Wyoming defense-The Art of Disguise

  ***Note*** We are now on substack, please join today with the following link https://coachkoufootball.substack.com

Wyoming defense

I had a great q and a with jay Serval, the Wyoming Defensive Coordinator.  He is a tremndous football mind with a great coaching background.  I love some of his concepts defensively.

Background

Jay Sawvel joined the Wyoming coaching staff in February 2020 as defensive coordinator and safeties coach.  Sawvel previously served as the defensive coordinator at the University of Minnesota and Wake Forest University.   Over his career, he has been part of 19 teams who advanced to postseason play, including 12 bowl appearances and seven NCAA Playoff appearances

The Cowboy defense in 2021 was one of the top pass defenses in the nation.  Wyoming allowed opponents only 189.8 passing yards per game to rank No. 1 in the Mountain West and No. 12 in the nation.  The Cowboy defense was also No. 13 in the nation in defensive touchdowns scored, with three.  Wyoming held opponents to 23.7 points per game in the 2021 season to rank No. 5 in the MW and No. 43 in the country out of 130 FBS programs.  

Before coming to Wyoming, Sawvel served as the defensive coordinator at  Wake Forest University in 2017 and ‘18.    Prior to coaching at Wake Forest, Sawvel served as the defensive coordinator at the University of Minnesota where he constructed a Top 25 ranked defense and helped the Gophers to their best record in 13 seasons in 2016.  Minnesota posted a 9-4 record in 2016 and defeated Washington State, 17-12, in the Holiday Bowl. He was also an assistant at Minnesota from 2011-2015.

The defense

They are primarily a 4-2-5 defense with a traditional nickel. They play him to the formation and he aligns over #2. That's there plan and it has had success for them. 

Front wise:

They can set the front either direction but will also run two head up defensive tackles and play out of it and will often move. They can move in either direction. They also set the front to or away from the rb like any other team. 

The beauty of what they do comes in there coverage system.

It's all about disguise!

 Disguise

There defensive system and calls is  predicated on disguise. They do a tremendous job presnap presenting a cloudy picture for offenses. This is because they use their SS(deep safety) in a unique way. They switch the traditional cover system and have the t Nickel  as a deep quarter guy in their 4-2 coverage. This is tremendous because it gives you more of ability to disguise coverages from the look, especially when you play a ton of man free.They use him as a curl flat defender in cover 4 and their quarter quarter half system. They  tie together their coverage concepts in a way that causes a cloudy picture presnap for quarterbacks. 

They disguise as good as any team and the reason they do that is it ties in with all their coverages.  they play a ton of cover 1, cover 42(1/4, 1/4 half)  some cover 3 carry, some cover 2 and some stubbie vs trips(man on the outside wr in trips and combo on the 2 and 3 with the safety and nickel. You can't tell presnap whether they are single high or middle of the field open. 

Here's 3 examples of the disguising of coverages. 

Cover 42(quarter, quarter, half)  with the nickel and deep safety exchanging responsibilities from traditional cover 4

Another clip of    cover 42(quarters to the field, cover 2 to the boundary.

In the next picture, They bring the anchor (SS) to the field. The thing I love is that they bring the safeties to the side of the h back, they will have him attack the inside half of the h back. The LB to that side knows to expect the ball bounced on any of their safety edge blitzes. 

The last example is man free and blitzing the other way. Man free with the free safety blitzing

Pre snap, looks the same as above but the free safety creeps up and blitzes.

The free safety attacks the inside half of the h back while the LB is scraping outside to play the qb or rb if it's spilled to him.

The blitzing free safety makes a great play. But, the LB is scraping outside to play the spill, zone read on the perimeter. 

Cover 3

In the last example, they play cover 3. Again, it all looks the same presnap, which is integral to the success of the defense.

3 weak-

 presnap-safety could be coming, playing quarters or 3 weak. They disguise well as usual. 

On the snap the SS drops to the middle of the field. 

They are in 3 weak. 

The curl defenders carry 2 vertically as what they do in their match concepts.

As you can see above through the analysis , Wyoming does a tremendous job  showing the same pre snap look often and creating a tough presnap process for qb's. 

These are just a few of the schemes that really make their defense successful. I hope you enjoyed my coverage of the aggressive, well coached Wyoming defense. 

