Align for Success

Installing the Eight Man

I t was an honor to be asked by the
AFCA to contribute to the 2000 Summer
Manual. On behalf of our head coach Bob
Diagram 1: Tite 4 Check vs. I

Blitz Package DeBesse, we appreciate the opportunity. I

am very fortunate to coach with great pro-
fessionals and dear friends Mike Hudson,
Jim Dawson, Chad Glasgow and Robert
Crivellari, who make up our defensive
staff. The defensive package we installed
is not mine. We have taken ideas from all
of our stops and incorporated what we Diagram 2: Tite 4 Check vs. Near
feel is a simple, but multiple package to
combat the complexity of the offensive
schemes we face.
Our defensive meetings are lively, we
have some guys with great personality
and defensive minds. We tried in great
detail when we started, to all be on the
same page. We went through and exam-
ined each formation, blocking scheme,
run and pass route, discussed field zone Tite 4 Check- Two Back Alignments
philosophy and then we established our Diagram 3: Tite 4 Check
Bobcat defensive language. It required
new learning for all coaches, but stream-
lined the installation and meeting time for
the defense. Utilizing the knowledge
acquired from the staff’s different coach-
ing stops, we established an extremely
David Bailiff wordy defense. Each of the 11 defensive
positions were given a name. Every align-
Defensive Coordinator ment was given a name. We packaged
blitzes by name with the alignment termi- Diagram 4: Tite 4 Check
Southwest Texas State nology within the blitz package. We
University believed that if we told the players where
to align or where to blitz, each snap we
San Marcos, Tex. would eliminate assignment and align-
ment confusion and give our players the
confidence to play fast and furious.
While we initially taught hard align-
ment rules, our defensive goal was to
gain knowledge so our players could
“align for success.” We will teach differ- Tite 4 Check- One Back Alignments
ent alignments according to down and • Tite linebacker will make a “right or
distance and offensive formations. Up left” call to the run strength.
front, we will play right or left side. We • Four Check, the free safety will make
will not flip the defensive line as we want a “Linda or Rhonda” call to the passing
those guys to excel at playing one side of strength.
their body. We will flip the linebackers; At the beginning of our installation,
the Sam will be to the call or Eagle side each defensive position had a list of
and the Mike will be to the away or vocabulary words they had to learn. Each
Bubble side. Our secondary will align to of these words were unique and “hot” to
the passing strength. The strong safety their position. The player must listen in the
will always go to the tight end side or to huddle for a hot word that will change their
the field in a balanced formation and the alignment or assignment. If a player does
Kat will go to the open side. The free not hear a hot word, they will play their
safety will set the strength and the safety base technique.
away and put us in the best coverage
according to down and distance and Blitz Package
offensive formation. Along with the wordy alignment and

• AFCA Summer Manual — 2000 •

 using wide and short, these will give us a
DE DT LB’s Safeties Corners
blitz from the field or boundary. If we want
Tite Tite Tite Solid Waco
Split Split Split Smoke Bail to bring the safety from the tight end side,
Field Field Field Cross Press our call will be “strong smoke.” A safety
Boundary Boundary Boundary Bobcat Coyote blitz from the open side is called “kat
Under G Double Stack Waco Cut smoke.” We will bring both safeties off the
Take Go Sam Cut Kong edge with a double smoke call. If we want
Tank Outlaw Mike Kong Sky to slant the line and bring a smoke at the
Army Aim Bullets Blast OT same time, we may call “boundary army
Silver Toro Bobcat Dog Cloud
short smoke.”
Cop Tank Dog Coyote Rob
Drop Pinch Glue OT Roll Diagram 10: Tite Strong Smoke 4
Void Okie Bang Rob Check
Fire Tex Coyote Roll
Blast Ex
Loose Fist
Twist Loose
Twist
Over
Stab
want the threat of the blitz to be something
Diagram 5: Tite Outlaw 4 Check
an offense must prepare for. Cross
Cross is another safety blitz. A cross
Bullets blitz is simply a gap exchange between the
If we blitz one linebacker, our huddle safety and the defensive end to that side.
call will be Sam A or B or Mike A or B. The The safety will blitz the B gap. His key will
“A or B” tells the linebacker which gap to be the offensive tackle. If the tackle zones
blitz and alerts the defensive line of any at him, he will immediately take his eyes to
gap exchange. If we blitz both lineback- the adjacent guard. If the guard is also zon-
ers, we call it “bullets.” ing, he will get up the field in the B gap. He
Diagram 8: Tite Sam B 4 Check will come under any fan block by the offen-
Diagram 6: Tite Fist Blast 4 Check
sive tackle. If the safety is getting zone
away, we want him to run flat at the heel
line of the offense line and be there to
make the play when the ball is pulled up or
when the running back cuts back. We still
may run wide, short, strong and kat cross-
es. We want the cross blitz to be a little
slower, as this will open up the gap and
define the hole for the blitzing safety.

