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Iwould first like to thank the AmericanFootball Coaches Association for provid-ing our defensive staff the opportunity tospeak today. It is an honor to stand beforeour peers and share a little about theThundering Herds Dangerfield Defense.

I would like to thank the members of thedefensive staff beginning with Mark Gale,our defensive ends and associate head

football coach whom I have worked with forthe last 10 years, plus three years at theUniversity of Oklahoma. Jay Hopson, whocoaches our defensive backs, which were#1 in the nation in interceptions and No. 3in the nation in pass efficiency defense in1999. The newest member of the staff isBill Wilt, who joined us this season aftercoaching for 16 years at Western Illinois.Also, I would like to mention Kip Shaw andJosh Lambert, who helped me immenselywith scouting and computer break-downs.

Even though we play as a team, ourdefensive staff felt we need a way to bondtogether as a defensive unit. Nebraska hasthe Black Shirts, Arizona has DesertSwarm and Virginia Tech carries theLunch Pail. All have a name and a defen-sive tradition that sets higher expectationsfor players on these squads. Marshall hasalways been known for having outstandingoffensive teams from the NCAA I-AA yearsin which they had two players of the year.Now with the move up to I-A, the firepowercontinued with Heisman Trophy finalistsRandy Moss and Chad Pennington.Through all of our success and all of ourchampionships, the defense had goneunnoticed. Each week, every opponentpraised and feared our offense. Every year,our media guide covers would be gracedwith the picture of one of our offensivestars. Finally, one of our defensive playersalluded to the situation to that of the famedcomic Rodney Dangerfield, I get norespect. Thus was born, MarshallsDangerfield Defense.

Setting GoalsAt the beginning of each season, thedefensive staff discussed the goals wewant to set for upcoming season. What isimportant to our success and what will bethe keys to our having a great defensiveteam. We divided into position meetingsand had an open forum for our players todiscuss their goals for the season. We nextcame together as a defensive unit andallowed our players to set game goals andseason goals. A c c o r d i n g l y, they are

accountable for our success, they areresponsible for making it work, they areresponsible for gaining the respect as adefense. After each game, we meet andcover our goals. Did we attain our goals forthat game? Did we attain our seasongoals? We also discuss the drive chartafter each game. We talk about each pos-session, where the offense got the ball,

how many plays they kept the ball, howmany yards they gained and what was theresult of the drive. We do this for all fourquarters of the game.

Setting the Tone for PracticeWe feel that after stretch, many teams

ease into practice. We like to set the toneearly. We like to get their hearts poundingand make them understand practice hasbegun. After stretch we go straight to thebags and run through two sets of six dum-mies. These drills last approximately fiveminutes and quickly tires out our players. Atleast once each week, we go straight fromthe bags and go directly to circuit tackling.Circuit tackling consists of four stations,with two plus minutes at each station.Three of the stations are some type of atackling drill, with the fourth station being aturnover station. This helps them learn howto tackle correctly when they are tired,which enacts a game situation.

Defensive PhilosophyMa rs ha lls defensive philosophy in a

nutshell is, Speed kills. Of course we likeour players to be big, but we will sacrificesize to some degree in order to have speedand agility on the field where it mattersmost. With the advances in todaysstrength programs, it is easier to producestrong players. Speed does not come aseasy. They can either run or they cannot. Itis mandatory our players exhibit speedover and above size. Each week, opposingoffenses must earn every yard gained. Aslong as we tackle well and do not give up

big plays, we are confident we will have agreat chance of winning. We tell our play-ers that the opponent gets no points forgetting to the three yard line. Keep playingand force the offense into a mistake andthan you must capitalize on that mistake.We were fourth in the nation this year inturnover margin and in 13 games, oppos-ing offenses only scored three rushingtouchdowns and eight passing touch-downs. As a defense, we did a great job ofkeeping our opponent out of the end zone.

Marshalls DangerfieldDefense

Tim Billings

DefensiveCoordinator

MarshallUniversity

Hunti ngton, W.Va.

Mark Gale

Defensive EndsCoach

Bill Wilt

Defensive TacklesCoach

Jay Hopson

Defensive BacksCoach

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To give you a better idea on specific tech-niques we use on defense, I will be turningit over to Mark Gale. Before I turn it over toMark, I want to thank you for your time andif you have any questions, call any memberof the defensive staff at Marshall or you cancontact me at Southeast Missouri, where Ihave just accepted the position as headfootball coach.