12 and 13 Personnel In The Air Raid Offense - Part I Formations And The Quick Passing Game - Coach Dale Carlson

There are many variations of the Air Raid Offense being run today at all levels of football. The Air Raid is not just about a play or a series of plays. Yes there are certain plays identified with the Air Raid such as Mesh and Y-Cross. The Air Raid developed by Hal Mumme is an overall approach to offensive football covering personnel, practice procedures, and game planning.

I was coordinating the run-and-shoot offense as the Head Coach at Lakeland College in the late 1980's when our team faced Iowa Wesleyan in Hal Mumme's first year as Head Coach. Over the years and by visiting with Coach Mumme I fully embraced the Air Raid offense when I started the program at Ohio Dominican University. We had some very talented TE's that we used in the Air Raid.

In Part I - I will discuss the formations used and the Quick Passing Game. Part II will cover Dropback and Play-Action. Part III will cover Run Game, Goal Line, and 13 Personnel.

From our base personnel group of 11 personnel we employed the TE is various positions within the formation. Those are show below. 2x2, 3x1, and 20 with the TE in the backfield.

We can also flex the TE putting stress on the defense. Instead of an attached 11 personnel group we have moved to 10 personnel without substituting a WR.

Next step is to add multiple TE's. We have done this in the following manner.

Using some of the formations above we ran the basic Air Raid Quick Game. These included Stick, Stick-Switch, Hitch, Y-Corner, Friday, and Outlaw.

From 3x1 we run the basic Stick Concept. #1 - Vertical #2 - Shoot #3 - Stick. QB peaks the Vertical and reads the Nickel for the Shoot to Stick.

When teams try to cheat the backside FS towards #3 strong with Nickel now aligned outside #2 we run Stick-Switch. #2 and #3 "switch" routes. The Nickel has to take the TE (#3) on the shoot opening up #2 on the Stick. The Mike has a long way to run to cover #2 on the Stick.

Hitch is run from a 2X2 formation. We call the concept either to the right or to the left. On Hitch Right #1 - Hitch #2 - Slot Fade. Backside both #1 and #2 will run routes based on the QB. #1 runs a Slant. Once #1 makes his break on the slant if the QB's eyes are not to him #1 will convert to the Sluggo route. #2 works 4 yards OTB and settles in the open zone. If #2 is collisioned or its man cover he will work back outside. QB can choose to go frontside to the Hitch combination or backside pre-snap. QB's read frontside is C for the Hitch-Slot Fade to backside #2 OTB.

Y-Corner is the next concept we teach in the Quick Game. From 3x1- #1 - Slow Slant (let the corner route clear. Settle in the opening vs. zone - run and climb vs. man) #2 - Shoot #3-Corner (8 yds - aiming at the front pylon outside the 20 yd line & the back pylon inside the 20 yd line). QB will read flat defender for the Slow-Slant to the Shoot. Corner comes into play vs Cover 2 or in the Red Zone. From 2x2 - #1 - Slow Slant #2 - Corner  #3 (RB) - Shoot.

Friday is the next concept installed. #1 - Fade #2 - Speed Out. QB reads the C for Fade to the Out then backside #2 OTB. As with the Hitch the QB can choose to backside pre-snap.

The last Quick Pass Concept is Outlaw. Coach Mumme added this concept when I coached with him in 2021 with The Spring League Champions The Lineman.  #1 - Speed Out #2 - Stick. This is run from a 2x2 alignment. Like this anytime the C is bailing. QB reads Flat Defender for #1 - Out #2 - Stick to backside #3 - OTB. QB can presnap backside.

These Quick Game passing concepts are the basics of the Air Raid Quick Game. They can be run from multiple formations. These are the ways I've incorporated Multiple TE's into these concepts.

In Part II I will discuss the Air Raid Dropback and Play-Action concepts using Multiple TE's.

Feel free to email me at dalercarlson1@gmail.com with questions or for information regarding the Air Raid.

Utah defense Morgan Scalley Bear Front pressures and coverages

 ***Note*** I am now on substack, please join today with the following link and save 25%

www.coachkoufootball.substack.com/14day

 Hope coaches understand the hours that go in to the site!

Very affordable as it comes to less than $3 a month for some great content! 

