Jump to content
Y-coach.com - Forum
Sign in to follow this  
ifly8o8

Defense ?

Recommended Posts

DC for a U10 I9 team.

I was wondering if anybody uses QB bands for defense? Im thinking of incorpoating about five different formations and I got to thinking that a QB band would be a big advantage. Id have my capt I guess whear it. In it I was planning on having all the different formations so they can use it as a reference on where to line up. Possibly even the plays itself like Texas D's Diagrams if possible. I was thinking of alphabatizing it or color coding it so I can have different ways of calling the plays. I also want to shift before the snap. A few coaches in the past read the defense then make the play. I was thinking of having my kids in one defense and before the snap shift into another.

The reason I ask is that we run out of two formations with about 4 plays a piece. This past weekend, the other team was picking up my signals. I mean I could hear them saying what we were gonna do. We won the game due to talent, but it got me thinking. I need more formations so I can keep the defense guessing and more important how do I hide my signals. Right now I have all hand signals. One for formation and one for the play. So does anyone do it different? HOw do you call plays without the other team picking it up? Lastly how much is too much? I mean I wanna feed these kids brains and test them. My son plays tackle football as well and they had to memorize quite a few plays on offense. Im thinking these kids can handle five formations.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This year for my U10 I9 team, I have tried running all plays out of one formation and have had good success. Our defense shifts based on formation, but I have watched teams get very confused with us as we line up the same every play and have about 12 plays.

I have not used the arm bands to date as we only have one audible for each play based on how the D lines up, so there is no real confusion. Again, with only one formation, the defense has no clue what we are going to do.

For defense, we tend to use 2 defenses, 2-1-2 and 1-1-3 about 50/50 each game, blitzing about 50% of the time depending on their QB. We have kept it simple on defense and stressed keeping the ball in front of us and pulling flags. We work each week on containment, as in our league most scores happen not from exectution by the offense but from that one kid who can juke his way down the field.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thx for the quick response. Although I dont quite understand you. You say youve tried running out of one formation then you say you run a 2-1-2 and 1-1-3. So are you lining up in a base formation and shifting into those formations after? Thats what Im interpreting. If so, what is your base defense? I was thinking of doing the same thing. Lining up all five on the 7 yd line and have them drop into formation as the ball is snapped.

As for defense, I strongly teach contain as well since a lot of teams in our league attack the edges and as you said, the main threat is the juke speedster.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Our coaches can be in the huddle so you don't have to call in plays. A lot of times we'd delay getting lined up until the offense approaches the los. That way they already have their play in and don't know our formation. But there really weren't that many different "plays" just two zones and a man defense. We'd rush every play although the rusher might line up differently depending on the offensive set and what the other defenders like the middle linebacker instructed. And our coverage would be soft or tight but really you should be able to tell that when you get to the los. If there were a reason to stunt or shift we'd instruct specifically for that play, not necessarily incorporate it as a separate play in the playbook.

Now that I think about it, our D coordinator would sometimes show a certain defense and then shift before the snap. So maybe line up in a 2-1-2 very early, showing the offense and then shift into a 1-1-3 before the snap. More often he'd call the play and then hold them in the huddle until the offense approached the los, before lining up.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorry, my post was WAY confusing. I was commenting on your offense formations and that the oppsoing D would know your plays. Our offense works out of one formation, so the defense never knows what hits them.

On defense, we do as Orange stated, we stay in a group til the offense lines up, then set up our defense. Our league allows coaches in the huddle also, so we don't need signals, expect for the one audible I can call for each play based on what I see from the defense alignment.

Regarding blitzing, I know alot of coaches always blitz, which I used to do. What I found out this year in our league (each league had different levels of play), all but one team has a QB which when given plenty of time, tends to throw deep balls, which is what we key on. I have my safties play off the deep reciever so they look open, then react on the long lazy throw. Most of the pass plays in our league are quick hits, so the rusher tends to be out of the play most of the time. If you have a good QB, he can pick you apart, but our U10 league doesn't have that for the most part.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

We switched our defense to a line/huddle. Once the offense came out of the huddle and we could kind of see how they were going to line up (e.g. trips, twins, etc), our DC calls out a formation and the kids shift accordingly. He tried not to yell it so the other team couldn't hear.

Our main D is a 2-3 zone we call "down home". The 3 in back are numbered left to right 1,2,3 respectively. Our kids know who is up front and who is in back for the current series.

If he calls out:

Down home = two kids shift up front near los and three remain in back with no rush. (again, they all know who goes up and who stays back for that series)

Down home 2 = same formation shift, but the middle person in back (#2) is the rusher. #1 and #3 in back know to help cover the hole left by our rusher.

Down home 3 - same formation shift, but person on right (#3) is rusher. #1 and #2 know to shift over a bit to cover that hole.

Down home 0 - same formation shift, but we send the middle person up to los ASAP before ball is snapped and tell them to go in on a handoff. If no handoff, back peddle to cover middle. We use this quite effectively when suspecting a run by the other team. The middle person has a spy on the suspected runner.

He might call "down home 23" which means we're sending two rushers from the back (#2 & #3). The front kids still line up close to the los, but upon snap back peddle to help cover.

We have two more formations to defend against trips/twins which basically tells the 3 in back to shift one direction or another.

We've messed around with audibles when suspecting the other team of figuring out our calls. Quite honestly, at this age and ability level, there's no substitute for good old fashioned fundamentals like staying home on reverses, not letting receivers behind you, not over pursuing, not letting the runners get to the outside, good flag pulling, and swarming.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thx coaches.

In our league we are not allowed to be on the field with the kids, only on offense. Its also hard to yell out plays because both teams are on the same sideline. One team on one half of the 25, the other on the other half. we can be as close as 10yds from each other. Thats how I could hear the other coaches talking about our plays.

I was thinking of hand signals the first half and then codes the second half. That way when they think they picked it up I can hit them with something different.

Rob, I run my defense the same. For example we line up in a 3-2, well a modified 3-2, more like a 1-2-2. I have one guy over the center about 3 yds back. Hes #2 as hes the middle guy in the front 3. I then have two corners on the 7 and two safeties back. The #2 is responsible for run first, handoffs, end arounds, sweeps etc., then whatever the play calls for, whether its a blitz or zone coverage. If its zone he drops back to mid thirds. The corners have the edge thirds unless we blitz then they do middle halfs. The safetys always has deep halves. We run the blitzes the same, 1-2-3 for the front 3. If I send 1, my left corner, then the #2 covers his spot, and vice versa with 3. So thats the four plays I have for that formation. Zone, or blitz with 1, 2, or 3.

I like this formation because the #2 is quick and can disrupt runs. I always leave my safetys deep as I take away the long and give up the flats where the D swarms in. My philosophy is "Dont give them the bag" In our league the ref puts a bean bag at the 7 yd mark. I tell my kids if we can stop them from reaching the bag on every play they cant get a first down.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Rob-

What formations do you guys use on trips and twins? Id like to know cause I tried man on trips last year and it was disastrous. I tried zone this year and so far its been not bad. I run the same D, just players shift over to accomodate the heavy set.

Thanks again for all the replies

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

lots of useful information, sorry for posting to an old thread but been searching for info about defense and i found a lot here. i was wondering if someone's still here (the reason i wrote specifically here) with whom i could talk about? thanks!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...