Cal Defensive Philosophy

The California Golden Bears’ Defensive Philosophy

Lyle Setencich Defensive Coordinator University of California Berkeley, Calif.

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t is a pleasure to be asked to write this article on our Golden Bear defense. I would like to thank Tom Holmoe, our head football coach, for the opportunity to put together this defensive staff. Bill Dutton our defensive line coach, Randy Stewart our secondary coach and myself have coached the same defensive concepts together for about 15 coaching seasons. A great addi tion to our staff this year was Al Simmons, who coaches our corners. We feel our first priority must be to stop the run. If we cannot stop the run, we have no chance of winning. However, in our conference you may stop the run and still not win. We see a great number of passing formations and different types of passing games. If we can force the offense to pass, we can then get into one of our substitution packages that may help us defend against it. We play about four or five defensive fronts and three coverages, though simple adjustments give the appearance that we play more than that. Our defensive fronts come from the 50 reduction concepts which we call eagle G or eagle shade. We match the fronts with a quarters concept in which we may play cover two on one side and quarters on the other. Our safety may play deep (eight to 10 yards) or up (tight to the line of scrimmage) to give us a nineman front approach. We play an under front in passing situations and match that with a five, six or seven-man secondary scheme. We are an eagle G and eagle shade cover eight quarters team. When we are trying to stop the run, the safeties may invert both sides to give us a nine-man front. We may also play quarters on one side and invert the other side to give us an eight-man front. The top priority for our defensive linemen is to establish vertical thrust! That allows us to use some fronts that incorporate line movement. Our defensive linemen have four techniques they can play, our linebackers have three techniques and our secondary has four techniques to choose from. All of our defensive players have a runpass eye progression. They must be able to explain, and execute each progression. All players have a pre-snap eye progression, or a clue from the offense, that tells them which technique they may choose. Each player also has what we call A.A.+ K + T.E. Which stands for:

• AFCA Summer Manual — 1999 •

Alignment. Assignment. Key (Eye progression). Technique. Execution. When we call an eagle front, we are telling our players to think run. When we call an under defense, we are telling them to think pass. Based on our pre-snap eye progression, our players must be able to play an eagle technique defense when we have called an under defense. They must have an understanding of the system to play eagle or under technique regardless of the call.

Diagram 1: Eagle G Front

Diagram 2: Under Front

Defensive Line Technique R.O.M. (Read on the move): A balanced stance playing off the movement of the offensive line. Read Blast: An attacking run stance playing off of the movement of the offensive line. Vertical Blast: An attacking pass rush movement. Line Movement: Single movement, two-man games, adjacent movement, three-man and four-man games. Note: All line movement in eagle are quick games All line movement in under are delayed or second level twists. Linebacker technique is based on the technique used by the defensive line. Depth off the ball is always based on what techniques are being executed in front of the linebackers. We base our width on the same concepts. Our pre-snap eye progression can also determine our depth and width. Our linebackers read adjacent spac-

Diagram 3: Read on the Move

Diagram 9: Three-Man Game

Diagram 4: Read Blast

Diagram 10: Four-Man Game

Diagram 5: Vertical Blast

Diagram 11: Three-Man Game

Diagram 6: Line Movement

Diagram 12: Four-Man Game

Diagram 7: OF Single Line Movement

ing lineman to flow. We call that zone eyes. If we are reading a back, we call that maneyes. The eye progression may change by back set, formation or splits.

The safeties in our package play a tremendous role in our defense. We depend on them to be linebackers on one play and corners on another play. They play four techniques, which we call hard, heavy, shuffle and soft. These are based on their pre-snap eye progression, the formation, back set and split. A heavy technique is one in which the safety stays in place. His keys tell him to play run like a linebacker or the pass (wide receiver) like a corner. With this technique, the safety does not know if it is a run or pass. His post-snap eye progression will tell him. A hard technique is one in which the safety will take a one-two step and utilize a step-up technique. This is similar to a cover two corner. The safety has anticipated run by his pre-snap eye progression, back set, formation, or split. Once again, we are programmed to stop the run. The shuffle technique is a vertical shuffle, which occurs when the safety has read lite and he anticipates pass. As he goes into the vertical shuffle he follows his eye progression to the play. It could be run, but most often it is pass. A soft technique is used in long yardage passing situations. The safety plays pass by down and distance or formation. The safety must recognize the following blocks in order to be a factor in the run game. The base block is a downhill concept to him. The hook block is a playside fit to him. The down block is a playside fit. The cut-off is a backside, and he must fill the running lane or space as it shows. The crack block is a replacement by the safety. Once the safeties recognize these blocks, we take them through the pass sets they will see.

