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It’s May the 4th…May the 4th be With You!

There’s certainly more than one way to get it done, but it’s always helpful to see how different coaches approach situational football and how they think about different down and distances.  

Today, we share an approach and examples from the approach to winning each down and distance category.

We will talk about winning 4th down at the end of this article, but let’s start at the beginning with 1st & 10…

First Down

1st & 10

Rick Lyster believes that you can find how the offense is cheating the protection and use that to your advantage on 1&10 to knock the offense off schedule and create more favorable situations for your offense.  He illustrates that in this video (click on image for video):

Video: Back Vacates, Pressure Comes

Second Down - the forgotten down

2nd & 10

Ryan Walter, Head Coach at Purdue puts a lot of time into thinking about 2nd down.  He calls it the forgotten down, but he believes it is an important part of defense’s success and he spends time understanding how his opponent handles it as well as how he game plans his calls.  Here is an example of how he handles a 2nd and 10 (click on image for video):

Video: 2nd & 10 GBOT

2nd & Short

Heidelberg DC Branden Jakubcin knows the offense is either going to line up and take a shot or get into a formation to run the ball.  He shares his approach and how he matched personnel with his “Jumbo” package here (click on image for video):

Video: 2nd & Short 

Third Down - The Critical Down

This down is of course the “money down.”  It’s the down-to-win for a defense to get off the field.  The 3rd down categories can be found on every defensive coordinator’s call sheet.  Here are some examples of the approach to the different third-down categories (click on image for video):

3rd & long

Florida State Defensive Coordinator Adam Fuller likes to get pressure and play man coverage in this situation.  It allows them to get a body on a body in the secondary and rush a throw or sack the quarterback with six-man pressure that comes from different places.  Here is an example (click on image for video):

Video: 3rd & 10

3rd & medium

Mike St. Germain, the Defensive Coordinator at Kutztown, also likes a pressure approach.  To determine how they will do it in this situation, he identifies what he calls the “Cliff.”  A big part of winning this down is making sure the QB does not escape.  He shares these ideas in this video (click on image for video):

Video: 3rd Down 5-Cliff

3rd & short

Understanding what personnel to use is important on any down but critical when it comes to short yardage.  Branden Jakubckin explains how they utilize “Big” personnel and their 4-4- Cover 0 call in this situations (click on image for video):

Video: 4-4 Cover 0

Fourth Down

4th Down & Long

Dan Swanstrom, the Head Coach at Cornell, teaches the defense how to bat this ball down so they do not lose field position.  It’s situational awareness that they teach the entire program.  He explains here (click on image for video):

Video: 4th and Long Pass

That’s certainly just an overview of how you can win each down, but certainly, there are some sound approaches in this example.

Good luck as you continue to prepare your defense for game-day success in 2024!

May the 4th be with You!

Coach Grabowski

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