Film Study: 2016 Clemson Defense vs Louisville

Clemson vs. Louisville is the Saturday night game and I want to take a look at the film of last year's epic battle and see what Clemson DC Brent Venables did to try to slow down Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson and the explosive Louisville Offense.  Louisville scored 36 points with 295 yards passing and 273 yards rushing (573 total) and was a yard away on a 4th down inside the five-yard line from winning the game at the end.  There were a number of things that Venables and the Clemson Defense did well to pressure the Louisville offense into some mistakes and keep them off-balance.

Stalk & Go RPO

The Stalk & Go RPO (Run-Pass Option) is a good addition to any playbook against defenses that become undisciplined with their Defensive Backs versus the run.  The play below is Zone Read with the QB reading the DE.  The H-Back arcs around the DE to the CB but he fakes a block on the CB and sneaks behind the CB.  Most Quarters defenses will check to Cover 2 vs a Nub set to the Boundary with no Wide Receiver and this is the case here.  The CB is the Force player and he must come up quick to play the run.  The Safety is not a regular Cover 2 hash Safety, he is cheated to a C-7 (C gap, 7 yards deep) alignment to help versus the run.  However, he is still a Pass-first player, but he is in a difficult position to cover the H-Back with full run action.

Football Tool Chest

Wow, just found Toys-R-Us for football coaches.  There is a TON of FREE stuff here:
Football Tool Chest

2009 Florida Clinic

I did a previous post on just Bill Belichick's outstanding portion of this clinic but here are my notes from the entire clinic, including Urban Meyer, Jon Gruden, and passing game notes from Scot Loeffler.

Coaching Styles and Motivation

Probably my favorite coach of all-time: Chuck Heater, Marshall Defensive Coordinator

 

I posted this on CoachHuey.com quite a few years back.  It is a paper I did for my Master's degree.

Addressing Domestic Violence - ProtectHer Sexual Assault Prevention Program

South Carolina football players were warned by the Head Ball Coach to respect women.  Coach Spurrier's rule was, "Never, ever, hit a girl. If you do this, you're finished as a Gamecock football player."  He said, "It's a wonderful rule and when you enforce it, you get results...You'll have to ask other coaches why they don't have that rule.  Everybody knows I have one." 

Dennis Dodd in his article on Steve Spurrier's Zero-Tolerance policy said, "Any expert in the field can tell you one in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime."  Dodd makes a great point worth repeating: "Why can't that stance be adopted nationwide?"

Hook and Lateral

The Hook and Lateral play by the Miami Dolphins vs. the San Diego Chargers in their 1981 playoff game is one of the greatest plays from one of the greatest games in NFL playoff history. Check out the old-school three-point stance by the inside WR on the play.  Unfortunately, his is not the worst WR stance—look at the stance and false step of the WR at the top of the screen):

Twenty-six years later, in the Fiesta Bowl on January 2, 2007, the Hook and Lateral play resurfaced again as Boise St. shocked the world in its epic upset of Oklahoma, and this play also became part of one of the greatest bowl games in college football history.  The game was tied and Boise St. had the ball with under two minutes remaining looking to pull off the upset until Oklahoma ran back an interception 33 yards for a TD with 1:07 left that seemed to crush all hope.  Boise St. faced a 4th-and-18, down by 7 with seven seconds left at the 50-yard line when destiny called upon this play once again...

2008 Destin Glazier Clinic Notes

This was a very good clinic.  I got notes from Steve Addazio, who was still with Florida at the time and Joe Cullen, who was with the Detroit Lions.  I also got some notes from Ted Monachino who was with the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Steve Addazio, who is doing very well for himself as the Head Coach at Boston College, talked about Implementing a Zone Blocking System.  He talked about Inside Zone footwork and some of the blocking tags and the Zombie variation as well as his count system.

2007 Destin Glazier Clinic Notes

This clinic had two good defensive speakers, namely Doc Holliday and Will Muschamp.  This was fresh off Florida's national championship win over Ohio State in January 2007.  Doc Holliday spoke about the Tracer blitz that they used to harrass Heisman trophy winner Troy Smith as well as their base defense, Under Orange, which is an Under front with Man-Free coverage.  He also talked about DB Drills and Charlie Strong's three favorite Fire Zones.  

Need a Little Help...

I need the following TCU Defensive film if anybody can help out:

2005 - Oklahoma, SMU, Utah, BYU (Whole Game), Air Force

2006 - UC Davis, Utah, Army, Wyoming, UNLV, UNM, SDSU, CSU, Air Force, N. Illinois

2007 - Utah, UNM, BYU, UNLV, SDSU, Houston

2008 - SMU, SDSU, CSU, BYU, Wyoming, UNLV, Utah, Air Force

2010 - Baylor

Shoot me an email at gunrun73@gmail.com if you can be of help.  I have a bunch of 2016 film I can trade.

LB Scrape Technique

The success of the NCAA Blitz, a.k.a. America's Fire Zone, like any other Blitz or Fire Zone, is predicated not so much on the schematics of the play as much as it is on the fundamental techniques executed by each player.  I have talked about the "Run to Daylight" technique of the playside DE (F in the diagram below) here in a previous post.  Manny Diaz refers to this Fire Zone as Scrape, and I will talk about the "Scrape" technique of the Mike LB that is essential to the success of this play. 

