Quote:One thing about your post that I would point out is that while Smith would in fact play that hybrid role, remember that he would not be tasked with standing up against inside Power runs. He would be the seventh, or even the eighth man to be accounted for which is usually a free runner.

 

I would think, depending upon the offensive alignment, were he the 7th man, he may not be free, but if he were the 8th guy, yeah he most likely would be a free guy, or at most, have a WR trying to block him.

 

I thought the reads you provided were fascinating and informative.  While I have not watched as much college football as I have in the past, I have wondered how teams were countering the spread and uptempo schemes that have proliferated throughout college and to a lesser extent the NFL.

 

The concept of having almost 2-3 different defensive calls operating independent of the front end/back end of the defense is novel to me.

 

I would think you'd have to have DBs almost as smart as QBs in terms of identifying routes quickly to play the scheme effectively.  Not that having smart DBs is a BAD thing at all, mind you, but I would imagine the pressure to diagnose quickly and reacting accordingly is considerably higher than that of a more conventional defense.

 

Edit:  In retrospect, I can see my post focused more on the personnel grouping than scheme, so forgive me for that.

 

Your question focused more on the schematic soundness. Not sure I can even begin to address that portion of it, especially since I have just learned of the coverage concepts.

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