The Beavers’ Attacking
Defense
F irst let me say on behalf of the Oregon
State University, Head Coach Dennis
Erickson, our defensive staff and our play-
ers, it is a great honor to be asked by the
American Football Coaches Association to
contribute to the AFCA Summer Manual.
Hopefully, after I share with you some of our
thoughts and philosophy about defensive
football, you will be able to take something
from this article to add to your program.
Philosophy
At Oregon State University there’s a
team philosophy that the entire staff
believes in when teaching our players. As
a staff, we constantly talk to our players
about striving to be the best team offen-
sively and defensively in the country. After
finishing 7-5 in 1999 and 11-1 in 2000 it is
a goal that we believe is achievable and
our players have bought into being the
best. As a team our offensive staff and
defensive staff do have the same philoso-
phy and that is to take an aggressive atti-
tude and attack the opponent. The trade-
mark of Oregon State University defense
is an attacking swarming defense that
gang tackles and makes big plays. A large
Michael Gray part of our recent success on defense has
come from creating a relentless defense
Defensive Line Coach built around team speed strength and not
sizes. Our defensive principles work
Oregon State University together with our team speed philosophy
and evaluation of future players. Within our
Corvallis, Ore. philosophy I will cover some important fun-
damentals of defensive line technique that
are assets to our attacking aggressive
style up front.
Principles for Defensive Linemen
The first principle of our defensive line is
the get-off on the ball and swarm as a unit.
The line charge or get-off is a drill you work
on every day all day. You have to focus on
explosive charge in all defensive drills you
do each day. A great get-off and a swarm-
ing unit prevents scores. In the final analy-
sis, the effectiveness of a defensive line is
measured by who can attack blocks and
control the line of scrimmage.
Stance and Rush
When teaching a get-off or rush by your
linemen start with the base of the stance. A
stance that a player is relaxed in but also
able to attack the line of scrimmage As you
already know most of your players are right-
handed so they’ve been in the right hand
stance their entire life. Here at OSU, I teach
• AFCA Summer Manual — 2001 •
players to play with their right hand or left
hand down all the time. This will help you in
overall planning of line stunts and charges.
One piece of equipment I incorporate in our
daily routine is a chute used by offensive line
coaches. The chute is vital in the develop-
ment of pad level and great charge and
explosion with a flat back. Once I evaluate a
player’s ability, I try to put them on a side
where they will have the best success in the
system. Once the lineman has a great
charge, or get-off, We work on the hands.
Hands Shiver
Defensive linemen’s hands are crucial in
defeating run and pass blocks. Hand speed
can be developed through many drills. A
good drill to try is done with both knees on
the ground one yard in front of a sled with
the fingertips on the ground. The coach
stands in the middle with a football and on
the snap of the ball, the player strikes the
sled with both hands with thumbs together.
The focus in the drill is on the hand place-
ment with quickness.
The coach should make hard counts
and a fast tempo with the number of snaps.
This is just one of many drills I use to
increase hand speed. Another drill would
be our speed bag competition. The devel-
opment of using your hands as a defensive
player is part of becoming good a lineman.
Whatever rush technique the defender
decides to use in combating the blocker, it
must be done with maximum speed and
smoothness, always using the hands.
Eyes & Feet
Where are your eyes looking once you
put your hand down? This is a question
asked each defender on every snap of the
football. In our attacking style defense each
player must know what he looks at and
who is going to try to block him. In our
scheme we ask our defensive linemen to
see one thing on the snap and still play with
an aggressive attack attitude. Vision is the
toughest skill to develop because most
players will slow their rush down to see.
Your linemen can still see the football snap
with their peripheral vision. In the teaching
of the defensive ends, I try to give visual
point of focus. An example would be the hip
of the offensive tackle. Giving your player
one visual point to attack increases the
chance of success in gap control defense.
Understand this in coaching your player’s
eyes: One visual point to see attack the
blocker and key the football. Get vertical, a
term used repeatedly in our communication
with defensive linemen, suggests a line or
direction rising straight up the field to a
point. Remember, tighten your stance more
with forward body lean. This is an up field
line charge. A lineman’s steps change in
the vertical mode with a much bigger first
step to gain as much ground as possible.
We incorporate many line stunts slant and
move with our front so a player steps and
footwork is key in the stunt success.
There is a time where a two-step, power
step is needed instead of a vertical step.
For us that is on first down or in any run sit-
uation. Every player loves to get the verti-
cal signal call because we can attack with
a passion and an understanding where to
go and how to get there fast.
Beavers’ Run Defense
The Beavers’base defensive alignment is
a 4-3 strong front set to an opponent’s run
strength. We base this on many keys, which
could be tight end, the field or backfield
strength. We do attack the opposition’s run
game with line stunts and shifting but we’re
always aggressive with some type of move-
ment. The major reason for us to move and
attack is the lack of size but really our
strength as a defense is team speed. You
can neturalize a blocker’s size and strength
by striking with movement and leverage,
which creates power. We enjoy the confusion
created with one-man, two-man or three-
man types of line movement (Diagram 1).