Pass Rush PhilosophyOn behalf of Head Coach Bob Pruett,

our defensive staff and our defensive teammembers, I would like to thank theAmerican Football Coaches Association forthe opportunity to talk football with mypeers.

We start with the basic principle of play-ing Marshall Football . Everything we do,as an individual, will be focused on being aclose-knit team. We will stress and believein team concept, not the I concept of foot-ball. No single member of this squad ismore important than the team. Put the balldown and play wherever and whenever theball is spotted. This is the attitude of ourdefense.

It all begins with the front four. We mustcontrol our gaps and keep the ball goingeast and west in the run game. The suc-cess we have in our pass defense, can betraced in some part to our front four. Westress the old clich, The best passdefense, is a pass rush. We were fortunatein that every member of our front four wereAll-MAC this season.

We stress to our front four that the mostimportant thing they have going for them isattitude . They must think they will get asack every time. We make cut-ups of ourpass rushes (good and bad) and we wantour players to see why one was successfuland the reason one was not. On the suc-cessful rush, was it because we are moretalented, did we outwork our opponent ordid we exploit his weakness. When we are

not as successful, was it because of poortechnique, did we guess on the type ofpass it was or did we just get outworked byour opponent.

We stress that two major reasons forsacks are we are more talented or we workharder. We might get stopped on our initialmove, but we will go immediately into acounter. The one thing we constantly tellour defensive ends, is we can find anyonethat runs up the field, but it takes someonespecial to get to the quarterback.

Through the years from clinics or one-on-ones with coaches, I have heard manyof them philosophize what makes up agood pass rush. I have borrowed fromsome and added some myself and whatyou see listed is what I share with my play-ers. To be a successful pass rusher, youmust do at least one of the following onevery pass play.

1. Force passer to change his intendedset-up point.

a. Three-Step, Five-Step, SOP, PAP2. Force passer to change his intended

trajectory.a. Put air under the ball.b. Throw a little sidearm.

3. Force passer to run within the pocket.a. Scramble.

4. Tip the ball.a. Hands up - Make yourself taller

5. Sack the quarterback.a. Strip drill - Always thinking, creating

a turnover.Listed below are some of the pass rush-

es we have had an immense amount ofsuccess with. We call them games/stunts,due only to that our kids find them fun torun and it makes it sound fun.

It has indeed been an honor to speakwith you this morning. If I or any member ofthe defensive staff at Marshall Universitycan assist you, please give us a call. I willnow turn this over to Bill Wilt, who coachesour defensive tackles and will discuss withyou our run defense philosophy.

Run Defense PhilosophyIt is an honor to represent Marshall

University at the AFCA Convention. Thegreat football tradition at Marshall wasestablished long before I got here. I amhappy to be a part of it. I hope you can takesomething from this talk that will benefityou.

The foundation of the Marshall programis goal attainment. This is true for bothplayers and coaches. Everyone is focusedon the same objectives. There are goalsset for academics, off-season workouts,team goals, unit goals, segment goals andindividual goals. They are often talkedabout and they all blend together for theteam.

In the defensive line, we established fivegoals that pertain to stopping the run.

1. Win first down 60 percent of the time

Diagram 5: Tony

Diagram 4: Ned

Diagram 3: Mustang

Diagram 2: Craps

Diagram 1: Bird

Mark Gale, Defensive Ends

Diagram 6: Ant

Bill Wilt, Defensive Tackles

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(Second and eight for opponents offense).2. Hold the opponent to 3.0 yards per

rushing attempt.3. Win third and three or less 80 percent

of the time.4. Win fourth down attempts 80 percent

of the time.5. Have 100 percent effort grade for the

game.

Each segment also has a productionchart. Every players total number of playsare kept. In addition, point values are givenfor such things as tackles, assisted tackles,tackles for a loss, pass break-up, big plays,etc. Points are taken away for penalties,mental errors, lack of effort, etc. The pointsare accumulated as the season progress-es. It is a great reference as to how eachplayer is doing. The players at Marshalltake great pride in it. I really believe it is afactor in pursuit and extra effort and itenhances our game concentration.Everyone wants to look good when thatchart is pulled out each Monday.

