker. To simplify the substitution
process we named these defenses our 33 and 42
defense.
Continuing on from the 33 and 42 defense, we would
next substitute an additional defensive back for
our base strong side linebacker [usually a
safety] giving us a 32 and 41 defensive
alignment.
As our base defenses were introduced to our team,
we would also take time in our practice schedule to
introduce our substitution players to our base
defense scheme and responsibilities. Our goal was
to be able to call any of our defenses with our
base personnel or any one of our substitution
personnel in the game.
In addition we always had specialized coverage
substitution defense that we would teach that
featured special coaching to counteract specific
personnel sets that we might face. These were
usually defenses that we would use on passing downs
and utilized our best coverage personnel. Defenses
in this area would be, 40 pass, 41 pass, 42 pass
and our 51 pass defense.
A separate substation area would always be our
specialized goal line and short yardage defense
that would feature substituting big people into the
game giving us our 6-1 defense..
Our In Depth Clinic ìSubstitution
Defenseî will discuss in detail with diagrams
each one of the topics that I have outlined in this
summary.
I hope this summary gives you a good feeling and
insight into the written text and diagrams which
will be included in the detailed material you will
receive when you order our In -Depth Coaching
Clinics.
Each of
the areas in this summary will be fully covered and
developed in the In -Depth Clinic material. The
bound clinic material that you will receive for
your reference library and for your immediate
personal use will include diagrams in addition to
complete and thorough explanations. The clinic will
provide you with new innovative ideas, specific
techniques, plans for implementation and valuable
insights that will make you a better teacher and
coach.
I am very happy to be able to share with you my
first hand knowledge, experience and understanding
of the game.
Good luck this week and please e-mail at CoachBass@AOL.com
for any questions you may have.