Always use the KISS rule of thumb when
inserting your run stunts with linemen and
linebackers. When the linemen cancel a gap
inside feet, hands and shoulder pad reduc-
tion is crucial for the best attitude when
attacking the gap and offensive linemen. The
linebackers and linemen work together on all
line stunts run or pass. Coordination of the
defensive line and linebackers is crucial in
your development of line stunts and games
because of our gap cancellation system. The
defensive linemen at OSU all play their run
technique on first down, which is to attack,
flesh and restrict the gap. This attitude is not
vertical. You are to attack the linemen, trying
to get to heel depth then find the ball. A few
keys in good run defense for your linemen
teach the two steps punches with both hands
attacking flesh. When your linemen develop
a good two steps and punch first then you
can teach line movement. I do believe after
years of teaching these techniques to my
linemen you can attack any blocking scheme
with speed and pad level and win.
Diagram 1: Strong Slant/Pirate
Beavers’ Pass Defense
The first line of pass defense is rush-
ing the passer. A good pass rush has
several objectives; the most obvious of
which is to pressure the quarterback or
tackle him. To pressure the quarterback
into an errant throw is just as good as a
sack. Sacking the quarterback must actu-
ally be considered a bonus against a
good passing team because it is a diffi-
cult thing to do. The 4-3 scheme that we
incorporate at OSU has been our most
effective way to attack the passer. There
are two significant approaches to the
development of an effective four-man
rush. The No. 1 approach is the overload
principle. The No. 2 approach is the indi-
vidual technique.
Most teams like OSU probably rely on
the overload principle since it is the sim-
plest means of effecting an adequate rush
and requires the least amount of coach-
ing. The understanding of pass protection
is crucial when designing your line stunts
and games up front. Most pass protection
systems are designed to provide three
blocks on each side of the center. OSU
incorporates this overload attack with
three linemen and one linebacker on one
side. The success of this approach rests
on out-numbering, overpowering and
attacking while surprising the blockers.
Just as we will bring four players to one
side, we just rush two linemen with a stunt
giving the illusion more are rushing the
passer. This is where we had success last
season with our line games, attacking the
offensive line with just a four-man rush but
utilizing our team speed. Yes, we just rush
four players most of the time with the
understanding of the quarterback’s set-up
point, the great get-off and how to attack
the blocker.
The second approach, emphasizing indi-
vidual technique, is one of the most neglect-
ed phases of defensive line play. It all
begins with the get-off, a vertical attitude in
all of our stunts and games gaining ground
on the quarterback. Give your line a focus
• AFCA Summer Manual — 2001 •
point. Examples: Seven yards up the field
for defensive ends, the right armpit of the
guard or the shoulder of the center. You
must keep it simple so the players can
maintain their edge of attack with speed. Its
basis is to develop each defensive line-
man’s skill in combating the pass protection
blocker to the point where, working as a
unit, four or five players can effectively rush
the passer without an overload, leaving
additional personnel available for coverage.
The use of your defensive lineman’s hands
are crucial when attacking an offensive line-
man in pass blocking. You must destroy his
balance. Defensive tackles in our scheme
work their rush move off of a power attitude,
making it a physical rush trying to get verti-
cal and gain ground on the quarterback.
Our design of line stunts is the same as
most defensive fronts in the country with the
ends and tackles exchanging rush lanes.
The difference comes in the teaching of the
attack points. The attack point can be the
hip or shoulder of the guard or arms of the
offensive tackle. This gives your player
something to focus on during the attack of
the blocker. One of my strongest beliefs is
80 percent of pass rushing is the player’s
get-off and effort. The other 20 percent is
the player’s ability to use his technique and
hands when attacking the blocker. Afew of
the individual pass rushing techniques I
teach are the butt, shiver, club rip, judo
chop,stiff arm, the slip move and the fake
and roll-out. You may find time to work on
individual techniques before practice, dur-
ing special teams or post practice but you
must find the time to be good at any of the
techniques.
There are many factors involved in creat-
ing a successful defensive line. I feel that the
one thing I try do as a coach is teach them
how to play fast and make the play right as
much as possible. Confidence when we step
on the field is important. We will out-physical
the opponent ane execute assignments with
an attack mode on ever play.
Again, on behalf of the Oregon State
University players and coaching staf f ,
we would like to thank the A F C A for the
opportunity to contribute to this year’s
Summer Manual. I would like to thank all
the coaches who, through the years,
that have influenced and help develop
my growth as a player and as a coach in
this great profession. I hope this article
can be some benefit to you and help you
in the development of your defensive
linemen.