Coach ,

Seeing the success of some of the odd front defenses over the past couple of seasons, it could be very enticing for a four down team to scrap their system and move to an odd front defense.  

The problem with any change that 100% goes away from what might be very successful is that it requires a new thought process for coaches and entirely new learning for the players.

Needing something different in the middle of the 2018 season, Jeff Dittman, defensive coordinator at RPI, found a way to add an odd front into their four down defensive system on the fly.  This didn’t require major overhauls.  Dittman kept it simple and it proved very effective.

Starting with their four down front, Dittman utilizes Under, 4i’s, and 5-0-5 odd fronts to move his defenders into the gap responsibilities they had in their base four down front.  Here’s what their base front looks like vs. 2x2 spread.

Utilizing college mascot names, Dittman is able to get the advantages of the various odd front alignments while keeping the thought process the same for his defenders. “Bama” allows Dittman to get his defense into the “mint” front which utilizes 4i’s.  Many coordinators like this to shut down inside zone teams because it forces the ball wide instead of downhill. Here is the change-up for RPI:

One of the big knocks on 4i’s is it’s ability to rush the passer off the edges.  5-0-5 front is better for that, and RPI has it as a change-up as well.  Again, the “Sooner” front doesn’t change any responsibilities of the front defenders,  It aligns them differently and moves them to their exact same gap responsibility as it does in the four down front.

RPI also utilizes a three down under front with this same method of utilizing responsibilities from their four down front.  Again, this is an efficient way to add something without disrupting prior learning.

Defense is about solving problems that an offense prevents as well as not letting them get keyed in on what the defense is doing.  Having change-ups that fit into the framework of the defense is a simple way to be multiple and more complex for an offense to dissect and defeat, yet at the same time it is easy for the defense to learn and execute.

Dittman gives an overview of this in the following video.

For detailed examples of movement types as well as game film breakdown, get Dittman’s course here.

-Coach Keith