Utilizing a HEAVY technique in the run game

Montana State illustrates the benefit of playing with a "heavy" five technique.

Ten years ago, the 4-2-5 was all the rage. It provided defenses a way to keep their anchor points intact upfront while placing a hybrid DB as the OLB to the passing strength or field. However, at the turn of the previous decade, offenses were moving forward with the hurry-up-no-huddle (HUNH) approach, and defenses needed a way to counter the attack. I saw the change live as a graduate assistant at Baylor under Art Briles, the architect of one of the most prolific offenses ever at the college level.

Offenses moved away from a gap-centric approach that required men near the box and began to spread defenses out wide (“The Spread”). Briles took the Air Raid system developed by Leach and made it vertical, faster, and gave it an actual run game (though most think it was all about the deep shot series). Zone was the featured run game with all its variations. If teams crept towards the box to clog the run, the QB flicked the ball out to uncovered WRs. If the defense covered down and kept the box light, the offense used its numbers advantage to run the ball.

The Spread’s philosophy is built on the open B-gap within the four-down structure. Someone had to cover that space in the box, and it was often a folding overhang. Thus, the RPO was born, and “option” football returned. The constant vertical and horizontal pull on the defense stressed it to the max. Something had to give, and the rise of the Tite Front was ushered in by the Dave Aranda tree and Nick Saban with his Mint package. At the turn of this decade, the Tite front and the 3-High safety system have become the answer for many defenses across the country.