4-2-5

I've been studying the 4-2-5 and I pulled a lot of good resources from Runcodhit, Brophy, Deuce, Blitzology, Coach Mac, Chris at SmartFootball, Jim Light, and some articles from this site.  The newer links are at the top of the list under each coach.  Here are links to the 4-2-5:

DL Stunts - Part 3

Here is Part 3 of the DL Stunts series.  Be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2.  Part 1 dealt primarily with stunts between the two DTs, Part 2 dealt primarily with stunts between the DT and the DE and Part 3 will deal with stunts that affect at least 3 of the 4 defensive linemen.  We will look at the Pirate, Loop, Slash, Pinch, and Hi-Lo stunts.

Speed Kills: Breaking Down the Chip Kelly Offense by Alex Kirby

Speed Kills: Breaking Down the Chip Kelly Offense by Alex Kirby (lifeafterfootballblog.com) looks at the different parts of the 2013 Eagles Offense that blended Kelly's successful Oregon Offense with its option schemes along with a pro-style passing attack.  Alex Kirby does a nice job of breaking down and explaining this offense to the casual fan as well as giving enough X's and O's for fellow coaches looking to study and or incorporate elements of Kelly's offense.

A Better Way to Measure Red Zone Effectiveness - Red Zone Average (RZA)

A pet peeve of mine has always been Red Zone % as a way of commentators of gauging a team's effectiveness in the Red Zone.  The problem with Red Zone % is that it places equal value on scoring either a TD or a FG.  Now I could be wrong, but the last time I checked, TDs were worth more than FGs.  Red Zone Average (RZA) is a better metric because it places the appropriate value on what the offense did (TD = 7 pts, FG = 3 pts, no score = 0 points) and it is computed by taking the total points scored in the Red Zone divided by the number of trips to the Red Zone.

Red Zone Average (RZA)  =  Total Points in Red Zone

                                                     # of Chances in Red Zone

Let's look at a simple example below:

Team	Chances	TDs	FGs	Total Points	RZA	Scores	Chances	Red Zone %
Team 1	10	7	0	49	4.90	7	10	70.0
Team 2	10	0	9	27	2.70	9	10	90.0

Practice Segment Timer

I have created a .mp3 file that acts as a practice segment timer that you use by connecting your ipad to a speaker.  A horn goes off every five minutes.  It works like this:

HORN, followed by "Period 1!"

(After 3 minutes) - Two short beeps that act as a two-minute warning for the end of the period.

(After 5 minutes) - HORN, followed by "Period 2!"

(Repeat for 4 hours)

I am selling the .mp3 files for $20.  The first .mp3 file has the beeps and the second one does not (in case they annoy you).

    
To purchase, click on the button below and then click on Open Bag to check-out.  ***Be sure to type your name and then your name on credit card EXACTLY the same:

I will email you the link to download the .mp3 files after purchase.  

If you have any questions, email me at gunrun73@gmail.com.

DL Stunts - Part 2

Part 2 of the Defensive Line Stunts series will look at stunts where the Defensive Tackle works in tandem with the Defensive End.  DL Stunts - Part 1 looked at stunts with just the Defensive Tackles.  Blitzes and Fire Zones are great for applying pressure, but the easiest and safest way to get pressure is from the guys up front.  It is nice to be able to play your favorite coverage on 3rd and Long and still get pressure from the front 4.  If a defense can do that, it has an opportunity to be great on 3rd Down.

Hi-Lo DL Stunt

Take a look at my series on DL Stunts (Part 1 here) which continues with this huge play off a stunt that clinched the game in the Kansas City Chiefs 17-16 win over the Texans yesterday that I want to show.

8-2-1 Kickoff Return: The Bandwagon is Growing!

Great article here by former Dolphins and Jets Special Teams Coordinator Mike Westoff on SI's MMQB  talking about his idea of a 8-2-1 Kickoff Return.  Duece from the Football is Life blog was the first one to come up with the radical idea of the 8-2-1 Kickoff Return and I did an article on the 8-2-1 Kickoff Return here back in February proposing it as a solution to the NFL's safety problem.  This idea that was initially dismissed as a gimmick is now starting to gain serious consideration as a viable solution to the NFL's safety problem as well as a way to restore the importance of the kickoff return in professional football.

Check out the 8-2-1 diagram from the article by Westoff:

Don Shula - Everyone's A Coach

Perfection: the 17-0 1972 Dolphins

The NFL Network just did a great piece on Don Shula, the NFL's winningest coach with 347 wins, Don Shula on the 40th anniversary of the 1973 Super Bowl that capped off the 1972 perfect season.  One of the biggest thrills of my coaching career was from my second year in 2002 when we played at St. Thomas Aquinas and I went up in the booth and saw Don Shula and got to shake his hand.  Here are some of the notes from Shula's book with Ken Blanchard, Everyone's a Coach: Five Business Secrets for High Performance Coaching which I highly recommend.  I haven't looked at these notes in years, and I forgot how good the content was.