Building a championship football team

by Paul W. Bryant

THE 4-SPOKE PASS DEFENSE

The 4-spoke or 2-deep defense is also a very good pass defense. I believe it requires a little better athlete to play some of the positions in a 4-spoke as compared to the 5-spoke defense. I would probably be using the 4-spoke defense if it were not for the fact that a number of teams we play quick kick frequently. This was a major factor in my changing from the 4-spoke defense which we used successfully at Texas A & M to the 5-spoke defense which we now use at the University of Alabama.

Advantages of the 4-Spoke Defense

The advantages of the 4-spoke defense are as follows:

1. When playing a 9-man front, the extra man is always where you need him.

2. You can stunt a great deal in your secondary and give the passer problems.

3. It is a good defense against a Split-T offense.

4. Tremendous pursuit can be obtained from this formation because the linemen all play an outside technique.

5. You can predetermine your rotation; consequently, you remove any indecision.

6. You use the same coverage with your goal line defense, merely tightening up the defense and the secondary.

7. You put quick pressure on the passer by using your 9-man front advantageously.

8. The defensive keys are definite.

The principle of the 5-spoke pass defense and the 4-spoke pass defense is basically the same with the exception you have only four spokes or four men in the outer perimeter of your secondary. The spokes run from an imaginary center with a defender placed on the end of each spoke, as illustrated in [Figure 62].

These spokes can all be lengthened or shortened, as was explained previously for the 5-spoke defense. They must move as a unit or team, however, or there will be vulnerable areas in the secondary. We run an imaginary line from defender to defender, considering the lines as a rubber band, as illustrated in [Figure 63]. The rubber band can stretch, but it should not break.

Figure 62

Figure 63

In [Figure 63] the spokes have lengthened, the rubber band has stretched, and the defense is still sound. The defenders, although they are farther apart, have all kept their proper spacing with each other. Although they are farther apart, the time that is required for the ball to travel the extra distance will permit the defenders to cover the space between them.

In [Figure 64] the defensive right halfback has taken the wrong route, causing a large gap in the secondary and we are extremely vulnerable should a pass be thrown into the area where the rubber band has broken.

Figure 64

The 4-Spoke Alignment

[Figure 65] illustrates the depth and width of the secondary defenders in the 4-spoke defensive alignment when the ball is in the middle of the field between the hash marks. The defensive corner man will line up about four yards wide and about two and one-half yards deep. They key or read the offensive halfback closest to them, and the nearest end. The reaction of the corner man will be determined by his keys (offensive end and near halfback). He will “read” the following situations:

1. If the end blocks in and the backs come toward the corner man, he should come up and contain the play quickly.

2. If the end comes out and does not block and the backs start toward the corner man, he should turn to his outside, sprint back eight yards and get set to cover his short one-quarter area.

3. If the end comes out and does not block and the back starts away from the defensive corner man, he should sprint back and get in a position to cover the deep one-third zone.

Figure 65

The deep backs or twin safeties line up on the inside shoulder of the offensive ends about seven and one-half yards deep. They should keep a relative position to each other. The safeties should look through the offensive tackles to the halfbacks. The flow of the offensive backs will determine largely the direction the defensive safeties should go, who must react on the snap of the ball. The twin safeties should react to the following situations:

1. On a straight drop back pass, the safety starts deep to his outside until he gets an oral signal from his corner man. This signal sends him to the middle one-third area.

2. If the football or the action of the offensive backs goes away from the safety, he should go to the middle one-third zone.

3. If the flow comes toward him, he covers the deep one-third area to his side of the field.

4-Spoke Pass Coverage Versus Straight Drop Back Pass

Versus the straight drop back pass, as illustrated in [Figure 66], the linebackers, corner men and twin safeties will react as follows:

Figure 66

Defensive Left Corner Man—On the snap of the ball the defensive corner man is in a position to observe both the end and the halfback nearest to him. If the end releases and the halfback is coming toward him, the corner man must turn to his outside and sprint to a position eight yards deep. He sets up in a good football position and covers his short one-quarter area. He never takes his eyes off the passer, and should the ball be thrown into his area he intercepts the pass.

Defensive Left Halfback (Safety)—After he lines up in his proper position, the defensive halfback upon recognizing a straight drop back pass developing, immediately looks to see which side has two eligible receivers. He then starts to his outside and goes deep, unless he receives an oral signal from his corner man releasing him from his deep one-third area. As shown in [Figure 66], the defensive left halfback covers the deep one-third area to his side of the field.

