X's and O's Guidry's Multiple Defense: Marrying Front to Coverage

[LuCane]

You'd be doing Bain's pass rushing ability a disservice by placing him in a 4i.
Lack of pass rush is the biggest downfall to the Tite Front.
I'm not sure Bain is even big enough for the 4i.
Usually teams utilize 3 bigger bodies to play Tite Front. The 4i's are generally closer to DT's than they are DE's.

Some have talked about him at the 3 (eventually), and I know that's functionally different than the 4i, but you think 280 (possibly more?) may not be big enough for a college TITE front? Genuine question. Venables has previously [successfully] pushed out the TITE front with guys the same size or slightly smaller than Bain.

**Edit: And, yes, obviously the TITE front limits Bain's edge rush. I'm not advocating for it as our base. I'm wondering how many snaps we can get Mesidor and Bain on the field together in that front.

 

[Brains]

Quite good.

 

[WestEndZone]

First of all, I'm biased because this is the part of following football I enjoy most, but I appreciate this. I love the nuance you addressed. It's almost always lost on the boards and through text. So, thank you.

View attachment 285831

This is the biggest question for at least the first 6 games. Is that $ gonna be Powell or can we find someone who can play Man coverage there so Powell maybe can Boundary? The Free might be Jaden Harris, who has the speed to cover ground, but not sure about his reaction time and anticipation. Improved focus and technique from our new DB coach may help some, but...

- Can we trust some combination of Porter/Brown/Richard? Would Porter slide inside against certain teams and in certain subpackages?
- Will we somehow land a quick/fast/sticky guy in the Portal who can serve the role?
- The Safety position still scares me to death. While I look forward to watching Zaquan, I'm not sure I want him matching up as a Boundary Safety with a quick slot... just yet. Who knows. We'll see.


View attachment 285832

- I understand your reference re: the Louisville game and our issues with the 3-3-5. However, we also had our Nose consistently get washed in that game. But, yes, they also picked on us horizontally (passing).
- I've not really seen enough of the Marshall transfer to say how versatile of a Jack he can be. I don't see him in a 3-3 stack, though. Who knows.
- You mentioned a Jack who, perhaps in a 3-3 Stack, might know enough LB coverages. Malik Bryant? Booker Pickett looks like a potential future option there, but not as a 205 pound TF, I presume. Even if he is healthy this season, I don't believe NKelly is this role. Wesley might be in that role again.
- You identified my key issue: perhaps 2 of our best 3 defenders play the same position. Bain and Mesidor should be on the field together as much as they can. If Bain can slide inside some, that solves some of it. I don't know if he's ready for that, so more questions we'll need to examine in Fall.

I think Guidry wants the $ to be a corner type. A sawed off twitchy and rocked up corner with great instincts. I’ve given up on the idea of a hybrid Safety type at $ because we just bring in a Sam for heavier personnel. Do we have that type on the roster? I don’t know. I wish I could watch practice.

Zaquan was born for the boundary, but we gotta be patient there. I’ve been hearing Powell might end up there with his experience at many roles. You’re probably right about Jaden Harris. I just hope his IQ and mental toughness is there. He has great range. I really want to watch practice.

Regarding the Jack, I think those should be DE’s that get a little extra coaching in coverage. Bryant and Pickett are candidates, but they need development. They should learn a few coverage techniques and that’s it. The rest should be working on their DE craft, especially pass rushing. In stack looks, they’ll be the plug guy or dropping in a drop 8 situation. Their job in 50 and bear fronts is easy. It is no different than in the even stuff.

I just want to have the whole playbook in hand with the same personnel. A guy like Kelly can learn all the J roles, but maybe the play calling is a little different when he’s in there since he’s closer to a traditional DE. If Pickett is in there, he can play on the edge or stacked as a plugger. The point is you develop a position group that gives you options.

I like the idea of Bain and Mesidor spelling each other on regular downs and playing together on pass rush downs. I’ll be shocked to see them playing together in a tite front unless Bain moves inside. Let’s see how they sort it out.

 

[WestEndZone]

Guidry is a heavy Quarters guy. He'll roll into some Cover-3 looks when he's bringing pressure but his main base is Cover-4.

And the Corners are in a "MOD" technique, which basically means they're in 'man' unless the outside WR releases underneath immediately. (then they zone off) So we're basically always in 'man' coverage at Corner, whether you see them playing off or press.

In his words, he doesn't like "Fire Zone" pressures (like Manny loved) because they leave too many vacancies. He'd rather just play Man if he's gonna bring heavy pressure.

The CB's play a "scootch" technique, they do not back pedal. This makes it a lot easier for our CB's to jump hitches and other "quick game" (3-step drop) concepts.

He definitely was running more quarters earlier in the year until the Clemson game. Then he went crazy with the bear fronts coupled with man-free or 1 pressure. He found something we were good at.

I was impressed with Chevis Jackson at the coaches clinic. You can see him and Guidry are on the same page with their techniques and training philosophy. I liked some of the practice firm we saw showing their man technique

They also had some interesting ways of playing RPO out of quarters (which seemed confidential and I won’t share) and a few other ways of playing it generally. But yeah to your point, seems like he’s well invested into quarters and has some nice build in tweaks and adjustments where necessary.

 

[WestEndZone]

Would love to see Robbie Washington at Nickel @LuCane

 

[Coach Macho]

Some have talked about him at the 3 (eventually), and I know that's functionally different than the 4i, but you think 280 (possibly more?) may not be big enough for a college TITE front? Genuine question. Venables has previously [successfully] pushed out the TITE front with guys the same size or slightly smaller than Bain.

**Edit: And, yes, obviously the TITE front limits Bain's edge rush. I'm not advocating for it as our base. I'm wondering how many snaps we can get Mesidor and Bain on the field together in that front.

I didn't realize he was up to 280.
I'm sure they could get it done. I don't think anybody wants it as a base, mainly because of it's pass rush limitations. But I'm sure those two guys could be a nightmare working through OT's inside shoulders.