Best Defense To Run 5 Vs 5

[COACH-T 0]

Hi Guys I'm new to this forum and have been reading alot about the defensive formations what is the best all around defense to run the age group is 10/12 years old QB cant not run and you can blitz from 7 yards out. I think i will go with the 2-1-2 but what are the best way to get the kids to stay home in the zone. And what offensive players does the defensive players key on.

[Orange 26]

Hi Guys I'm new to this forum and have been reading alot about the defensive formations what is the best all around defence to run the age group is 10/12 years old QB cant not run and you can blitz from 7 yards out. I think i will go with the 2-1-2 but what are the best way to get the kids to stay home in the zone. And what offensive players does the defensive players key on.

I think the best one is 1-1-3 zone.

Just like anything, you need to teach them what their assignment is and how to do it. They should key on whoever is in or coming into their zone. At the same time they need to be reading the ball and figuring out what's going on. One of the strengths of the zone is the defenders play facing the QB and can watch what is going on. It makes reading the play more important and effective.

[rushbuster70 16]

I would say with older kids go with a 2-1-2.I run that myself with my team.I teach the front & middle guy to read for the run first.If no run the watch the QB.The back guys make sure no one gets behind them.The middle person is usually my best player because he has the most responsibility.He needs to be able to read & react the fastest.

[Orange 26]

I would say with older kids go with a 2-1-2.I run that myself with my team.I teach the front & middle guy to read for the run first.If no run the watch the QB.The back guys make sure no one gets behind them.The middle person is usually my best player because he has the most responsibility.He needs to be able to read & react the fastest.

I do think a 2-1-2 can be very effective. I'm not sure about Rushbuster, but what I see and what we do normally is rush the middle defender. That makes you more vulnerable in the middle of the field. But against certain offenses it is better than a 1-1-3.

As I'm writing this I realize we need to practice more 2-1-2 because we've been getting really cozy in our 1-1-3. I've wanted the ability to switch around defenses and we are not there yet. We're already scheduled to do some intensive man defense in the next couple of practices.

[Coach Rob 26]

We run a 2-3 and send different rushers from the 3 each time; the other two players know to shift over and cover the hole left by the rusher. Sometimes we'll anticipate a run based on how the offense is lined up and call a play that sends the middle person to the los before ball is snapped. It turns into a 3-2 with middle of 3 going in immediately on a handoff or backing up to cover middle if fake.

We'll blitz with two rushers. From our 2-3, upon snap, we'll pull the 2 on los back and send the outside DBs from the 3 on a blitz. We have a few more formations out of the 2-3 depending upon what the D coach sees.

[Texas_D_Coach 14]

Hi Guys I'm new to this forum and have been reading alot about the defensive formations what is the best all around defence to run the age group is 10/12 years old QB cant not run and you can blitz from 7 yards out. I think i will go with the 2-1-2 but what are the best way to get the kids to stay home in the zone. And what offensive players does the defensive players key on.

See my post on defense zone diagrams. It gives a good visual indication for each guy what parts of the field they need to cover for each zone, and I have several defensive zone schemes diagrammed in there (2-3, 3-2, 2-2). I may have even added a 1-1-3 but I don't remember off the top of my head.

For your age group expect alot of passing, and some running. I personally like the 2-3 defense where I have the rusher either rush all the way to the QB on passes or rush halfway in for a 2-1-2 on running plays.

One of the thing I do at the beginning of the year to hammer it into the kids heads about their zone of repsonsibility is I'll line them all up in the base defense (3-2 or 2-3), and show them the diagram of their zone rsponsibility. Then I'll run around them in a circle and while telling them "everything in this circle is your responsibility". It's pretty funny for them and after that they usually get the idea pretty well. Of course I have other sayings that I say over and over to them to get them to remember (like deeper than the deepest and wider than the widest). Things like that that you can say over and over to them really helps them get the idea and remember stuff.