The strong-side linebacker position has been the source of endless debate on the CanesInSight forums. “Why is Zach McCloud lined up over a WR?” “What's a striker?” Coach Mike Zuckerman, a 10-year coaching vet who was at Miami when they began employing the “striker,” takes us to Football School to explain what these terms really mean.

On the strong side vs. the weak side: “There's either a tight end strength or a passing strength. When coaches talk about a ‘tight end strength,’ that means whatever side the tight end is on. If you’re setting the Sam (strong-side) linebacker to the tight end strength, the Sam is going wherever the tight end is going.”

“In today's world, 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) is the number one personnel grouping you see in college football. So many defenses will set the Sam to the the passing strength, which means the side that has the most receivers. If there's two receivers to the field, that is the strength and that is where the Sam will go. It’s really just how the defense wants to define it.

"Sometimes you have certain calls that use different strengths. You could have a call that's based on tight end strength. You could have a call that's based on passing strength. You could have a call that's strictly based on field and boundary, and none of the offense matters. All that is just declaring what you are considering the strength for that specific offensive formation. The strong side historically has told the Sam where to go. Weak side obviously would just be the opposite, the side opposite the tight end or where there are less wide receivers."

"If there’s two tight ends, the default often makes the field the strength and the boundary the weakness. If people have a tendency where one tight end is the run tight end and the other is always away from the point of attack, you can use a specific tight end as the strength and set him."

On the traditional strongside linebacker: “Back in the day, everything was I-backs (halfback lined up behind a fullback). You had I-backs, and everyone was just in a phone booth playing football, and you had your three linebackers in the box to stop the run. Initially, a lot of that strength was based on tight end strength. With the tight end strength, you want your Sam linebacker to be at the point of attack for runs. As a result, this was originally your biggest, strongest linebacker. This guy needed to be able to jack that fullback up.”

“Sometimes you're putting him on the edge outside of the tight end and he needs to be able to set an edge on the entire defense, with his hands or with his shoulders or however you're coaching it. That guy needs to be strong enough to hold point and play almost like a nine-technique defensive end, meaning a guy on the line of scrimmage outside. Then he also probably needed to be able to play man coverage on the tight end. So your biggest, strongest linebacker with some ability to run was your Sam linebacker, and that guy was strictly going to set. You Will linebacker was a guy who could avoid blocks and run over the top and be fast.”

On the evolution of offenses: “Zach McLoud is your prototypical Sam. Long, probably 6’3, 230 pounds, can run, can cover a tight end, and wants to hit everything that moves. He’s exactly what you're thinking about. Coach Richt’s first spring, there were a lot of I-backs and just old school football. The first day they installed your traditional power play. The fullback kicks out the Sam. So that dude needs to be able to win that one-on-one battle. Zach McLoud was so good at that.”

“Well, what changed in offensive football is that the extra guy just moved out to the slot. And the tight end, in a lot of cases, has moved off the ball to become a fullback. You'll see the tight end way off the ball insert into the line or slice back across the line, or just cut off on the backside, and all those plays are really still true two-back run plays. They've just removed one guy from the box and split him out as a slot receiver. It's not like the run game has changed. What’s changed is that now you have that slot out there.”

On why you saw Zach McCloud lined up wide over WRs: “I study the [heck] out of triple option. I just love it. If I was to restart my coaching career, I'd be a triple option offensive coach. It used to be the triple option was (1) dive; (2) quarterback; (3) pitch. Then people started running the zone read. What people realized is you could take that slot receiver and 'bubble' him. A bubble is a backpedaling route, which creates a half circle behind the line of scrimmage. That is your pitch phase. So it's core is the same as the triple option: it's dive, quarterback, throw the pitch.”

“What happened is if you were in an 11 personnel formation (three WR, 1 RB, 1 TE), people were still stacking the box. You had your three linebackers in there. That means if you have three linebackers out there, you only have two DBs over two wide receivers. If you say my two are better than your two, I'm going to throw the ball to that slot receiver. We're going to block one and we're going to make the other miss and get a lot of yards. Because that was happening, defenses didn’t want to play two over two. Even if the Sam’s responsibilities are inside, you need some presence out there over number two (the second WR counting outside in).”

