An attacking multiple-front package.

The story of Whittier College's return to the top of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has to start with Head Coach Bob Owens and Defensive Coordinator Steve Garcia.

The Poets have turned to a multiple-front defense with one common denominator - it attacks the football and dictates the tempo by keeping the offense off-balance. Thanks largely to its multiple fronts and aggressive movements, stunts and blitzes, the Poets topped the SCIAC in defense, tied for the championship, were first in the plus/minus turnover ratio with 31 turnovers in 9 games, and were 20th in Division III vs the run, yielding only 89.6 yards a game.

One of the reasons we went to a lot of movements up front was our lack of size. Our starting defensive tackles weighed 215 and 235, and our ends, 215 and 245.

That's not very big, especially in the middle, but three of them made All-League and two were chosen No. 1 and No. 2 Defensive Player of the Year. The fourth player (a defensive end) made the All-League second team.

We divide our four defensive line positions into two groups: a strong side and a weak side. The strong-side linemen always align to the three-man offensive side (guard, tackle, tight end). If the offensive formation doesn't have a tight end or two tight ends, we will respond to its strength to the field or boundary.

Our middle linebacker ("Mike") always makes a strength call as the offense shows its formation. Our strong side (or three-man side) people are called "End" and "Tackle", while our weak-side people (guard, tackle) are referred to as "Nose" and "Rush."

The benefits of having "strong" and "weak" line positions show up in the blocking schemes. For example, "Nose" and "Rush" usually don't see a lot of tosses, especially out of one-back sets. They do, however, see counters.

The strong and "weak" side line positions help the players become comfortable with the types of schemes they will see week in and week out. Our scouting and searching-for-tendencies sheets provide each defensive lineman with one or two good ideas on how the offense will attack them out of any formation. This helps us simplify our thought process, develop a plan of attack from our stance, and be aggressive.

MIND SET

The key for us is simple - find playmakers on our defensive line and rally to the football with 11 people. We preach "Stop the run; the sack will come." It reminds us of our commitment to stopping the run. We work a lot of key drills, but we do not read. We attack, then react to the run.

I am a big believer in run and pass tendencies and having a plan at the snap. I encourage our defensive linemen to adjust their shade, depending on whether they anticipate run or pass.

If they anticipate run, I want them to tighten their alignment on their opponent. This will help them squeeze any running play in their direct area.

If they predict pass, I want them to loosen up their alignment into the best position to attack the edge.

They may also choose to stem to their alignment; that is, change their shade or technique during the snap count. The idea is to time the snap count to their stem and get off.

If they can time it out well, they will gain momentum in their get-off and possibly confuse blocking schemes or assignments.

My only caution about stemming is the lineman's need to reach his gap responsibility at the snap of the ball.

We look at formation tendencies, down and distance tendencies, and offensive-lineman tendencies or tipoffs that might alert us to run or pass. During film study, we try to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the offensive linemen and talk about how we are going to attack them with certain pass rushes.

In practice and in games, whenever we line up on an opponent pre-snap, we observe the stance and weight distribution of the offensive lineman we are taking.

If we detect him back on his heels with little pressure on his down hand, we will call "Fight! Fight! Fight!" to other members of the defensive line and linebackers.

If we detect his weight on his toes and pressure on his down hand, we will call "Heavy! Heavy! Heavy!".

If our strong-side tackle and end are relaying "Heavy" and our weak-side tackle and end are relaying "Light!", we can anticipate a counter play.

If we hear "Lights!" across the defensive line, we can predict run, and we will get off the ball, attack the offensive lineman, and keep our shoulders square. Communication among our defensive front is a tremendous advantage.

Tendencies help us determine our pre-snap plan. If the opponent is 75% pass on 2 and 5, we will widen our shade and pass-rush off the snap. Our scouting report can, for example, tell us we are looking drop-back pass to strong toss to draw. We have narrowed the playbook.

I don't have a problem with anyone playing the tendencies, even if it turns out wrong. I don't want our linemen to play tentatively. I want them to play their instincts, based on their pre-snap information.