Diagram 7: Split Solid 4 Check Diagram 9: Tite Bullets A O Silver Diagram 11: Cross vs. Zone To

assignment calls, we have developed our
blitz package using the same thought
process. Each blitz has its own name for
immediate huddle and formation recogni-
tion. We are going to pin our ears back
and blitz. We want to keep an offense
guessing and off balance, at times we will
“show” and not blitz and other times we
will bring a blitz from depth. We want the
element of surprise on our side and we
• Tite aligns the front to the tight end. Diagram 12: Cross vs. Zone Away
• Bullets A tells the defensive line and
linebackers what gap is being blitzed.
• 0 coverage man no help.
• Silver defensive end hot word to alert
him to take the runningback on a flare.
Smokes
We call our safety blitzes “smokes.” We
dictate which safety we want to blitz by

• AFCA Summer Manual — 2000 •


Diagram 13: Cross vs. Fan
Diagram 14: Tite Kat Cross 4 Check
Dog
We call our four-to-a-side blitz package
a “dog.” We get four men from a side by
bringing the linebacker and safety to that
side. We may blitz the linebacker and
safety in any gap. We will again use wide,
short, strong and kat to determine where
we want the dog coming from.
Diagram 15: Tite Kat Dog O
Diagram 16: Tite Okie Kat Dog A
Diagram 17: Tite Okie Kat Dog A
Cross
If we get drop back pass, the defensive
end will rip under the offensive tackle to
shorten the blitz line for the safety. We will
use this teaching point anytime a safety is
involved in a perimeter blitz.
Bobcat
The last blitz we will carry into every
game is an eight man read-blitz we call
“Bobcat.” A bobcat blitz is read-blitz that
involves both linebackers and safeties.
We will have a four-way spy on the run-
ningback in a one back situation. If he is
on an inside path, the linebacker on his
side will be responsible for covering him. If
the runningback flares or releases wide,
the safety to that side will cover him. We
can use different exchange coverages to
add an element of surprise.
Diagram 18: Bobcat vs. Two Back
Diagram 19: Bobcat Cop O Silver
• “Tite” will set our eagle to the tight end
side.
• “Bobcat” is the buzz word for the line-
backers and safeties.
• “B” tells the linebacker and defensive
line what gap the linebackers are blitzing.
• “0” tells we are playing man cover
with no help.
• “Silver” is a word for the defensive
end and it tells him to cover the back on
a flare, if for some reason the safety to
his side is not able to blitz according to
formation.
• “Cop” is another buzz word for the
defensive ends and it tells them if there is
a tight end to their side and they have
him man.
Double Stack
Double stack is our way of getting into
• AFCA Summer Manual — 2000 •
a double eagle defense. We achieve this
by adding the words outlaw and double
stack to the tite call. Outlaw will move the
nose to a three technique and double
stack will move the Mike linebacker down
as a nose guard and the Sam linebacker
will stack behind the Mike. We may still
use all of our base blitzes in double stack.
Diagram 20: Tite Outlaw Double
Stack I
Diagram 21: Tite Outlaw Double
Stack Kat Smoke O
Cobra
In addition to our blitz and base pack-
ages we will play cobra. Cobra is our dime
package and we try to get as much speed
on the field as possible. The defensive
tackles come out and we send in two more
defensive backs. We will move the defen-
sive ends inside and one linebacker and
defensive back will become the new
defensive ends. We will utilize our cobra
package in second or third and long situa-
tions or when we want to match up with a
three or four wide receiver set by the
offense. This package is about attitude.
Our players take a great deal of pride in
cobra and they expect great things to hap-
pen when cobra is called. This package
allows us to get over the top help versus
the pass. We will play halves coverage or
man under in base cobra. The defensive
line works independently, by this we mean
each side of the line may call its own twist.
We tell the defensive line that they have
no run responsibility and to get up the
field.
We still have the ability to run any of
our blitz package when we are in cobra.
The terminology and the teaching
points remain constant, so we do not
have to spend a lot of extra time trying
to find a time to practice cobra. When
we make a cobra call, we will just use
the word cobra at the beginning.
Diagram 22: Cobra
Diagram 23: Cobra
Diagram 24: Cobra Short Smoke 2
Void
Diagram 25: Cobra Viper 2
Diagram 26: Cobra Viper Bobcat O
Cobra Viper
Cobra Viper is the next blitz package we
will use with our dime personnel. The line
will shift prior to the snap to a three down
lineman and two linebacker. We can tight-
en our safeties to be in a 50 front or keep
them loose in coverage. From our viper
look, the entire blitz package is available
for use. Bullets, Smokes, Dogs and Bobcat.
The installation may at first seem con-
fusing, but our players understand their
“hot” words. Their knowledge of the pack-
age and great communication allows us to
add hot words on a weekly basis as need-
ed by game plan. We are able to be this
wordy defense due to the fact that we
operate off wristbands. The wristband is
divided into categories of possible calls for
the week. Each call will be numbered
under the category. We signal in the cate-
gory we want with the number. The line-
backer will refer to the category and make
the call to the defense. The players and
coaches believe in what we do. The play-
ers believe we are on the cutting edge on
defense. We sell our defense to our play-
ers by calling it high tech and we are going
to make sure they have fun. Our players
know we care about them and trust in
them on and off the field. We will not be
afraid to make a call no matter the situa-
tion and our players know it.
Therefore, they take pride in their per-
formance and look forward to the chal-
lenge when their number is called. In con-
clusion, I would be remiss if I did not take
this opportunity to thank the individuals
who have taken their time to share their
knowledge and passion for this great
game. They include John O'Hara, Dennis
Franchione, Bob DeBesse, Mickey
Matthews, Jim Bob Helduser, Fred Bleil,
and Gary Patterson. I will always be in
their debt. Thank you.

NCAA Position
on Gambling
The NCAA opposes all forms of legal and illegal sports wagering. Sports wagering has
the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardizes the welfare
of student-athletes and the intercollegiate athletics community. Sports wagering
demeans the competition and competitors alike by a message that is contrary to the
purposes and meaning of ‘sport.’ Sports competition should be appreciated for the
inherent benefits related to participation of student-athletes, coaches and institutions
in fair contests, not the amount of money wagered on the outcome of the competition.

For those reasons, the NCAA membership has adopted specific rules prohibiting ath-
letics department staff members and student-athletes from engaging in gambling activ-
ities as they relate to intercollegiate or professional sporting events.

• AFCA Summer Manual — 2000 •