Inside the SFA Coaches' Minds - Building a Winner by Defensive Position - How are you Building?

[Nittany Boiler]

By Nittany Boiler

 

A new weekly-ish feature to invoke some thoughts, insights and maybe roll some marbles inside the minds of the Sim Football Association coaches. With every act, remark, and success or failure under constant scrutiny from the media and fans, SFA coaches must be either crazy, competitive or both. There should be a general agreement that what is required is the ability to learn and evolve especially in the inaugural season. Who shall emerge as the preeminent minds in SFA?

 

Today's Topic:

Building a Winner by Defensive Position - How are you Building?

Last week Building your Team by Offensive Position was examined and discussed. This week we look at Building your Team by Defensive Position. It is said that Defense wins Championships. Is this still the emphasis, especially in the face of today's high flying offenses? Or has the offense become the priority? Recruiting has begun for Season 2 and the future. One of the many appeals of college football is that coaches build their teams and develop their players in a narrow five year window. Forgetting the relatively new Transfer Portal, there is no Free Agency and most often, no instant replacements for graduating seniors as the physical makeup and skill sets of incoming Freshman need maturing to grow into seasoned veteran starters. Graduating Middle Linebacker? - you better have recruited two seasons ago to replace him! Looking for an instant impact five star Freshman Cornerback? - so is every other coach. Do you have the planning, depth and patience to take a Three Star Freshman with an A+ potential to develop into a solid starter?

 

As much as coaches would like, there are not enough 5 Stars to fill every defensive position. Without planning, there will not be enough experienced, mature players to field a full experienced squad - how do you plan to fill the open spots and shore up the weak areas? The question is: what defensive positions are you prioritizing to build your winning team? What layer of depth of defense are you emphasizing - a strong line to control the Line of Scrimmage? Dangerous flexible Linebackers to wreck havoc all over the field from rushing the quarterback to stopping the run game to making the short passing game non-existent? Or are you looking at lock down Defensive Backs to force teams to be one dimension and patient by eliminating the mid to long passing game? In addition, how do you account for the stud Defensive player that wants to star (and start immediately) at your school?

 

So how will it work inside the minds of the SFA coaches as they recruit the inaugural players for Season 2 and beyond? What defensive positions are you prioritizing to build your team as a strategy for the future?

 

Building Defensive Positions:

 

The Control Level

 

What layer of depth of defense are you emphasizing - a strong line to control the Line of Scrimmage? With either a 3-4 or 4-3 defense, do you plan to stack the Defensive Line with talent to stop the run and/or pressure the QBs? Across the board emphasis as a group strength? DE over DTs to force QB errors and produce turnovers? Or DTs over DEs to control and stop the run game eliminating long drives and ball control offenses?

 

 

The Havoc Level

 

Dangerous, flexible Linebackers to wreck havoc all over the field from rushing the quarterback to stopping the run game to making the short passing game non-existent? Three tough nosed Linebackers covering sideline to sideline in the the 4-3? Or four Linebackers with two stuffing the middle and two hydrids who have the speed to rush and sack the QB and the toughness to fight off blocks to the control the edge in the 3-4?

 

 

The Lockdown Level

 

Or are you looking at lock down Defensive Backs to force teams to be one dimension and patient by eliminating the passing game? Emphasizing CBs to match WR talent? Looking for a Free Range Free Safety to be all over the field? A Strong Safety to match and shutdown the productive TEs? Can a defensive team hope to control a passing offense or only hope to contain it? Can a strong secondary unit force an offense to be one-dimensional and rely on the run or the short passing game looking to force long, sustained mistake free drives ?

 

 

Let's think about it, coaches. Defensive combinations are literally endless as a myriad of traditional football strategies are mixed with the Archetypes of the different player positions.

 

Player Archetypes:

 

Defense

DE: Speed Rusher / Run Stopper / Balanced

DT: Nose Tackle / Pass Rusher / Balanced

OLB: Pass Rush / Coverage / Speed / Run Stopper

ILB: Field General / Coverage / Speed / Run Stopper

CB: Man Coverage / Zone Coverage / Ball Hawk

FS and SS: Man Coverage / Zone Coverage / Ball Hawk / Run Stopper

 

The Archetype Arguments

What is the optimal player archetype at each position? One archetype over another? What are you most seeking?

DE - is the run stopper viable? Is the all around Balanced the key or the specialist Speed Rusher?

DT - is the Pass Rusher viable? Is the all around Balanced the key or the specialist traditional Nose Tackle?

OLB and ILB - So many choices and combinations - how do you form the best unit to impact the game? Run Stopper or Coverage? Specialist Pass Rusher or smart Field General? Or is Speed the answer to all of the above?

CB - Man or Zone? Or the sexy Ball Hawk?

FS and SS - How do you stock the last layer of Defense? Man or Zone? Aggressive Ball Hawk? Or tough Run Stopper daring teams to pass?

 

Where would you dare to start the talented Freshman? How long do you develop D Line players to be mature and strong enough to handle the line play?

 

The Combination Plans

Knowing that not all layers of units can be stacked and developed equally - how do you plan to stock to tradeoff the strengths? Weaker D Line this year, do you cover with Strong LBs or do you consider the secondary as the priority? Weaker secondary? Perhaps a D Line creating confusion takes some pressure off? Or are you looking at a specialized OLB pass rush or a shutdown LB coverage unit to stop the short passing game?

 

Discussion:

Where is your emphasis? Defensive Line, Linebackers or Defensive Backfield?

What works best for you? What are your plans for Defensive Position priority for recruiting and game plan?

How did you determine your best 11 Defensive players for Season 1 and how do you plan for your future defensive position depth?

How far ahead are you planning your Defensive position depth and development as a long term strategy?

"Inside the SFA Coaches' Minds" asks: is this a planned step and deliberate coach thought as a season's strategy or let recruits dictate the priority?

What is your plan for this year's recruiting and next season's Defensive depth and development?

 

Thank you for looking inside the minds of the SFA coaches!

[rabidsnowman]

As we are very early in this sim, and we do not yet know how much information we will have in years 2-4, I am trying to keep all options available to me defensively. This means recruiting both for 3-4 and the 4-3. Certain positions are, of course, interchangeable, and talent often will win out over fit. For the most part, I try to look at "recruitable" positions as advantageous....for example, Ball Hawk CBs are going to be a premium, due to versatility and general desirability, and therefore harder to recruit than Zone CBs, for example. If I could find a way to work it out, I'd combine all of the less desirable archetypes into a defense that could be more easily recruited than the traditional 3-4 or 4-3.

 

That said, the defensive overviews I've thought about:

I have considered running a 3-4 with TWO run stopping ILBs on the interior, to really hammer home the run defense.

I have considered running a 4-3 with dual coverage OLBs, pass rush DEs, pass rush DTs, and the best ILB money can buy.

I have considered running a 3-4 built entirely around speed.

I have considered running a 4-3 built entirely around coverage, with run stopping D-linemen, coverage LBs across the board, and a run stuffing safety.

I have considered a 4-3 built entirely around stopping the run, with run stopping D-linemen, run stopping OLBs, and a run stopping ILB....trusting the entire pass defense to the secondary.

 

Currently I am waiting and hoping we get more detailed information about player attributes, which will enable a much more customized 3-4 defense. I'm recruiting multiple DT and ILB just to be safe.

 

Where is your emphasis? Defensive Line, Linebackers or Defensive Backfield?

What works best for you? What are your plans for Defensive Position priority for recruiting and game plan?

How did you determine your best 11 Defensive players for Season 1 and how do you plan for your future defensive position depth?

How far ahead are you planning your Defensive position depth and development as a long term strategy?

"Inside the SFA Coaches' Minds" asks: is this a planned step and deliberate coach thought as a season's strategy or let recruits dictate the priority?

What is your plan for this year's recruiting and next season's Defensive depth and development?

 

Emphasis is front 7. We have to stop the run.

Answered above.

I look at my overall talent, and figure out which scheme I feel fits best, then plug the best players in.

I plan 2-3 years ahead in recruiting and longer than that in scheme, but again, I don't know the info we'll have yet to make those plans around.

Absolutely deliberate thought behind recruiting players to fit scheme, once I have decided on it.