Question for Hawkoption

Coach- thank you for your reply.
How are you going to base your allignment in your 3-3? Will you start head up or in a shade? ( I would like to know how you are going to base your alignment) I have seen film on S. Carolina, Air Force, W. Virginia, Wake Forest... They all seem to be in two 5 techs... Wake is very wide in their 5 techs at times. Almost by 1 yard.
Secondly, in terms of actually teaching the slant tech, step first with slant side foot, bring backside foot and arm at the same time, and dip shoulder, and rip through to your gap responsibility?? what are your thoughts? Are you planning on teaching both slanting techs or just one? Which one?
Thanks in advance

Great topic,
We are only in the process of collecting information on this defense. My thoughts of why we are going to the 3-3 is because our school has a lot of linebacker, secondary type kids. We were blessed with some big fast kids this year if you saw my video. One went to Hawaii and the other to San Louis Obispo. We looked at what we have in our program and we just do not have guys like that coming up. We do have some LB type kids who are not as fast as the others. The advantages of this defense I feel is we can get our very BEST 11 kids on the field. We do not have to play a great big kid just to control a gap. We can also be a lot more aggressive on run and pass with the blitz and try to take advantage of offensive blocking schemes with our blitz. It confuses O-line because they do not see this front very often and there is space between the o-line and lbs. The d-line slants to people a lot, not to gaps. lbs are coming from all over etc...
We will align our d-line in head-up position. 4's and a 0. We will slant to offensive blockers. For example, if our d-tackle is in a 4 (head up of tackle) We slant as if we were playing a 7 (inside shade of TE) We will react to TE block. This gets our kids moving and playing gap control as they slant. The offensive tackle has to honor him adn that will cause run through by a LB some of the time> In my video I get into stimlus response, we will play that stimulus response as we slant. For example, If we are playing a team that we believe we can hit and lock out, we will slant to the TE, if TE is blocking down we will hit him and lock-out. Our stimulus is down our response would be Squeeze. We want to hit lock-out and squeeze him knowing we have C gap. If we were playing a team that we thought were better up front than us we wouldn't try to lock out. We would rip right across him knowing LBs have their gaps. I love the fact that O-lineman do not practice on down blocks with a guy attaking him, usually they practice a guy who slants to a gap.
I will teach also a gap slant and blitz behind it. I think its harder to blitz a backer when a full slant is called because the d-line will react to the offensive blocker.
I think people get into wide 5 packages versus pass and to blitz those outside backers to B gaps. I think playing Wide 5 puts pressure on the oline especially when you are blitzing two guys to that side.
I hope this helps. I love these question, helps me think and ask question myself.

Irish,
The d-line video goes over both ways we slant, with each stimulus response. When we slant (skin) when we blitz you are correct we try to bend it back to qb.
Slanting from the 4 to the TE
1. 6 inch lateral step to the TE V of his neck (Aiming point)
2. 2cd step is a banana = to clear from cut-block etc and to get you to the TE.
3. We see down block. Down = Squeeze
we will attack the V of the TE neck. We will hit and lock him out with the same technique we would use as if we were playing right in front of him. Eyes to the V of neck. Hands inside jersey #'s. We will be coming at him fast and furious so TE is usually not prepared. We hit and lock him out, we play C gap so we Squeeze the TE towards D gap staying square. (This sound confusing) The d-lineman as he squeezed his eyes look inside.
IF>>> We feel like we cannot lock out a offensive lineman, we will rip right across him. Now he would have D gap. LB would take C Gap.
I wish I could show you. Please ask me more if this is not a good enough.
This is great, thank you for the questions.
PGOLLA

Coach,
Sorry for the wait. We just got back from a clinic. Yes, our strong saftey will key the down block by the TE, when he sees down he flys down hill inside or outside the TE. Our Saftey is at 10 yards most of the time coming down hill so he has good vision.
PGolla