Bear Front Pressures and Coverages 

Front

The Bear front is played with 2 3i a nose guard and 2 5i's. When teams get a tight end, you will often see  the dt to that side shift to a 4i. Some teams like it from a defensive perspective playing it that way. Some teams will move with it like the diagram below. All in all, it is a good scheme and ties in nicely to a 4-2-5 as you can play it without subbing and walking a will linebacker down(#22) and kicking the d line the other way. In the exampe below it is to the right. 

Bear is an excellent run defense, especially against teams that run some gap schemes because you can cover the guards and cause some issues in the run game. 

You also have to decide how you want to play your nose guard.

You have several options:

1. Do you play him to the side away from the back.

2. Do you have him play half man behind(offside A gap away from flow)

3. Do you have him play front side A gap and let the lb play offside A

4. Do you allow him to play 2 gap with the LB just playing off him.

5. Do you have him play the tight end (run strength A gap)

You can also sub the front like below and bring an extra d lineman in if you don't like playing your will on the line of scrimmage. Take a safety out and bring a d lineman in. I've done both. 

Coverages

Zone concepts 

Cover 2  

Below is an example of how you can play cover 2 with the de playing as the hook player in bear.

You can play the coverage by dropping your will , who is on the los and your DE to the hook,You can send the mike. This is just one option. You can also rush the end and drop the mike into the hook and send a 4 man pressure that way as well. 

You can see the defensive end playing the middle hook and walling #3

video  

Bear Cover 3 

Fire Zone pressures

Bear Strike Cover 3 , They send the sam to the field in the bear look and drop the olb to the boundary. They play cover 3 and slant the whole defensive front. 

Odd Pressure vs BYU

Similar concept 3 under 3 deep with a defensive lineman playing the hook. They will often have the de drop to the hook as opposed to the flat like several 3 under 3 deep teams when they blitz off the edge.

Another pressure from the bear front. They bring the cb to the bottom of the screen and the mike to the boundary vs the closed set. They get a 2x1 on the tackle as the tackle blocks the LB. In the rpo game that leaves the cb unblocked, qb does a nice job getting the throw off. 

You can  see here as the guard takes the blitzing inside linebacker the cb has a nice free run at the qb. Qb does a great job reading it and is well. coached to get the ball out. The safety does a nice job tackling the wr at 5 yards. 

Clip with it.

Man concepts cover 0 and cover 1

Below is an example of their alignment in bear cover 1. Cover 1 is man free

Here's how it looks vs man as they align the mike directly over the rb. You can also see the safety, play 
right over the man he is covering so you can see them in man pre snap.

 The Safety comes down to play the h back with the Mike Lb responsible for the RB. Easy for him as he goes where the rb goes. They play press to the single side and on the #2 wr to the passing strength.

Short yardage defense 

3rd and 1

Bear O

You will also see it in short yardage situations. Below is a diagram where they go bear cover 0 and bring the FS down as a run support defender. They play the Mike #30 to the A gap away from the rb and the safety comes down to play run

Arizona runs zone read and the defense plays it hard with the olb on dive, forces the pull read and the safety is coming down in cover 0 and plays the rb. Nice design by scalley as they get off  the field.  They get the first down but the scheme is great. 

Video of the bear cover 0

Another example of bear cover 0 vs unbalanced to the boundary.

You can see the safety make a great play on it as he's unblocked and comes down hard to make the play on the screen. #15 is on the h back and #13 is free. #30 is the offside A gap with #41 the nose guard playing half man behind. #92 is in a 4i to the tight end side. 

The safety makes a great play on it.

 

A few more cover 1 coverage clips

Vs USC in the Pac 12 championship game they ran a few bear pressures.

 Bear Pressures: 

Bear below is a nice pressure with the sam off the edge and the olb to the boundary dropping. It looks like quarter , quarter, half. 

USC 4 man slides and the pressure gets home as the guard is conflicted and no one takes the Nose. Nice design by Scalley. 

Another example, is going bear with a cover 3 fire zone. A nice 4 man pressure that forces the ball out quick. Nice job of disguise as they go cover 3 from it. Not sure if the DT is going the wrong way on this because they leave the #2 wr uncovered.

This is the 2nd article on Coach Scalley. He is an innovator who does a great job as a coordinator and one of the reasons they are going to the Rose Bowl!