Youth 30 Stack Defense

Dave,

We used it and I'd call it a success. My thinking was that when we saw the fast teams that like to get outside, we'd be able to shut them down. In our first game the O was very confused and didn't know who to block. As the season wore on, however, we ran into teams running smash mouth Power-I stuff mostly between the tackles. I felt like we needed to make some adjustments to deal with it effectively so we sorta got away from it. What I liked about it most was I selected very athletic guys for the Spurs, big guys who could run, so it was easy to make adjustments by moving them up into more classic 5-3 (tight) alignments and play as conventional defensive ends.

In short, I think it gives you more options to adjust with, but more options means more teaching time. To get the most out of it, you'll have to spend a lot of time not just on the adjustments but on the other things that make it so effective, like cheating, prowling, etc.

Thanks for the responses. One of the reasons I like the idea of transforming from a 5-2 (run with 3-4 type personnel) to the 30 Stack is that it will enable us to focus on drafting athletes, rather than looking for kids with size that are good athletes, which as I'm sure they are everywhere are scarce. One of the biggest challenges I've faced is in trying to coach my linebackers to play "downhill". I would think that our success next season as a defense (particularly in a 30 Stack) will depend a great deal on my ability to effectively teach our kids to play this way. I've had some good athletes at the position including a couple of great hitters but they all have been inclined to wait on the ball carrier or blocker to get to them rather than attack the play at the l.o.s. unless we have a blitz called. Certainly some of this tendency can be attributed to the fact that they're only 11 or 12 years old but some of it also has to fall on me failing to teach them the correct technique.

I definitely agree that our 30 will either play a lot like a 5-3 against teams with two tight ends and a good power running game or we will play a lot of Bear front against teams with good inside running games. As far as success against a zone running attack, it's highly unlikely that we will face any teams attempting to run zone schemes. I emphasize the basics of zone blocking by really working our combos to the second level and not chasing linebackers much as you do luvdemlinemen but I don't know of anyone else that's attempted that in our league yet. You're right though in that the only effective blocking scheme against a properly run stack would be zone in my opinion. I just don't see how you could consistently block it man on man.

Much like a split though, it seems you have to stunt, dog and run games with your linemen to be effective. This differs significantly from the reduced 50 we've played in the past in that we rarely stunted or blitzed. Of course that's the other really attractive part about introducing it to our kids is that it should be a blast to play and should result in a lot of big plays. I'd be lying though if I didn't say I also recognize the opportunity for big plays by an offense that catches us out of position at the point of attack. That could happen in any defense, though one could argue that it might be a little more prevalent against defenses of this type.

Again, thanks for the great feedback so far guys. I look forward to continuing our discussion some more!

Dave Hartman
CYFL Coach