NC State Tony Gibson 3-3 stack defense-Base Fronts, Alignments and run fits

Tony Gibson is an excellent defensive coordinator. He was a a  nominee for the 2021 Broyles Award - given to the nation’s top assistant coach. He has had great success at NC STATE.

- The 2021 NC State defense ranked second in the ACC in scoring defense (19.7 points), third in total defense (331.6 yards), third in rushing defense (124.0 yards),  second in passing efficiency  defense (111.1) and third in passing yard allowed (207.6 yards).

The 2022 version was was 21st in the country in scoring defense allowing 20.9 ppg and only 108 yards rushing per game. They held 8 opponents to 21 points or less, which is quite impressive. They were also 20th in the country in yards allowed per game.

FRONT AND PASS STRENGTH CALLS

Well, lets look at the front, They are primarily an odd front team which utilizes movement as part of the scheme. They have definite alignment rules. 

Here's how they align vs 11 with the te to the boundary. They bring the weak safety into the box but stack to twins side. They bring the lb down over the h back to the boundary.

The Sam and lets just call him the Jack for arguments sake travel together. They go to the pass strength side of the formation or if the ball is on the hash to the field.

Base Alignment with personnel. 

vs 11 with the strength call to the right.

FORMATION INTO THE BOUNDARY, STILL GO TO THE FIELD WITH THE JACK AND SAM

#2 They show presnap cover 2 and bring the lb's to 10 techniques. They walk the lb down to the h back again but vs 3x1 they align the sam to the field with the jack.

Here's how they align vs trips, presnap looks like cover 3. Alignment rules in place.

Once you understand the basic alignment, then they can make all their calls off it. 

Here's another base call with the tight end to the boundary. They stack away from the tight end with the same alignment rules in place.

RUN FITS 

Let's look at a few examples of how well they fit the run on all three levels. UNC comes out in 11 personnel and they align in their odd front cover 3. They move the De inside and watch the spill overlap technique. DE spill everything, LB box it to the safety. Mike often will play the c gap with all the pinching up front. Safety just fills off the rb. Just mirrors him and is often a free hitter.

You can see the +1 situation they create

NC State will be very aggressive with the DT and spill everything.

Great run fits below

Safety unblocked and plays off the rb. 

The Safety usually just plays off the rb in the scheme. 

2nd example of how they play it on all three levels.

They will often move with the de, he's hard inside so they get the spill, with the overlap LB. Safety usually fills off the back unless they change that with a call.

Mike is a C Gap player, Nose usually off A, OLB will play the cutback.

Safety fills off the back and does an excellent job.

Not enough blockers to block the safety

One more example as you can see the de on the left spill it and both LB filling over the top to the b and c gap.

ILB overlap to b and c gap. Sam forces it back inside.

Again safety looks to fill.

Great design, Only problem is it's play action so you see the safety put on the brakes

Here's 2 more clips of how explosive the safeties are in the run fits. They come down hill in a hurry when they read run.

2 plays vs Texas Tech this year. Great job of filling and players playing their gaps.

Lastly, 

The thing I love is the way they line up to end over. They dont give you a soft corner back to the weak side. The go cb over.

They bring the cb over and have the free safety play to the boundary tight on the line of scrimmage. At times they will bring that safety to support the run. Nice alignment vs end over and very effective alignment vs these unbalanced formations.

So much to cover and add.Stay tuned.

Coverages

They play a considerable amount of man free combo vs 11 personnel.

In the example of they are playing cover 1 on the outside. They will move the d line away from the pressure. They all slant rt below.  They bring the Jack and sam makes his way down into the box. Guessing they are playing combo on the tailback and h back depending on who goes where.

Here you see man free with the safety coming into the box.

The Safety sees the play action and reacts.

You can see the whole dline slant to the right and they use the safety and jack in the run fit. NC pulls and tries to hit 2 on the seem route vs man free on the rpo.

D line all moves rt. the jack and safety are entering the picture. Forces the pull read and rpo throw to #2

Here's 2 clips of the man free coverage concept.

The safety doesn't do a good job filling on the 2nd clip, thus the 20 yard gain. He should fill more inside off the lb.

Now they get formation to the boundary and have the ability to run the same concept.

They just take the sam and send him and the free comes down and takes the #2 to the boundary. That's the nice thing about the coverage, the sam and free can cover #2 based on where he aligns.

Formation to the boundary Sam and jack come instead of the SS....The FS has to cover #2 and the Anchor/SS now is middle 3rd. Easy adjustment

Sam comes to the top of the screen. Jack is aligned there. 

You can see the man free combo by the 2 ILB. They add in once the TE and RB block. 

Once the 2 ILB see the TE and RB block they add it.

You see the 2 in the picture below.

Vs 3x1 they will play a 3 safety look.

They try to get 5 over 3 to the 3x1 side and 3 over 2 to the split end side. IF its empty it's 3 over those 2 wr. 

 Ran it several times vs Florida State's trips. Its cover 2 with a robber. 

Pass responsibilities:

5 over three to the trips side

3 over 2 to the weak side

They always try to get a plus 1 in many of their coverages.

Vs. Florida State 2022 ran this concept several times vs 3x1

Presnap single high go to  a roll concept to the strong side and play 5 over 3 while only sending 3 in the pass rush.

You can see the zone starting to develop. 

They go 5 over 3 and 3 over 2. 

vs empty they play it the same way on the front side but go cover 2 on the backside.

Another example of the concept below. 

5 over 3 and 3 over 2

You can see how the coverage works. Easy reads and a plus one situation

Sprint out LB Contains.

vs empty still keeping the 5 over 3 and 3 over 2 to the weak side.

Again they have numbers in coverage. They give up some in pass rush to play coverage

Try to hit the comeback to the single side but curl defender gets in the passing lane and deep 1/2 defender is over the top.

3 SAFETY vs Clemson 

3 safety 5 under 3 deep

Vs Clemson

Take the sam and make him a deep 1/3 player. They play the mike at 5 and play the middle safety extremely deep which opens up the dig window.

3 man 3 safety pre snap

3 man rush

3 safety look pre snap

3 safety look and nice disguise

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Next up,

1. We will get into some of the coverages and blitzes.

2. Look more closely at the movements

3. We will get into how they shift into a 4 hands look on third down and a few of the 3 safety looks they show on 3rd down.