Defensive Right Halfback (Safety)—After lining up in his proper position and stance, the defensive right halfback, upon recognizing the drop back pass, covers the deep one-third zone. Should he receive an oral signal from his corner man, he is released from covering the deep one-third to his side and he now covers the deep middle one-third. He should receive the signal on his third or fourth step, if the corner man gives it. The safety then plants his foot and turns to the inside, always facing the passer, while he sprints to the middle one-third if he is released from his other responsibility by his corner man.

Defensive Right Corner Man—On the snap of the ball, when the defensive corner man observes the drop back pass developing, and the end and halfback release to his side, he starts to his outside in order to cover his short one-quarter area. If the near halfback stays in and blocks, and only the end releases, the corner man gives an oral signal to his safety, the defensive right halfback, who covers the middle one-third, and the corner man covers the deep one-third area on his side.

Defensive Linebackers—The defensive linebackers play exactly like the linebackers on a 5-spoke defense, which I explained previously. The only difference is the area which they line up in (see [Figure 55] and [Figure 66]). On the 4-spoke pass defense the linebackers play the straight drop back pass and the action pass exactly as they do on a 5-spoke defense, which I explained previously.

4-Spoke Pass Defense Versus the Action Pass

Versus the action pass, as illustrated in [Figure 67], the 4-spoke defenders react as follows:

Figure 67

Defensive Right Corner Man—He lines up in his regular position and observes the type of play developing. When he sees the offensive end to his side releasing downfield and the action is coming toward his side, he is alert for a pass. He then turns to his outside and sprints to his short one-quarter area, which is about eight yards deep. He should be in a good football position so that he can cover his zone properly. He must try to stay wider than the widest man in his area, unless he is closer than six yards to the sideline.

Defensive Right Halfback—After lining up in his proper position, when the action starts toward his side, he sprints to his outside getting depth and tries to get into a position so that he can cover the deep one-third area, as illustrated in [Figure 67]. He should be as deep as the deepest man in his area, and when the ball is thrown, he plays the football and not the receiver.

Defensive Left Halfback—When he sees the flow going away from him, upon receiving an oral signal he will turn to his inside and start for an angle of pursuit through where the safety man would have lined up if it were a 3-deep defense. On his third or fourth step he should see a pass developing, and then he must start for the deep middle one-third of the football field.

Defensive Left Corner Man—On the snap of the football as the defensive left corner man sees the flow of the backs going away from him, he immediately knows only one man can come to his side as a receiver. Therefore, he must sprint back to cover the deep one-third area, usually covered by his defensive left halfback in a normal situation. He gives an oral signal to his halfback, which releases him from his normal responsibility.

Defensive Linebackers—The defensive linebackers play the action pass on the 4-spoke defense exactly as they do on the 5-spoke defense, which was explained previously.

4-Spoke Pass Defense Versus the Roll-Out Pass

[Figure 68] illustrates the 4-spoke pass defense versus the roll-out pass. The box-wing defenders must react as follows:

Figure 68

Defensive Right Corner Man—When the defensive right corner man observes the near offensive end release and the flow starts toward him, he sprints back to his area eight yards deep. When he sees the quarterback roll away from him, as illustrated in [Figure 68], he turns to his inside and gets into a position so he can cover the deep one-third of the field to his side. He must react quickly as his responsibility changes from a short one-quarter to a deep one-third pass coverage when the play starts toward him and then the quarterback rolls away from his position.

Defensive Right Halfback—On the snap of the ball if the defensive right halfback sees an action pass coming in his direction, he starts back and out to a position where he can cover the deep one-third area to his side of the field. On about his eighth or ninth step, he should be able to recognize a change in the offense’s direction and the flow is going away from him. He immediately turns to his inside and still watching the passer he sprints to the deep middle one-third of the field. He, too, must react very quickly and sprint in order to cover the deep middle area. The time it takes him to react and change his direction will be an important factor in determining whether or not he breaks up the pass.

Defensive Left Halfback—When the defensive left halfback sees the flow going away from him, he should receive an oral signal from his corner man releasing him from his deep off-one-third responsibility. After he hears his signal, he will sprint to a position where he can cover the middle one-third area. As he is running to his area, he observes that the quarterback is now rolling out to his side. Therefore, the halfback must plant, pivot and try to get into a position to cover the deep one-third area on his side of the field. If he sees he can cover this area satisfactorily, he will give an oral signal to his corner man which tells the latter to go up and cover the short one-quarter area. If he sees that he cannot get into a good football position to cover his area, the defensive halfback will not give a signal. Then we will have two men covering the deep one-third area, and the short one-quarter area will not be covered in such a situation.

