Stud defense.

Though our football team spends 80% of its time in our base 4-3 front, we will switch to our 5-3 Stud Defense whenever we begin to see a fullhouse backfield, a lot of running, or two tight ends.

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The Stud Defense has an 8-man front that is more gap responsible than our 4-3 defense, and we can move into it in many ways.

Our normal and simplest shift puts our Sam or Will linebacker on the LOS as the fifth defensive lineman, then brings our strong safety up to take Sam's place and become the linebacker.

When this happens, our secondary takes on a Cover 3 look instead of our typical Cover 2 alignment.

Notice the shifts of the other four defensive linemen. If the Sam or Will linebacker lines up as a defensive end, the other four defensive linemen slide to the opposite side and we will now have only three people in the secondary.

Our defensive linemen will align in the following manner. The (strongside DE) or LB'er who comes up into that position aligns in a wide (9 tech) if there are two backs and in a regular 4/3 chop alignment (6 tech) if there are three backs.

The defensive end on the side of the walk-up linebacker will align in a 4 technique.

The strongside DT will align in a 1 technique and the weakside DT in a 4 technique. The weakside DE will align in a 6 technique.

This adjustment is not set in stone from year to year. When we have to move at times, we'll usually discover that we are best suited to put a Sam or Will in a 3 technique, 6 technique, or 4 technique. We simply do this to let the DE stand up or move in a 9 technique. Our decision is based on our personnel for the year.

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The backside of Stud (the weak side of the defense) permits a couple of adjustments. We may decide to lock the Will linebacker up man-to-man with the weak-side tight end and have the strong safety and corner play strictly run.

When we do this, we make a "Lock" call (Diag. 4). This tells the DE or Willy on the TE to lock up man-to-man with his TE. We could make lock calls on both sides of the defense and play Cover 1 in the secondary, meaning the F/S would be free to run both alleys and the DE's (W) would run with the TE's.

If a #2 receiver came from the backfield, the CB would pick him up through the flat area or the C could rush and the F/S pick up #2 depending on route progressions.

We employ four secondary coverages with the Stud defense. Most of the time we will be in either a Cover 0 man-to-man (Diag. 2), or a Cover 1 with the F/S (if free) and both corners are man-to-man (Diag. 3).

(Note: in Diag. 2 and 3, the lines indicate gap responsibility. Sam (LB) is free; he is a hitman. The corners play man-to-man and the F/S runs both alleys.)

At times, we can Eagle Up, just as we do with our regular 4/3 vs two TE's. When we Eagle Up in Stud, we let the F/S have a deep zone (both DE's if they go deep) and the CB's play the HB's man-to-man, especially in third-down situations.

The DE's play man-to-man with the tight ends, and the CB's play the HB's man-to-man wherever they go.

Roll combo is our last coverage (Diag. 5). It becomes Cover 2 based on backfield action. Whenever the corner sees the down-the-line action to him, he immediately comes up as the primary support on the corner.

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The most important thing to remember is that we always want the front to align to the wide side of the field (i.e., we want to make our strong call and our shift to the defense on the wide side of the field).

We always do that in the event of a shift or motion. We can easily shift out of our Stud to our 4-3 base defense.

We can also use "Stud Short" in goal-line situations and for short yardage situations (Diag. 5). At the call of "Stud Short," the Mike becomes an A Gap tackle and the Sam and $ (strong safety) become LB's responsible for the C gap.

Normally, we will use Roll Combo coverage, meaning we will roll to ?'s on the flow of the football (Diag. 5).

As the diagrams illustrate, Stud Defense has kept our defense simple, aggressive, and versatile. With Stud and our 4-3, we feel comfortable facing most offensive sets.

DIAGS. 6-10: STUD DEFENSE VS PRO/FLANKER AND STUD GOAL LINE STUNTS:

1. Make the strong call to the wide side.

2. The M linebacker never has pass coverage. If he sees pass, he rushes the QB.

3. If the W linebacker has TE, he chokes him. If there is no TE, he rushes deep as the deepest back.

4. If the option is to the weak side, the WLB would have the QB and the $ the pitch (unless Cover 1 Free situation where F/S plays the QB through the alley.

5. Stud Smoke: sends the CB's blitzing outside of the TE's (D gap) on the goal line. The DE's are man to man on the TE's and the outside LB's have C gap. Stud Sellout: sends the CB's blitzing outside the TE's and the DE's through C gap. Stud Slant: slants the entire front five to the side of backfield flow.

By Ben Thigpen, Former Coach, East Duplin H.S., Beulaville, NC