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September 1, 2006 > Sports > Blitzing key to new speed-based scheme

Blitzing key to new speed-based scheme

By Nathan Bledsoe | Thresher Editorial Staff

In 2005, opposing teams steamrolled the Rice defense for an average of 40.5 points and 454.5 yards per game. This off-season, head coach Todd Graham and defensive coordinator Paul Randolph faced the daunting task of creating a new defensive front from the ground up.

While many football fans today are fairly familiar with the spread offense, Rice’s new defense, the 3-3-5, which the coaching staff simply calls “the stack,” is fairly new in the college football scene. Like any defense, it has strengths and weaknesses, but Rice coaches are hoping its reliance on speed over brawn will make it a better fit for the Owls’ undersized personnel.

The stack, popularized at West Virginia — where Graham was a co-defensive coordinator — is a revolutionary approach that helps defenses keep up with offensive adaptations of recent years. The formations create a more fluid alignment that allows squads to outmaneuver the multiple formation offenses currently popular at the collegiate level.

The stack defense moves the team to a three-man line, which will require constant defensive line rotation. Behind the linemen are three linebackers and five defensive backs. More conventional defensive sets have four down linemen, three linebackers and four defensive backs. The stack allows the defense to take advantage of difficult blocking angles and the ability to blitz from anywhere on the field. The linebackers stand directly behind the defensive linemen, which makes it difficult for offensive linemen to read and pick up blocks.

While this stacked look is the base of the defense, the linebackers and safeties move around against different situations, providing confusion for the opposing offenses.

Defensive coordinator Paul Randolph said that the stack will allow him to vary personnel and positioning, but some options are limited.

“No matter what scheme you’re running, you’re going to get to a four man front once the ball is snapped,” Randolph said.

What this means is that regardless of the number of linebackers and safeties, four defensive players will usually commit to the line of scrimmage for both pass rush and run support. The stack defense greatly increases the possibilities of where players can attack the line from, with both linebackers and safeties available to become the fourth man. With the new responsibilities, many players have changed positions and techniques, but the defense began to gel at the close of the summer.

Several players have had impressive preseason workouts — junior George Chukwu and seniors William Wood and DeJuan Cooper will see extensive playing time at the nose guard position. Keeping defensive linemen fresh will be a key, especially since active defensive linemen are required to protect the undersized linebackers from offensive linemen. However, Randolph said protecting the linebacking corps is not the defensive line’s first responsibility.

“Sometimes the linebackers will have to fend for themselves, but we want our defensive line to be playmakers too,” Randolph explained.

The defense enters the season with not only a new scheme, but also a new philosophy to support it. Randolph was most recently the defensive ends coach at the University of Alabama, where his staff had one of the most talented and productive defenses in the nation. With their high discipline level, the Crimson Tide was a blitz-heavy defensive team, pressuring the quarterback and making big plays. The Owls hope to employ the blitz effectively as well.

However, while blitzing keeps offenses on their heels, it also puts a burden on defensive backs and linebackers in pass-coverage situations, usually leaving defensive backs in man-coverage against receivers. A defense less aggressive in pressuring the quarterback allows teams to play more zones, which lets them utilize angles and positioning to defend the pass and keep corners and safeties from getting beat by speedy, taller receivers.

But the threat of the blitz and the ability to mix and mask coverages and blitzes is just as effective as actual pressure and sending extra rushers. Randolph said that to be successful, a team must mix up when they blitz and when they drop extra defenders into pass coverage.

“Every defense has to have the threat of sending pressure, and we have a threat of sending pressure looming at all times. [Playing] man versus zone is situational. Looking at our group, we can play both and be good at both,” he said.

The threat of the blitz alone forces offensive linemen to adjust their blocking responsibilities and affects the play calling of coaches and the pre-snap reads a quarterback makes. Being able to mix zone and man coverage — and more importantly disguise those coverages — is key to defensive success.

If effective, Rice can expect more quarterback sacks with defensive pressure from players all over the field, especially the linebackers and defensive ends like senior Courtney Gordon, sophomore linebacker Brian Raines, and defensive backs sophomore Ja’Corey Shepard and senior Andray Downs.

One of the most unique aspects of the stack is that the two strong safeties, called the bandit safety and spur safety, also play an integral part in the run game and pass rush. True freshman Andrew Sendejo gets the starting nod at the spur position, opposite veteran senior Chad Price at the bandit spot.

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