The Miami 4-3 Defense was created by Coach Jimmy Johnson and his staff at the University of Miami in the mid-1980s. Its original purpose was to stop the Wishbone Option offense that was dusting teams at the University of Miami. Oklahoma under coach Barry Switzer. In 2008, at Prince George High School, we decided to implement this defense. We felt it was a better fit with our staff. One of the biggest benefits of defense is that while it creates a 4-man defensive front, we really only needed two, or even one, true defensive linemen to run it.

Staff

Miami’s 4-3 front includes two defensive ends and two defensive tackles. We declare our strength to the Tight End. For the purposes of this article, we will be working against a Pro-I team, with a tight end and flanker on one side and a split receiver on the other side. On the Over front, Weak End will line up in a 5 technique, which is off the shoulder of the Offensive Tackle. The Strong End will line up in a 9 technique, outer shadow of the Tight End. Weak Defensive Tackle (we call it the Nose) lines up in a Weak Shadow, or weak shading in the Center. Strong Defensive Tackle will line up on a strong 3 technique, out of the shadow of the Guard. In our base defense, these defenders are responsible for the gaps. Technique 3 handles gap B strong, while the nose takes gap A weak. The extremes are responsible for the weak C gap and the strong D gap. We do NOT use the ends to contain! Is it so spill players in our aggressive style of defense.

Our defensive ends are not your typical defensive linemen. They should be able to contain the quarterback, take on linemen and drop into zone pass coverage through our blitz packages. We’ll use players who are more traditional linebackers at these spots. Our only true linemen are the Tackles. If you don’t want linemen to get strong then Tackles should be able to play both a 3 technique and a 1 technique. We prefer this as a player can be comfortable playing inside hand down. However, if you only have a True Tackle, you can use a faster “fighter” type player on the nose of 1 technique. This allows us to have even more speed on the field.

player spill

As spill players, our defensive linemen look to attack the inside shoulder from any blocker or ball carrier attacking into their space. This will force the ball to “spill” to the outside. On the outside, we use our Safeties (quarter coverage) or Corners (cover 2) to contain play. We teach our defensive linemen to spill plays using 6 steps:

1. Get Off: Shoot the ball low and hard down the middle, getting close to the crotch of the defender you’re shadowing over.
2. Engage: Shoot your hand near the V on his neck. The outside hand will control your shoulder pad.
3. Escape – In our third step, the linemen are looking to escape from the Defender. They will rip off with the inside arm to gain control of their gap and work for the football. We are not just taking up space! Our defensive linemen are also athletes and we want them to be playmakers!
4. Bend – On any downside screen, our defensive linemen lean to the line of scrimmage immediately. We tell our linemen to treat any action away from them as “Run” and start chasing them. If the play comes back, it will collide with a throwing blocker!
5. Wrong Arm: When facing a throwing lineman or another blocker, we will use our outside shoulder to attack the lineman’s inside shoulder. We are aggressive in attacking the screener, attacking with the outer 4/5 of our body on the inner 4/5 of their body. We want to blow up that blocker. By setting the trapper wrong, we are forcing the play to bounce out.
6. Pursuit: When the play has started to extend to the outside, we enter a chase angle down the line. We want to be in a position where once the holding player forces the running back back (usually the Safety or Corner), we can make the tackle.

Fast pass
By using aggressive overflow players up front (side-moving players vs. a lot of blocking) – you will sacrifice some of your quick passing skills. To combat this, you need to teach players to read offensive linemen’s blocks. If they can learn the difference between a drop screen, a range screen, and a passing set, they can accomplish more. Reading a pass pressure, the defensive linemen are still ripping off the OL in the third set, they now use pass pressure moves to win the split. These quick passing moves need to be worked on daily in practice so they become a habit when reading pass blocks.

Players should also practice their fast lanes. On a pass read, linebackers, safeties, and cornerbacks will execute their pass coverage responsibilities. Therefore, defensive ends need to become the containing players on a pass read. It’s crucial that they don’t let the quarterback out of the backfield. The crosshairs of our wingers in the pass rush is the outside shoulder of the quarterback on either side. For Tackles, your crosshairs will be the near side eye of the QB. We must rush the passer with active hands and controlled feet to get the blocker off the ground, but not lose control of the QB. We want to force the quarterback to move in the pocket and make quick decisions. If the forward four don’t pressure the quarterback consistently, we can have a long night.

conclusion
The Miami 4-3 defense can be an extremely effective run-stopping defense without having to use traditional linemen. We can have more athletes on the field, doing more things to confuse the offense. Speed ​​and aggressive play are the name of the game. If the other defenders can trust the linemen to spill the ball out, they can play faster and more aggressively in their responsibilities.