Skip to main content

D-Line Play in the 3-3 Stack Defense

D-Line Play in the 3-3 Stack Defense

by
Darrin Sheffer

See the source image
https://youthfootballonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/353-stack-defense-640x340.png

As an former Offensive guy I used to participate in the age old debate of "What Scheme best fits my players".  Well, turns out that Defensive guys have the exact same debate.  One of the questions I constantly see on Twitter goes something like "I've got small/average sized lineman and we play teams that are bigger and stronger than us, what can we do about it?"  Well, I don't claim to have all the answers for you Coach, but I would tell you that you may want to look into the 3-3 Stack Defense.  Even though I have only been in this defense for 1 season I really do believe that the Stack can get your smaller linemen in better positions for success.  

The Stack is great for teams who have smaller/faster lineman, but even if you have bigger/stronger guys you could still run the Stack because it is extremely flexible.  The way that we run it at our HS fits our smaller guys better (our biggest lineman this season was 220 lbs) because our line slanted on every single play.  I believe that we had over 20 different calls for D-Line slants and stunts, but we had 4 main Slant calls we focused on: Strong, Weak, Pinch and Loop.  We believe that having our guys focus on their movement and slanting had them in better positions than the type of gap assignments you see in 4-3 or 4-2-5 defenses.  

See the source image
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/852a77657d8c3484ef766307ad252898692250dd/c=69-0-1859-1346/local/-/media/2016/10/20/INGroup/Indianapolis/636125538925547580-MaxQuebe-MM-007.jpg

Techniques for D-Line in Stack

If you are thinking about going to the Stack you may need to rethink the types of techniques you are teaching your linemen.  Because we are focusing on using movement on each play, the speed of your players "get-off" and hitting gaps on the slants are more important than attacking O-Lineman shoulders.  You also wont need to work much on bull rushing, instead focus on hand fighting and wrist control.  The point here is to be fast into the gap and get the O-line hands off of you.  The last thing we want in the Stack is for our small lineman to get into a stalemate with a bigger stronger guy.  Also, because of the fact that we have multiple movements up front, and multiple blitzes with LBs (which I will talk about in another post later) the O-Line will have no idea where your players are going which can cause havoc up front.  

Any questions or comments please leave them below.

Stay Obsessed 


Comments

  1. okankahanaMarch 4, 2022 at 6:16 PM

    Jackpot City - Las Vegas, NV - Mapyro
    The JackpotCity Las Vegas is 양주 출장안마 a 문경 출장안마 unique Vegas Strip 김제 출장마사지 casino that offers the ultimate in 과천 출장샵 live entertainment. The casino boasts over 5,000 창원 출장안마 slot machines

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Quick Screens From Wing-T Offense

Quick Screens from Wing-T Offense By Darrin Sheffer                 When most coaches hear Wing-T Offense they usually don’t think about passing, however there are a few ways that a Wing-T coach can utilize his receivers on the edge.  Delaware Wing-T X-Now Screen One of the simplest ways to attack the boundary using the Wing-T is to use an X-Now Screen or Quick Screen.  Preferably, unless you have a QB with a rocket for an arm, I would rather use this play when the X receiver is to the boundary.  In the case of using the Right Formation we would like to have the ball on the left hash with the X lined up on or just inside of the numbers, this will give the QB a nice easy pass and the X a bit of room to maneuver.  I would teach my X to use the sideline and get as many yards as possible but you might have a different preference on the Now Screen. An idea that you could use...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why I Like... Unbalanced Formations

Why I like… Unbalanced Sets (Photo by Coach Eien @bruceeien) If there is one thing that Dinosaur Offensive coaches love to talk about, besides running the ball, it would have to be Unbalanced Sets.  Old school Wing-T and Single Wing guys will hang their hat on being able to cause conflict with the defense by using Unbalanced.  However, it isn’t only old school coaches using it; many Spread coaches are seeking ways to use Unbalanced in their offenses.      Unbalanced Wing-T For my part I am most familiar with the Wing-T’s use of Unbalanced formations.  One common way to go unbalanced in the Wing-T is to simply go X-Over (See diagram below).  In the normal Wing-T formation the X is split off to the weak side of the formation, but in the X-Over we simply align him split to the Strong side/TE side.  One downside to this formation is that due to the alignment of the X, the TE becomes ineligible in the passing gam...
Post a Comment
Read more

Unconventional Formation #2: Bruce Eien's "Stupid Sweep" Formation

By Darrin Sheffer With Contributions by Coach Bruce Eien http://bruceeien.com/ http://fatformation.blogspot.com/ Twitter: @bruceeien Before I get started with this blog I would like to say Thank You to Coach Eien for being so generous and kind enough to welcome me into the Single Wing community.  While I am a newbie when it comes to the Single Wing offense I am learning more and more every day and I am falling more and more in love with this offense the more I learn about it.  As someone who who is familiar with "Old School" offenses like the Flexbone and Wing-T, the Single Wing is an offense that rings many familiar bells, especially my love of Misdirection based offenses.  Once again, Thank You Coach Eien.   I love all offensive systems, but I have a special place in my heart for systems that are "different" and "unconventional".  I'm most familiar with traditional Wing-T, but when I have the power to call an offense at any level...
Post a Comment
Read more