“So you say, ‘Why is the Sam linebacker all the way out there?’ Well, the Sam linebacker is out there so that he can do two jobs. He provides presence for that bubble, RPO-type game. And if they run the ball that way he can fly in and make a play. You need that presence out there (1) so the offense doesn't know what coverage you're in; and (2) if they do throw something, you've got three defenders to defend two."

On how the Sam evolved into a “Striker” at Miami: "In 2016, we had three true freshman linebackers starting. We needed to keep it simple. We played with those three because that was our best grouping and offenses hadn't truly jumped to all the different RPOs you see nowadays.”

“In 2017, you started to see a little bit more [from offenses] and you started to see more of our evolution because we played more true nickel with Trajan Bandy.”

“Eventually, we asked ourselves, ‘how can we create a hybrid Sam?’ A guy who can play the pass and play the run, be big and strong and can run and do multiple things, which allows us to be multiple in coverage. A hybrid can do all that Sam linebacker stuff, but now we can put him in coverage and do some different things. We can put him on number two (WR). We can buzz him out to the flat. Some teams can run that guy deep and use him as the sky. Your hybrid Sam allows you to be more multiple out of a 4-3 structure. I think that's necessary with offenses having so many tools nowadays and so many different ways to attack you with RPOs. The more you can do coverage wise and disguise with that guy over the slot wide receiver, the more you can present problems for the offense.”

Recruiting a hybrid Sam: “When I think of the prototype hybrid Sam, it’s Isaiah Simmons from Clemson. He’s 6'4", 6'5", 220, can run, can play man-to-man, can rush the passer. You want a guy who is long and can run and maybe not the fastest, but his length is going to make up for that speed on the slot guy. He’s going to continue to grow into that spot so he can be sturdy in the run game, but still can move well enough. A lot of times you're recruiting a safety to become that hybrid nickel.”

On the true nickel: “When you have a true nickel, a lot of times that guy's either another corner or just a better athlete. And he's probably smaller, so you don't want him going in there and having to play the run. When I think of true nickel, the majority of the time you're taking him out of the run fit. One positive of true nickel is that it really takes away any RPO threat. If (WR) #2 runs the bubble, you have a guy outside. If he wants to run what I call a “glance” (a five-step slant by the slot receiver), you have a guy at depth who's in that window so it's not a free look for the quarterback.”

“The weakness is when people see you're going to put that nickel outside of (WR) #2, they know you're using a safety in the run fit. So they are going to do everything they can to attack that safety and try to put him in conflict. This could be deep play action or pulling guys to get big people on your safety and attack him in the run game. So when you're playing with a true nickel, you have to be able to introduce him enough to where they can't say every time that he's out of the run fit and he's not involved in the run game.”

The 4-2-5 versus the 4-3 nickel: “In a 4-3 nickel. that nickel is over [WR] #2 and he has Sam-linebacker type responsibilities. If they put the formation into the boundary, meaning that there are two wide receivers to the boundary side, The nickel is either going to travel, meaning he runs over to the other side of the formation, or he's going to bump into the box and the will linebacker will walk out. But the structure of the defense, the nickel/Sam, Mike and Will are always going to do the same jobs in a true in a 4-3. When I think of 4-2-5, that nickel is also going to play like a safety. So if those receivers go into the boundary in a true 4-2-5, Gary Patterson-type of defense, the boundary safety is now going to roll down. The field safety is going to bump over and play boundary safety, and the nickel is going to go back and play safety to the field. So in a true 4-2-5, that nickel has to know a lot, because he's not only going to be doing his nickel responsibilities, but he's going to have to know the job of field safety as well. That is the major difference.”

“Why don't people do a little bit of triple option? You can't do a little bit of triple option. You have to live in that world. Same thing with the 4-2-5.”

Coach Zuck joins the CanesInSight Podcast for “Football School” every week.

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