Coach,
When we were researching this defense I too had the same concerns as you do. What I have concluded is that the 3-3 is really the only defense that puts 6 men inside the tackle box. It is very difficult for someone to run inside on you. I was VERY concerned about not covering the TE. We will always have the C gap accounted for in every front. We expect a combo from the TE with our defensive fronts. I have spoke to some 3-3 guys who load up the saftey like you were saying. I really like our saftey playing off and playing games with him more like some other schools that run it. I think the cut-back and force from deeper depth is so much eaiser. With our slanting and games we will always start with a defensive bubble but close it in a hurry. I also like the fact that most 3-3 teams run the 46 Bear with it. It is very simple to get into. When you play full-house, 2 TE I think the 3-3 is great with the 46 giving a great change up.
PGOLLA

We have our 2 ends 1 yard outside the TE's. We have our 2 LB's inside shade of TE's. We get either into 4I or 3 techs with our DT's depending on what the offense is trying to do. We play our nose head up. Our 2 inside LB's are 5 yards off over the uncovered o-lineman. We play man or cover 3.
PGOLLA

Irish
With the Bear we really work hard with our 3 tech getting double team and down block for trap. People love to run to the quick side, Power and our Veer. So we work really hard with our end not coming up field but closing the gap at the L.O.S.. We work hard on our inside linebackers not flying out but seeing the PLAY. Our 7 technique gets a lot of work with play action to the TE. He also gets a lot of work versus the TE arc blocking the End and him coming down to take on the power play.
PGolla

Coach,
When you look at the 3-3 most people would try to attack the bubble where the TE is not covered, they will also try to run ISO. Talking to the people that have been running it they get power and iso a lot. Both plays look good from the outside but when you try to run it they really are not that great of plays. Remember the 3-3 gives you 6 men inside the tackle box. Iso needs to be practiced every day.

Coach,
This is a great defense versus the wing T. Our kids know all of the wing T's rules. We will slant to motion a lot and blitz to it also. For example if we were slanting to motion (nose guard) and his guard pulls away he goes and tackles the sweep. The backside defense tackle will tackle the trap. We do a lot of these drills all year. I do believe there is not a better defense versus the Wing.
PGolla

Coach,
Depending on the Wing T team we play. We have found that people twist their offenses etc. A great key for us is to look through the uncovered guards. The waggle pass has been an easy key because of the motion going opposite way of the pull. run and pass keys have been good to us because of the wing teams we play do not spend much time on pass so we get great pass reads. Our S/S really like playing Wing T teams because once a team goes in motion the offense is really limited to what they can run. Our kids will learn each play starting in spring ball.

Coach,
We will load up our SS in a 9 technique. Most people put their outside linebackers there but our SS is a better load player. He will read down block to F.B path and or guard pull depending on motion. Also motion for waggle sweep trap and reverse. This position is key to stop the wing T. We will adjust our fs and other SS to motion because they know the series of plays that are coming because of motion.

Coach,
We really try to keep things very simple (systematic). We can show several different fronts with how we give our defensive line numbers. For example if we want a 3 technique to the strong side and a 1 technique to the weak side we call 31. If we wanted a 50 look we would call 60 putting our strong tackle in a 6 and our weak. If we play a team that likes to run power etc. we would call 40, 4 tells the strong tackle to go into a 4I and weak tackle in a 0. We coach this up every day moving our d-line by yelling out numbers. depending on the offense we are playing we may use one front a lot more that others. Secondary wise we keep things really simple. We were a quarters and cover 2 team with man. That seemed to be too much for our kids. we play a zone and a man with a robber off of a zone so people cannot take advange of hitch, deep out etc....
I hope this answers your question. This year we call it a little different because of the new defense we are going to run. Odd Defense
GOlla

Coach Golla, Buck sweep beats us. How would you set up to basic red formation to stop it? Thanks

Coach,
We like to slant versus the wing T especially versus the buck sweep. We like to use their motions to take advantage of tendencys.
First game for us is a huge game so we only show what it takes to win. But in our scrimmage we do not show much at all. I know the 2 ideas about showing a lot of not at all. I do not like to show much only because I think good coaches prepare for what they might see.