PRACTICE PHILOSOPHY

If you visited our practice, you might not know who the defensive linemen were. I preach athleticism and we practice more like linebackers. As a former running back, I hate to see big slugs. I try to recruit guys who can run, and if they can't run, we will teach them to run better.

Our goal is to get to the football and be sideline-to-sideline players. I make our defensive linemen believe they are great athletes and are responsible for making plays. It's their job to tackle, sack the quarterback, strip the ball, run to the ball and make something happen.

They aren't there just to protect linebackers. I grade our players on making plays and being a playmaker. They all understand that if they make a mistake at full speed, I'll show them how to correct the error. But if they make a hustle mistake, they will wind up sitting next to me. There's no excuse for not giving effort.

It's one thing to want guys who run. It's another thing to get them to prepare to do it. We start every single practice with about 20 get-offs. I believe you can never do too many.

What I stress is the explosion off the ball. You must get off the football. Sometimes, I hold up fingers to make sure that their get-off includes finding the football on the run.

I explain that they don't have to see the offensive lineman in front of them. They need to feel him. What they need to see is the ball. "Find the ball!"

Every second with your head down is a missed opportunity to find the ball and make a play. It goes back to being aggressive and attacking the offense. We do a lot of redirections at 90 degree cuts and spend a lot of time practicing our movements.

Our movements are defined as the process of putting 2, 3, or 4 defensive linemen in motion, attacking the hip of the adjacent offensive lineman either to or away from the field or the strength.

I stress grabbing grass and getting the shoulders turned to stay low throughout the slant. We do a lot of slanting and angling as we talk about a free run into the gap. At that point, we want to find the football and make a play.

We do the three-cone shuttle drill, the DB backpedal and drive drill, and the LB step over the bag drills. We work on being athletic.

We practice changing directions and we always have to locate the ball and get there. It's a mentality that preaches we are just as responsible for making plays as linebackers. What we get is a defense that gets 11 hats to the ball.

OFF-SEASON EMPHASIS

Our off-season schedule might be different from that of the average team. Since our conference does not allow organized meetings in spring, we have no access to the football players.

But our philosophy doesn't change. Along with a great weight program, I stress a few things that maintain the continuity of our philosophy. I want my defensive linemen to play as many sports as they can - tennis, racquetball, basketball, track, and rope-jumping. In short, I want them to be as active as possible.

The more they look at themselves as athletes, the more likely they will prepare for the things I'm looking for. I also think that training other muscles and working on other athletic skills can help improve their overall athleticism.

Running down the court on the fast break and making layups can translate into running down a ball-carrier on the sideline and tackling him. It's a full-speed attack with a finish that includes hand coordination and leg explosion.

There are three drills that I ask my players to do as a supplement to our weight-training and spring running. The first is plyometric jumps that stimulate the explosive nature of football (basic blocking and tackling).

The second drill is slap-slide or trunk rotation. The key to being a good pass rusher is the ability to run your shoulders and rotate your hips. If you can't "slide to the edge" of an offensive blocker, you will be an easy square target to block. By working on trunk rotation in the off-season, you will be preparing yourself to become a better pass rusher.

The third drill I preach in the off-season is the rip. I believe the rip move is the best defensive weapon there is and we base all our counter moves off it. I therefore ask our defensive lineman to practice throwing a rip move against a telephone poll, a chair, a door panel, a person, as they walk through the halls of school or through their roommate on the way to the bathroom.

Think it. Make it a natural part of who you are. I don't want you to have to think about throwing a rip move when the shoulder pads come on. I just want you to do it.

(Postscript: Everything we do is diagrammed and captioned on full-page sheets, namely our front: base, gee, weak, even, odd, Chicago, and Bruin; our movement - slant, angle, quick, slow, pinch, tackles left, tackles right, etc.; our stunts and blitzes, and our "dogs.")

Gifford Lindheim, Defensive Line Coach, Whittier College (CA)