30 Defense:
The Aztec Change-up
T he Aztec Change-Up is the perfect
description for our 30 package and its
role in our defensive scheme. In order to
completely explain this role, I need to give
a brief description of the Aztec style of
defense. The ever-evolving Aztec defen-
sive package has received input from many
assistant coaches, but the credit belongs to
the knowledge and leadership of Claude
Gilbert. Prior to Ted Tollner’s arrival at San
Diego State University, the Aztec defense
was ranked 94th in the country and sev-
enth in their conference. The Aztecs need-
ed a personality change and Coach Gilbert
brought in an attacking style that has been
his trademark. This year, Claude Gilbert
ended his distinguished football career and
the defense finished 18th in the country
and No. 1 in the Mountain West
Conference.
When teams aggressively use slanting
multiple 4-3 fronts, with safety and linebacker
blitzes, a personality or style of defense is
created. I am hesitant to name this style of
defense, because the football world does not
need another cliché, for example, the “West
Coast Offense.” The Aztecs are not the only
team in America that uses these tactics as a
Ken Delgado base scheme. One thing that is for certain is
that the offense is forced to adapt and pre-
Defensive Coordinator pare thoroughly for this style of defense. We
know there are positives and negatives that
San Diego State University this style of defense can create. Big plays
and excitement are often created on both
San Diego, Calif. sides of the ball. The results we want to
focus on are big plays by the defense that
result in a loss of yardage and create
absolute pass or draw situations.
When a defensive blitz creates a big play
on a first down, what is a good call for the
second down? Logic tells us if it worked the
first time, call the blitz again. However, that is
not always the smart answer. An obvious
passing situation is created for the offense, so
most defensive teams will turn to their con-
ventional nickel package. A nickel package
can be defined as a four-man rush with a
defensive back substitution that allows more
coverage and people on the field. The key-
word is “conventional” in what most defensive
teams do in a nickel package. Most offensive
teams have a prepared passing attack
against man and zone nickel packages. Most
offensive teams have a standard running
attack that can be easily applied to nickel
fronts. We have success in our 30 package
because it is so radically different from our
base scheme and it is not a common four-
man rush nickel scheme.
• AFCA Summer Manual — 2000 •
We turned to a three-man front and
played a three-deep, five underneath cov-
erage. This is certainly not a new concept
to the football world, but it becomes
extremely effective when used with an
aggressive gambling blitz scheme. We
found that using this patient type of pack-
age threw off the tempo of the offense
and, more importantly, the timing of the
quarterback. We also believe that this
solves two perpetual problems of nickel
packages: stopping the run (draw) and
having enough corners to play nickel cov-
erages. (Diagram 1)
Diagram 1
Defensive Line
The play of the defensive line is crucial
to the success of the package. The front
must relentlessly rush the quarterback with
a bull rush mentality. The defensive line’s
goal is to collapse the pocket and prevent
the quarterback from stepping up and hav-
ing vision down the field. The ends are
asked to make physical inside moves and
stay in the throwing lanes of the quarter-
back. The ends are to stay active in the
face of the quarterback and not to be con-
cerned with normal contain rush principles.
There is usually a double team on two of
the three rushers, so a wide escape type
rush becomes counter-productive. This
mentality alone is an extreme contradiction
to blitzing teams. A scramble by the quar-
terback must be to the sideline, which has
an immediate benefit for the coverage.
Now the coverage squeezes to the side of
the scramble and less field is being utilized
by the offense. This scramble action allows
one of the underneath players (strong safe-
ty or outside linebacker) to come off cover -
age and tackle the quarterback. A defender
can only come out of coverage if he is not
threatened in his zone or if the quarterback
has crossed the line of scrimmage.
The rush mentality and alignment of the
ends makes them excellent players against
the draw and inside run. They essentially
become two-gap players on inside run,
which is usually a foreign concept for slant-
ing fronts. This becomes an effective rush
mentality, especially if a team does not pos-
sess the gifted outside speed rusher. The
alignments of the ends are heavy outside
shade on the offensive tackle, almost
directly head up. The nose tackle aligns
head up on the center, plays A gap run, and
bull rushes the center.
