Inside the Playbook: More depth into Don Brown's Defense
Going a bit more in depth with Don Brown's scheme
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Inside the Playbook: Breaking Down Michigan's DL Scheme and Personnel
Recently on MGoBlog, Brian wrote a piece previewing the defense as far as his expectations. In the past couple days, he's also discussed the Defensive Line and looked at the recently released Michigan depth chart . A question keeps arising, unknowingly getting answered, and then asked again. It's a common confusion, and an understandable one when looking at nomenclature of football. AP Photo In this post, I'm going to look at Michigan's DL and why Henry is playing 5-Tech (nominally, from now on called End) and Wormley is playing 3-Tech (nominally, from now on called Tackle).
Inside the Playbook: Michigan State's Cover 4 Defense
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT MAIZE N BREW Introduction Last time we discussed MSU's front 7 scheme . Their front 7 sets up a lot of their success, but that success is also tied to their favorite coverage: a variation of the Cover 4 . State is pretty much aggressive at every defensive position on the field, and this steps from how the back 7 play together in coverage. In this part, we are going to look at how MSU's cover 4 differs from most, how they run their cover 4, and how it all ties together to make one of the better defensive units in the nation. Cover 4 By looking at this play diagrammed, it looks like it's some sort of soft, prevent defense. The way MSU plays it is anything but. Still, most teams that run a cover 4 play a little softer on the outside, but still is far from a cover 4. In fact, the cover 4 plays more like a man coverage than a zone coverage, how so and why, well let's look at a table that describes some of the defensive responsibilities. P...
Inside the Playbook - Going 4-3 (Over) MSU's Front 7
Originally posted June 27, 2013 at Maize n Brew Introduction When looking at Michigan State's defense, there are two things that will be seen on almost every single play: 4-3 over front and cover 4 behind it. Unlike the coverage portion of the defense, the front 7 plays fairly similar to most of their 4-3 over counterparts. In this part of the series, I want to look at what a 4-3 over defense is, what some of the weaknesses to the front are, and how MSU adjusts in an attempt to mask the inherent weakness of the front 7 scheme. For reference, here's the gap scheme: 4-3 Over Side Align Tech Key Run To Run Away Pass Strong 9 tech TE D Gap C Gap - Chase Left Outside Contain Strong 3 tech OG B Gap B Gap - Squeeze A Gap B Gap Weak 1 tech C A Gap A Gap A Gap Weak 5 tech OT C Gap C Gap - Chase C Gap Strong 60 tech OG to RBs C Gap A Gap - Slow Pursuit* Strong Strong 00 C to RBs A Gap B Gap Weak 40 tech OG to RBs...
Inside the Playbook - Transitioning from a 4-3 Under to a 4-3 Over
PREVIEW Much of the talk about Michigan football last year was on the offensive struggles, but the change from Borges to Nussmeier isn't the only change happening in the Michigan program this offseason. The defense, dissatisfied with their inconsistent performance last year, is also switching base fronts from a 4-3 Under to a 4-3 Over. In this post we'll look at what this change amounts to, both in terms of scheme and player deployment. What this isn't Let's start with what this isn't: it's not a panic move. This isn't switching an offense from a 21 personnel I-form to a shotgun spread. This is a tweak. Many of the fundamentals from last year's defense carry over and Michigan ran some Over front last year. While there will certainly be differences - which is the point of this article - this isn't a complete overhaul that negates many of the positives that the players have learned through the experience they are finally starting to show on the de...