Four Day Install Plan

Let's make a plan, and execute!

With Spring Football starting in my state of Texas, I wanted to address the installation plan for a 4-2-5. Most coaches have a three-day non-contact period and want to get as much teaching done as possible within those days. This makes sense because the players are limited in contact.

Below, I have attached a four-day plan that allows a defense to install its base fronts, pressures, and coverages within the normal three-day period. I like the extra day because I feel it is important to have something to teach on that first day of pads. In the case of the install below, the fourth day rehashes base fronts and inputs drop coverages (where a defensive lineman is dropping, also known as “Drop Eight”) and three-down line movements. 

Every four-down front should have a three-down complement. It allows for an easy transition to Nickel or Dime packages. If structured right, the three-down movements and pressures should mesh with base calls (which is why I like Okie as a compliment). With more teams running the spread, it is important to be multiple yet simple.

As long as calls are built to adjust to formations a defense can limit the verbiage and the players can have the freedom to play fast. A defense’s call sheet should not look like the menu at Cheesecake Factory. It should be simple and designed to adjust to formations.

I get asked all the time what a 4-3-5 call sheet looks like (especially when designed formationally). It has no more than ten calls:

1. Base Adjustment

2. Single Dogs

3. Line Movements

4. Run Stop Blitz/Fire Zones (“America”/Plug/Cross-Dog/Gameplan Blitz)

5. 6-man Pressure

The other five calls are the mirror calls for the three-down package. If a defense is designed to adjust to formations, it can eliminate many of the calls it uses. Anything special to that particular game plan can be called regularly without looking at a call sheet.

Coaches have a tendency to stare at a large call sheet if it is in front of them. As more teams go to tempo, a DC can’t sit and pick from a menu of plays. Much like offenses are designing an offense around concepts so they can go faster, defenses can do the same by developing call sheets that are conceptually designed. The old-school “Menu” call sheet can make play calling cumbersome.

» Four Day Install Plan:

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» For a more comprehensive break of how to design, structure, and implement a 4-2-5, check out MatchQuarters’ full-length book on the subject (click the picture):

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