Get the Chalk Last with These Tite Front Adjustments🔩
Jun 15, 2022 2:55 pm
Coach ,
The history of football scheme can best be described as a passing of the chalk back and forth between the offense and defense. Something will become popular on one side of the ball and the other side will develop alignments and techniques to counter it.
A Brief History of Defense
Going back to the beginning of the game two defenses existed, the Wide Tackle Six and the Five Three (Homer Smith, History of Football, 1999). Note that the alignment of the interior three-down linemen is much like today’s Bear or Mint (Tite) front.
Wide Tackle Six - Diagram by Homer Smith
Five-Three - Diagram by Homer Smith
Jumping ahead, the Oklahoma defense was created to stop Oklahoma’s Split Tee offense which Bud Wilkinson created. The idea behind “Okie” was that the Wide-Tackle-Six and the Five-Three left one more defender behind the center line than the offense did. The Split Tee destroyed these defenses.
The Okie allowed the defense to work without getting that defender to the play side by mirroring its safeties.
Okie Defense - Diagram by Homer Smith
Jumping ahead again, the Pro 4-3 became popular to defend against the pass, and the College 4-3 was developed for a similar reason.
Pro 4-3 - Diagram by Homer Smith
From the 4-3. the alignment of the interior three became known as the Double Eagle, initially just as an Eagle adjustment hardened the middle and allowed the Eagle-side linebacker to be protected when flow went away.
College 4-3 - Diagram by Homer Smith
College 4-3 with an Okie Side- Diagram by Homer Smith
In 1986 Bears made the Double Eagle interior popular again with Buddy Ryan’s Bear defense. He began working on his 46 defense which made the Double Eagle interior popular again.
Bear Defense - Diagram by Homer Smith
As you can see, the Zero Nose and reduced ends have been popular throughout different eras of football until the offense forced the defense into something else.
As we progressed into the 2000’s and a spread era of football, defenses once again had to find ways to close the B-gap and reduce conflict, especially as the RPO became wide spread.
The philosophy of the Mint Front is to clog up the middle B-gaps and place a Nose on the Center to control the A-gaps. The idea is to force the running back to run laterally.
The Mint front also known as the Tite front was made popular by Kirby Smart while he was at Alabama, and its use has spread across the country at the college and high school level.
Of course, the offense always looks to take the chalk back and is finding ways to combat Tite front with both formation and scheme, so the defense must have sound adjustments to the addition of a tight end and multiple tight ends to create different blocking surfaces and attempt to cause run fit issues and put defenders conflict.
Adjusting the Tite Front
Washington & Jefferson Defensive Coordinator Vince Luvara teaches simple adjustments to be sure his defense is getting the leverage it needs to be sound against the run.
For example, the will
-Make a “Pull” vs. 3-man surface and the overhang will stack and the 4i will move to a 5 and the other to a 4.
-FIB “Heavy” call will move the end into a 4 technique
-Against Trips (Train) they will not make a pull call and play normal mint front.
He illustrates these adjustments and gives an overview of why they do it this way in the following video (click on image for video):
Vs. a Nub Tight End
Dave Aranda’s approach vs Nub TE is to make an adjustment that will take his Corner out of conflict in the C-Gap. Coach Aranda draws it up and explains in this video:
Handling Motion
At Heidelberg, Defensive Coordinator Branden Jacubcin plays the Tite Front with Rip/Liz Match as his base. He prepares his defense to be able to understand what motion will do to their coverage and teaches them to communicate that pre-snap. He explains how they do it here:
Video: Handling Motion
Against 12 Personnel
Many offenses look to 12 or 21 personnel to defeat the tight front. Lindsey Wilcon Head Coach Phil Kleckler want his defense to keep principles the same against two 3 man surfaces. He wants his defense to play fast, so the Nickel will do the adjusting. He explains it with game film here (click on image for video):
Of course, this is just a sampling of what offenses will do. Any defense can remain sound with simple adjustments. Recognizing what the offense is doing and having a simple way to communicate and adjust takes the chalk back for the defense on the field.
What all of these coaches demonstrate is early on they have a plan for what the offense can do and they teach their players to make those adjustments and put themselves in a position for success.
One thing that history shows us is that you can count on the offense continuing to find ways to get the chalk back.
Have fun planning for all the different stressors you will face this fall.
Always be growing!
Coach Grabowski
P.S. If you are looking for more Tite Front Resources, study up on the Tite Front category on CoachTube.