Cityboy4life82
Thunderdome
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2011
- Messages
- 762
I am posting some football talk in order to help past the time during the slow off season. In this segment I wanted to give a brief summary of why the play of the defensive line is so critical to the success of a LB.
Curtis Porter will be highlighted in this segment because he does a great job of disrupting the line of scrimmage. While Marcus Forston was more highly touted coming out of Highschool he was never able to control the line of scrimmage with power or speed.
We have been very critical of our LB play over the last few seasons and while some of those complaints were legitimate, it was not completely the fault of UM’s Line backing core.
In both the 4-3 and hybrid, LB’s are not the large 260lb backers you typically see in a 3-4 and are generally undersized. Taking on huge offensive tackles and guards can become a problem without the help of the defensive front four.
UM runs a 4-3 hybrid and this is the typical alignment and gap assignment of a 4-3 and hybrid defense.
This diagram shows the typical gap assignment of a 4-3 alignment. A key to making this defense work is having defensive linemen who can prevent either the guards or tackles from reaching the second level. Offensive linemen want to generate push while scraping off the defensive tackle in route to the undersized Linebackers. This creates running lanes for running backs.
What the Line up looks like when we are in a 4-3 hybrid formation.
Examples of plays where the offensive linemen were able to reach the second level. The LB’s did not have chance on this play. Look how big the running lanes are. The offensive linemen were allowed to run free with very little opposition.
Pre Snap.
Look at how poorly we controlled the line of scrimmage. Our defensive linemen gave the offensive linemen little resistance in reaching the second level. Our LB’s were crushed by 320lb linemen. Spence at the bottom of the screen was eventually met by the guard that was running free who was leading the running back
Pre Snap
Look at how far the defensive linemen were driven off the ball. Notice the offensive linemen have reached the second level and have their hands on a UM LB
When a team has a defensive tackle that can anchor the front four like Porter, it makes the job of the linebackers that much easier.
Pre Snap
Look how Porters destroys the line of scrimmage at the point of attack and prevents the offensive linemen from reaching the second level, leaving a LB untouched and free to fill the lanes. Porter creates a new line of scrimmage.
The offensive line never got to the second level and the Linebackers were able to fill the lanes and make the tackle for a loss.
Pre Snap
Again Porter creates a new line of scrimmage and dominates at the point of attack. This occupies the offensive linemen and prevents them from scraping. They are not able to reach the second level. The Linebackers are left untouched and are able to fill the lanes that are left open
Curtis Porter will be highlighted in this segment because he does a great job of disrupting the line of scrimmage. While Marcus Forston was more highly touted coming out of Highschool he was never able to control the line of scrimmage with power or speed.
We have been very critical of our LB play over the last few seasons and while some of those complaints were legitimate, it was not completely the fault of UM’s Line backing core.
In both the 4-3 and hybrid, LB’s are not the large 260lb backers you typically see in a 3-4 and are generally undersized. Taking on huge offensive tackles and guards can become a problem without the help of the defensive front four.
UM runs a 4-3 hybrid and this is the typical alignment and gap assignment of a 4-3 and hybrid defense.
This diagram shows the typical gap assignment of a 4-3 alignment. A key to making this defense work is having defensive linemen who can prevent either the guards or tackles from reaching the second level. Offensive linemen want to generate push while scraping off the defensive tackle in route to the undersized Linebackers. This creates running lanes for running backs.
What the Line up looks like when we are in a 4-3 hybrid formation.
Examples of plays where the offensive linemen were able to reach the second level. The LB’s did not have chance on this play. Look how big the running lanes are. The offensive linemen were allowed to run free with very little opposition.
Pre Snap.
Look at how poorly we controlled the line of scrimmage. Our defensive linemen gave the offensive linemen little resistance in reaching the second level. Our LB’s were crushed by 320lb linemen. Spence at the bottom of the screen was eventually met by the guard that was running free who was leading the running back
Pre Snap
Look at how far the defensive linemen were driven off the ball. Notice the offensive linemen have reached the second level and have their hands on a UM LB
When a team has a defensive tackle that can anchor the front four like Porter, it makes the job of the linebackers that much easier.
Pre Snap
Look how Porters destroys the line of scrimmage at the point of attack and prevents the offensive linemen from reaching the second level, leaving a LB untouched and free to fill the lanes. Porter creates a new line of scrimmage.
The offensive line never got to the second level and the Linebackers were able to fill the lanes and make the tackle for a loss.
Pre Snap
Again Porter creates a new line of scrimmage and dominates at the point of attack. This occupies the offensive linemen and prevents them from scraping. They are not able to reach the second level. The Linebackers are left untouched and are able to fill the lanes that are left open
Last edited:
