Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Technique Alignments

Well, I got a question about numbering defensive players (technique alignments) and I had to think about it for a while. I've been around the block and coached at quite a few schools in a short time (are they trying to tell me something??), and each one has used a slightly different technique alignment scheme.

All were similar in that a 2 tech was head up on the guard, a 4 tech was head up on the tackle... but from there things just went "crazy-go-nuts!" (just like Billy Crystal's old "Fernando" character) . Anyway, all I can say is that there are several different ways to set up technique alignments, all of them work, and I can't tell you which one is best; it's the old "Less Filling" - "Tastes Great" debate all over again. Below are two that I like: the first is the one used where I coach now and the bottom one is the one I most likely would use were I to start from scratch.





Just do me one favor.

Don't make up any more schemes for this kind of stuff. Because If you do, I might have to shoot you in the kneecap.

Coach Smith


p.s. The info scanned-in below was submitted by Coach Tolly McClatchy on the Rolling Thunder Option message board. You can find it in my links section. You can find the link to Coach McClatchy's defensive website here. It is also in the links section as well.




If you look very closely at the top of this scan, you may notice the author was Paul W. "Bear" Bryant - who credits a Texas high school coach named "Bum" Philips with some input as well!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your first diagram is a better way. I use it. To me it just makes more sense.

Steve said...

Coach, I will try to see if I can figure out where i saw that second technique alignment chart - I think it might have been from either a linebacking book by Lou Tepper, or a defensive line book. I'll hunt-up those books and see if I'm on the right track.

Coach Smith

Steve said...

Coach, the second diagram was from Fritz Shurmer's book, (Shurmer was DCoordinator for 90's Green Bay Packers) "Coaching the Defensive Line" It is a GREAT book, by the way. Plenty of photos showing drills, stances and alignments and footwork and technique.

Coach Smith