Defensive Left Corner Man—By reading the offensive backs, the defensive corner man observes the flow going away from him. He immediately turns to his inside and yells an oral signal to his defensive halfback, which tells the latter the corner man will cover the deep off-one-third area. As he is sprinting toward his area, he observes the quarterback reversing his action, and the play is now coming toward him. He turns to his outside and stays in a position to cover the deep left one-third ([Figure 68]) until he hears an oral signal from his halfback releasing him from his deep responsibility. If he does not hear a signal, he will continue to go back and cover the deep one-third zone. If he hears a signal, he is released from his deep responsibility, which is now assumed by the halfback, and the corner man covers his short one-quarter area. If the offense is going to complete the pass, we want them to catch it in the short area rather than in the deep zone. Therefore, the deep one-third coverage has preference over the short one-quarter zone. At times we might end up with two defenders in the same deep zone, but we would rather do this than leave the deep zone uncovered. If this were the case, then our defense would not be sound. Once again our first objective of defensive football is to eliminate the “easy” or “cheap” touchdown pass.

4-Spoke Coverage Versus a Flanker Set

[Figure 69] illustrates a 4-spoke coverage versus a straight drop back pass from a flanker set. As you can observe, the entire perimeter of the defensive secondary is revolved to the left. If the offense were strong to their left, our secondary would revolve to our right versus a flanker set left.

In [Figure 69] the left corner man goes up on the line of scrimmage, and from his new position he carries out the same assignment he would if he lined up in his normal position of two and one-half yards deep and four yards wide. In his new position he can contain a running play very quickly. If a straight drop back pass developed, he would turn to his outside and still cover his short one-quarter area.

The defensive left halfback carries out the same assignment by covering the deep one-third of the field to his side, but he lines up outside of the flanker instead of on the inside shoulder of the offensive end.

Figure 69

The defensive right halfback moves over and plays the safety position. When the straight drop back pass develops, he covers the deep middle one-third of the field. As he goes back to cover his area, he faces toward the strong side of the offense.

The defensive right corner man revolves from his regular corner position back to a defensive halfback. He lines up about three yards outside of his offensive end, and when the pass develops, he covers the deep one-third of the field that he has lined up in.

The linebackers play their regular technique, sprinting to their usual spots to play their regular pass defense.

Action Pass With a Flanker

[Figure 70] illustrates 4-spoke coverage versus the action pass from a flanker set.

The defensive secondary again revolves to the strong side of the offense, as illustrated in [Figure 70]. If we do not have a stunt on in our secondary, which I shall cover later in this chapter, our secondary would play it exactly as we do the straight back pass, explained above. The left corner man reads his keys and goes back to cover his spot. He must be ready to come up if the passer chooses to run with the football. The left halfback covers the deep one-third to his side. The right halfback, who has revolved to the middle, plays and covers the deep middle one-third. The right corner man, who has also revolved back to the defensive halfback position, covers the deep one-third to his side of the field.

Figure 70

4-Spoke Coverage Versus a Floater

[Figure 71] illustrates 4-spoke coverage versus the straight back pass from a floater set.

Figure 71

When the offense lines up in a floater set, illustrated in [Figure 71], our secondary does not revolve but merely loosens up a little. The defensive corner man to the side that the back is flanked (our right) lines up a little wider and a little deeper. On the snap of the ball, if a back-up pass develops, he drops off to eight yards depth, and covers his one-quarter zone. The defensive right halfback lines up wider and he still covers the deep one-third area to his side. The defensive left halfback lines up in approximately his regular position because he must be able to cover the deep one-third zone to his side of the field. On this particular play as he sees a back-up pass develop, and only one receiver is out to his left, he anticipates receiving a quick release signal from his corner man. Should this occur, he now covers the deep middle one-third of the field. Otherwise he covers his deep side zone, as indicated above. The left corner man lines up in his regular position and sprints into a position to cover the deep one-third area on his side of the field when he sees his nearest offensive back blocking and only one receiver is coming out to his side. He gives the defensive halfback a quick release signal on about his second or third step.

Action Pass With a Floater

Figure 72

[Figure 72] illustrates 4-spoke coverage versus the action pass from a floater set. The entire secondary plays the action pass exactly the same as a drop back pass if the action is toward the back who is flanked. It would be played in a slightly different manner if the action is away from the back who is flanked, as illustrated in [Figure 72]. In such a situation the left corner man would sprint to a position eight yards deep and set up immediately to cover the short one-quarter zone. The left halfback sprints to a position back and out so he can cover the deep one-third of the field to his side. The right halfback plants, turns to his inside, and sprints to a position to cover the deep middle one-third of the field. The right corner man turns to his inside, sprints back and out, and gets in a position to cover the deep one-third of the field when the action starts away from him.