MLB reads in a 5-3???

I think that your Mike backer keys should also be dependent largely on the offense that you are playing against. Usually, our mike reads FB to the guard on the side of the formation that the FB runs to. This is pretty effective against teams that run the I or some type of formation where there is a lot of misdirection and pulling linemen.

However, we play against a lot of teams that run the 'Bone and don't pull linemen. If you are telling your mike to read FB-to-guard, your Mike is going to miss most of the misdirection plays that are run out of the 'Bone, especially the lead trap (FB goes right, QB fakes handoff to FB, reverses out and gives the ball to the right halfback who then follows the left halfback off-guard or off-tackle.

In this scenario, you willy and sam backer/SS are crucial. We have our outside guys read near back to far back. If the near back goes right, the outside backers read step right. After the read step, they find the far back. If the far back also goes right, the backers will work their normal pursuit angles. If the near back goes right, but the far back countersteps left, that backer will stay home and wait for the counter coming back at him.

We have tried to get our LBs to read linemen, but not with a lot of success. When I was in college, our linebackers coach taught his guys to read either the tackle or tight end to the tailback or near back. We have tried that at the high school level. I think what it comes down to is that most high school offensive linemen and tight ends simply don't have good enough technique to give an OLB a good read. Along the same lines, our LB coach tried to get his Mike to read the center's block. A good idea conceptually, but not practically.

The other important concept that many high school LBs struggle with is depth. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a high school LB playing 2 yards off of the ball. Why bother? If you are going to play that shallow you might as well be a down lineman. When you play that shallow, one wrong step, and you are completely out of the play. By getting back 4 or 5 yards, you are getting into a position where you can see things developing in front of you.

Interestingly, some of the Wing-T teams in our conference have switched things up a bit to confuse the Mike LBs who have been coached to read FB-to-guard. These teams have started to pull the tackle, tight end, or even the wingback instead of the guard.

Personally, I love the 5-2/5-3 defense. I know that it is old and not very fancy, but it works. The last three years, we have started the season trying a new defense (3-4 this season, 4-4 a year ago, 3-4 the previous year). In each of those seasons, we have always come back to Ol' Reliable, the 5-2/5-3 and had a lot of success with it.