Breakdown Sports

Larry Johnson Sr. has long been considered not only one of the best recruiters in the B1G and the nation, but one of the premier DL coaches as well. He came up at Penn St beginning in 1996, starting as a DE and Special Teams coach, before slightly changing his role to the coach of the entire DL from 2000-2013. While PSU continues to have a successful DL, they weren't able to retain Johnson on their staff with the hiring of Franklin, and Larry Johnson switched his allegiance to the Buckeyes in 2014. Sometimes the rich get richer. Ohio State had undeniable talent along the DL going into 2014, but their performance to begin the year was below their talent level. But there may not have been a single group in the B1G that improved over the course of the year and into the post-season as much as Johnson's defensive line. In this post, we're going to look at several DL drill that Larry Johnson incorporated at PSU, and how that makes his defensive lines so successful.

Defensive line is a complicated beast. From a high level view, it looks simply like a bunch of very large men mashing into each other, one group trying to encapsulate a player with a ball, the other trying to open a gap in that other team from which the player with the ball can escape. But as is the case with football, the truth is much more filled with detail and minutia. In this article we’re going to focus specifically on one aspect, that being, how to take on trap and kick blocks with two basic techniques: Wrong Arm technique and Squeeze technique. Squeeze Technique

Originally Posted at Maize n Brew on July 26, 2013 Background In the summer of 2013, Nebraska was coming off of one of their worst seasons in terms of run defense. Their DTs struggled mightily, their DEs weren't enough to counter the problems on the interior. This post discusses some of the basic Pelini defenses, and the adjustments he made when he realized his team struggled to stop the run. While Nebraska's run defense improved over the course of '13, these are still tactics that Pelini will go to in times of need. For what it's worth, an added bit of information is that Pelini prefers to 2-gap his two DTs on the interior. By the time much of the film seen below was taken, it had appeared the Nebraska defensive staff had stopped asking the Nebraska DTs to 2-gap, and instead focus on maintaining a single gap. This simplification of the defense makes it easier for the DTs to do their job, but tends to make the defense as a whole a bit less effective. Introductio...

Introduction After Brian at MGoBlog apparently hacked into my computer and stole the idea for my article , unfortunately, you will now need to purchase the Maize n Brew decoder ring to read future posts. If you think I'm just joking... Be sure to drink your Ovaltine . Yes, I'm going to make some money off of this if I'm doing it. We'll call it the Stephen M. Ross Maize n Brew Decoder Ring presented by Stephen M. Ross and "Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut, Sometimes You Don't" Almond Joy and Mounds. This is the future. Anyway, today we are going to look at why Michigan had trouble against the Notre Dame's inside run plays. Much of the time, Michigan was in nickel personnel with two 3 techs with an over front. Let's take a closer look. Play One: Notre Dame runs Power O without a FB. Essentially, the playside TE will block the DE instead of a FB. The backside OG is still pulling up through the hole and out onto the LB. Michigan, in an over...