From wide tackle 6 to pressure 44.

How to demoralize the offense from eight or nine pressure points without changing fronts

When I (Johnston) played high school football in the late '60s, Jerry Claiborne's Wide Tackle 6 was the rage. Claiborne used this defense auspiciously at Virginia Tech and Maryland into the '70s.

When the passing game began to flourish in college football, the "60" went into a decline. Coaches believed that it did not have the coverage to combat the aerial circuses.

About five years ago, the U. of Washington sparked a revival of the "60" defense. We found out about it through Phil Elmassian, defensive coordinator at Virginia Tech. After spending a week-end with Bud Foster and his defensive staff, we committed to the "60" but with a "40 front" that could pressure and blitz from eight, sometimes nine, different points of attack.

In adapting the "44" pressure package to the high school game, we employed the original Bear Bryant alignment/technique numbering to align our defensive people [ILLUSTRATION FOR DIAG. 1 OMITTED]. To get our front four into the positions we wanted, we made a call in the defensive huddle before the snap.

Our base defense is a "31" [ILLUSTRATION FOR DIAG. 2 OMITTED]). The point that makes it so appealing is the variety of pressure points it gives us in attacking the opposition without changing our fronts.

Our players also like it because it allows them to go upfield and wreak havoc in the offensive backfield. The days of sitting back and reading on the line are gone for us.

Diag. 2: Our LBs make a strength call (left or right) when they determine the three-surface side of the offensive line; i.e., where the tight end, tackle, and guard are aligned.

Our tackles shade to that side, giving us a tackle in the B gap and an end on the inside shoulder of the TE on the strong side. Our DT to the weak side aligns in a "1" technique on the OG, and our DE aligns in a "ghost 7" technique on the open-end side.

Diag. 3: Our LBs' alignment creates problems for offensive blocking rules in that our strong-side backer (Sam) aligns in a "4" on the tackle, making him a free hitter. He has no gap responsibility on plays to his side. Thus, he is free to run to the ball.

Our weak-side inside backer (Will) stacks in a "2" technique on the OG. He must close hard to take away the quick trap up the middle and the isolation to the weak-side B gap. Will is usually bigger than Sam and must be more adept at stepping up and taking on blockers in the hole.

Our outside LBs (G and R) align three yards by three yards off the DE's hip. They key flow and must contain all outside running plays by coming up hard into the offensive backfield.

"Grizzly" is our strong-side outside LB and "Rover" is our weak-side outside LB. We have also used corner backs at outside LB - backs who are "a step too slow" to start in the secondary, but are hitters whom we want on the field for us. Since they are also involved in pass coverage, they have to possess some secondary skills.

A tall, rangy player helps at this position. Whenever he drops into the flat or rushes, he gives the high school QB a tough time throwing over him.

It is in the next phase that our 44 defense shifts away from the typical even-front defense. Being a pressure defense, we attack with the front four initially and then start coming from all angles with a combination of LB blitzes.

We enjoyed a lot of success in pressuring with our front four. We had two big strong tackles to get to QB depth and redirect to the ball, and two very quick ends to get to FB depth and redirect. This pressure caused problems for offensive linemen who were too slow to pick us up at the snap.

Add to this the threat of anywhere from one to all four of our LBs firing, and our pressure on the opposing linemen could become overwhelming. Our LBs always gave the impression that they were blitzing, whether they were doing so or not. The quicker they were, the more we encouraged them to crowd the LOS.

BASIC COVERAGE

Our basic coverage in the secondary was man to man [ILLUSTRATION FOR DIAG. 4 OMITTED] - either straight man with the free safety covering the second receiver to the strong side or man free, and our Grizzly picking up #2 and our free safety, free. When we had Dre Bly (UNC All-American) in our secondary, we even blitzed him from the free safety position.

Our man defense plays tight in-your-face coverage. By the second quarter, we often have nine or 10 of our defenders within five yards of the ball - which could be very intimidating to a high school offense.

Our defensive coordinator, Robert Decker, and our assistant coaches have done an excellent job of coaching the positions. Our defense is not a free-for-all, helter-skelter schoolyard affair. The positions are meticulously taught to read keys and react on the run. Our players are taught to always control their gap before trying anything else. Our front four are assigned gaps based on their alignment. Their gap will change according to the flow of the ball. [ILLUSTRATION FOR DIAG. 5 OMITTED].

It requires constant repetition to get our people to play their gap before running the ball. Teaching them to slow down long enough to safeguard their gap is also presented as a challenge that must be drilled.

Our kids love to run to the ball. Our slogan is: "Be the first man to the ball and arrive in a bad mood." The players strive to be the leading tackler on the team. The past three season we've had our free safety, our outside LB (Grizzly), and weak-side inside backer (Will) lead the team in tackles.

One of our defensive ends had 16 tackles for losses in a 12-game schedule last season.

In conclusion, we continue to reap the benefits of this pressure package. Because we've been very successful offensively over the last seven or eight years, our attitude used to be: "Defense is just something to do until we get the ball back on offense and score."

Time marches on and so does attitude. At Western Branch these days, the players are fighting to become defensive starters. They love to play defense. Last season we scored three touchdowns on defense and set up four more with turn-overs inside our opponents' 20-yard-line.

Turn up your pressure and you too may reap the rewards!