Diagram 14: Base

Diagram 13: Adjacent Spacing Lineman that Mike and Willie Read

Diagram 8: Two-Man Game

Diagram 15: Hook

The Sam linebacker plays on the tight end. The majority of the time he will read on the move (ROM). His eye progression starts with the tight end. His depth and width is based on formation and back set.

• AFCA Summer Manual — 1999 •

Diagram 16: Cut-Off

Alignments vs. Pro Formations

Diagram 25

Diagram 19: Pro RT “I”

Alignments vs. One-Back Sets

Diagram 17: Down Block

Diagram 18: Crack

The general responsibilities for the safeties are: fit to pursuit, man on No. 2 vertical, push to No. 1, and back to the ball if No. 1 goes away. We coach these rules and try to make them as simple and consistent as possible. These are coached every day vs. the run blocking schemes that we see. The pass blocking and pass routes are coached in the same manner. These six pre-snap reads are drilled every down by both the corners and safeties. 1. Back set. 2. Formation. 3. Splits. 4. Light/Heavy. 5. Down/Distance. 6. Field position by yard line. Our corners have less to do mentally but are put in a great deal of one-on-one coverage. They use two techniques. They play both the soft technique and the press technique. There are three variations of press they use in conjunction with the safeties. We ask the corners to be secondary leverage in run. They must be drilled in the crack block and crack pass. They must read three-step, and play man on the No. 1 receiver.

Diagram 20: Pro Left “Near”

Diagram 26

Diagram 21: Pro Left “Far”

Diagram 27

Alignments vs. Two-Tight End Formations

Diagram 28

Diagram 22

Diagram 23

Diagram 24

• AFCA Summer Manual — 1999 •

Diagram 29

These alignments are simple and reasonable for our defensive players to learn. We do not want to give up a play, because we cannot align to the many d i fferent formations and motions we must play. We stress technique and eye progression more than schemes. We know that we are not going to fool any

o ffensive coaches. The offense will know where we will align and what we are playing. With our philosophy we made great improvement in the past two years at Cal. The table at the right clearly illustrates the vast improvement between the 1996, 1997 and 1998 seasons. In conclusion, I have a few thoughts for you. We all know how players will always ask, “How are we going to play this or that?” or, “How will we line up for this

Cal’s Defensive Statistical Improvement and Pac-10 Rank (1996-1998)

1996 1997 1998

Total Yds. (Rank) (TD) 5,063 (10th) (44) 4,195 (8th) (42) 3,743 (3rd) (28)

Rush Yds. (Rank) (TD) 2,084 (9th) (24) 1,588 (7th) (18) 1,473 (3rd) (10)

team?" We have a standard answer for this. We say, “Get the tip of your shoulder pads below the tip of his shoulder pads, strike for pad control, and never, never take

Pass Yds. (Rank) (TD) 2,979 (10th) (20) 2,607 (7th) (24) 2,271 (3rd) (18)

a knee.” This is our way of telling them we are a technique-oriented defensive team, not a scheme-oriented team. If you want to talk defense, give us a call.

Practice Safety-First Coaching Techniques Excerpted from an article by Dick Schindler for the National Federation News

Coaches’ Checklist 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Keep the head up. Discuss risk of injury. Keep the head out of contact. Explain how serious injuries can occur. Involve parents in early season meeting. Have a set plan for coaching safety. Clearly explain and demonstrate safe techniques. Provide best medical care possible. Monitor blocking and tackling techniques every day. Repeat drills which stress proper and safe techniques. Admonish and/or discipline users of unsafe techniques. Receive clearance by doctor for athlete to play following head trauma.

13. Stress safety every day. 14. Don’t glorify head hunters. 15. Support officials who penalize for illegal helmet contact. 16. Don’t praise or condone illegal helmet contact. 17. Provide conditioning to strengthen neck muscles. 18. Entire staff must be “tuned in” to safety program. 19. Check helmet condition regularly. 20. Improper technique causes spinal cord injuries. 21. Helmet must fit properly. 22. Be prepared for a catastrophic injury. 23. The game doesn’t need abusive contact. 24. Player safety is your responsibility. 25. It’s a game — not a job — for the players.

• AFCA Summer Manual — 1999 •