Linebackers
The assignments of the linebackers are
simple and common to three-deep princi-
ples, but there are some key coaching
points. The outside linebackers line up five
yards deep and align inside shade of the
tight ends or ghost tight end. They are C
gap run defenders on flow towards them
and cutback run defenders on flow away.
The coverage responsibility of the outside
linebackers is to drop through the hook of
the No. 2 receiver. First priority of this drop
is to get depth and to carry a vertical route
of a No. 2 receiver for a minimum of 15
yards. This is crucial because most offens-
es will attack with four vertical routes. If
there is no vertical of No. 2, then the out-
side linebacker can work to the curl of No.
1 at a depth of 15 yards. The linebackers
must level off at 15 yards and not bite on
any shallow crossing routes. The lineback-
ers must contest all intermediate routes in
their zone and break to all underneath
routes. When the ball is on the hash and
the No. 2 wide receiver is aligned to the
field 10 yards or more from the tackle or
tight end, the outside linebacker can widen
three to four yards.
The middle linebacker must drop to the
vertical of a No. 3 receiver (15 yards) or
drop to the hole.
The middle linebacker lines up five
yards deep and shades the center strong.
He plays A to B gap inside run.
Strong Safeties
The strong safeties are curl to flat play-
ers that work for 15 yards deep. If there is
a No. 2 wide receiver, the strong safety
aligns head up and initially holds off the
vertical with a tight, but deep drop. If there
is no No. 2, then the strong safety splits the
difference between the end man on the line
of scrimmage and the wide receiver. The
strong safeties become good flat defend-
ers. The priority is to get depth and tackle
shallow routes. The underneath coverage
becomes a blanket that drops with enough
depth to discourage vertical routes, contest
intermediate routes and tackle shallow
routes for a five to seven yard gain. The
strong safeties become good outside run
defenders and at times will tackle a scram-
bling quarterback.
Corner/Free Safety
The deep coverage is the easiest part of
the package. The corners align 10 yards
deep slightly inside the No. 1 wide receiver
and play an outside, 1/3 coverage. The
most important objective for the deep
defenders is to not let the ball get thrown
over their head. It is important that the cor-
ners understand where their help is and to
not let anyone get behind them. The free
safety aligns 12 yards deep in the middle of
the formation and also must stay on top of
the deepest route. It is understood that he
will recognize vertical threats and split any
two inside vertical routes. Just apply the
normal three deep principles that are
taught in your base coverages.
Adjustments
The adjustments are easily applied to
any formation that an offense can present.
Diagram 1 is drawn to a two-by-two forma-
tion; the alignments for a three-by-one for-
mation are shown in Diagram 2. The front
remains the same while the strong safety
on the strength side still aligns on the No. 2
wide receiver. The strong safety on the
weak side aligns five by five yards from the
tackle or tight end. If the No. 3 wide receiv -
er is wider than six yards from the tackle or
tight end, the outside linebacker must walk
out and split the difference between No. 3
and the tight end or tackle. It is important
that the outside linebacker drop over the
top of No. 3 so the middle linebacker can
work to the vertical threat of No. 3. When
the outside linebacker walks, the remaining
linebackers align outside shade of guards.
The deep coverage remains the same, but
take note of where the vertical routes can
develop (Diagram 2).
Diagram 2
Conclusion
The Aztec 30 package has proven to be
successful for the defense because it is
simple, and it makes the offense work on
• AFCA Summer Manual — 2000 •
something radically different than the base
package. We averaged at least 11 snaps of
our 30 package per game and recorded 13
sacks for the year. Those sacks were the
result of relentless effort by the front, but
also indecision and frustration by the quar-
terback. We enjoyed an 80 percent suc-
cess rate of holding our opponents to a
gain of six yards or less per play and forc-
ing them to punt.
What I have shared here is just the
base of the package. There are several
coverages that can be applied and we
also like to blitz from this package. This 30
defense also is an option against teams
who empty the backfield or teams who
have option threats. The versatility of the
personnel used is also beneficial in times
when there is a rash of injuries in the sec-
ondary. It is truly an honor to contribute to
this manual and hope this concept can
help teams who are looking for simple
coverage options that can compliment
aggressive blitz packages.
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