During two-a-days, spring practice andgame week, each coach fills out a dailyimprovement sheet. It is one page and it isbased off of practice video. The top half ofthe page is directed to improvements forthe position as a whole. The bottom half ofthe page is for individual improvements.This is a great tool that is quick to do and itensures that everything gets covered. Thisis used as a positive, not a negative

At Marshall, we constantly strive to getthe most out of our practice. Everything wedo has the purpose of making us a betterplayer, which in turn will make us a betterteam. Once we are finished with bags andcircuit tackling, we have a brief unit periodand this is where the defensive line startsits daily ABCs. This is a fundamental peri-od. The A stands for Athleticism andAttitude. We will work drills that will makethem more athletic and also improve theirwork ethic. If they are not ready to work,there is no reason to proceed. The B rep-

resents Brainwork. We now set up drills tosee if they know the defense, their stuntsand adjustments. Fundamentals must beright, execution must be right, the intensityof this drill is high in order to see if they canexecute when they are fatigued. The C rep-resents Contact and Concentration. This iswhere we work our basic run fundamentals(base, reach, zone, double, trap, etc.), readtechnique and charge technique. We thenplug the fundamentals and weekly defenseagainst our opponents schemes.

Once individual is completed, we shouldbe ready to have a successful inside andteam period. The players should know whatto do, how to do it and the intensity in whichit needs to be done.

At Marshall, we are a multiple defense.We ask a lot of each segment. The defen-sive line is comprised of a call side end,away side end, tackle and nose. The ends

are interchangeable, as are the tackle andnose. Each position will at sometime haveto play an inside technique, outside tech-nique and head up technique. Our basefront has the call side in a six technique onthe tight end, the away side in a five tech-nique, the tackle in a three technique andthe nose in a one or two technique on theopen side based on his ability.

In our base front, we teach two styles ofplay. We teach a fundamental read tech-nique and we also teach an aggressivecharge technique. The defensive style willbe called from the sideline, but each playerhas the freedom for his technique based onsplit, formation, offensive line body weightor by game plan.

When we are playing our read technique,we key the man in front of us. We are singlegap control. We want to leverage our gap,keep our shoulders square and build a fenceon the line of scrimmage. We lead with ourhands and hips and mirror step with our feet.We want to occupy as many blockers aspossible. We cannot be pushed off the lineof scrimmage. If we are struggling, we mayback off the ball to ensure we leverage ourgap and have our power under us on con-tact and to give us a true read. When we areplaying our read front. It is important that wekeep at least four offensive linemen on theline of scrimmage. However, our goal is tohave two defensive lineman occupy fouroffensive linemen and to let the linebackersrun and make plays. Obviously for this tohappen, we must maintain leverage on theline of scrimmage so they can run. We tellthe front if they can single block you, we will

have to bring someone out of the secondaryto help us stop the run. That is usually allthat needs to be said. It should also be notedwe will play our read front from all head uppositions. This eliminates the offense fromknowing if we are responsible for the gap toour right or left.

The other technique we play is called acharge technique. It is an aggressive upfield movement. The offensive line shouldnot be able to pre-snap read what tech-nique we are playing. We can play it from a

shade or a head up position. We do how-ever, try to take as much of the ball as pos-sible. In theory, we are still single gap con-trol, but in reality we are in a hard up fieldmovement and will play off the offensiveline schemes. Our goal in the charge tech-nique is to draw a straight line through theman we are across from. We attack straightthrough the blocker and we want to drive

him back, gain separation and get to theball. The thing that makes this techniquesuccessful for us, is that if the offensive lineis a zone team and if they over step, we willplay behind it. If they are a side pass pro-tection, we hope our charge techniqueallows us into the crack.

By utilizing these two techniques, it hasbeen successful in keeping the offensiveline off balance. It frees up the defensivelinemen to become play-makers. When inthe charge mode, we understand that wewill have to make more plays, because theLBers may have to play off more blockers.When teaching the charge technique, wetell the defensive line that gap control canbe maintained with your body or the bodyof the offensive lineman. The biggest keysfor us in teaching this is movement on thesnap, pad level with an aggressive punchand separation, our feet constantly workingand teaching how to re-direct to the ball. Aswith any technique, we cannot make playsuntil we disengage from the blocker.

In closing, the read technique andcharge technique are taught the first day ofpractice. They compliment each other welland also assist us when we move on toslants and line games. Our goal is to makeeverything we do look the same on pre-snap. Again, thank you for allowing me toshare with you and now Jay Hopson willvisit with you a little on what we do in thesecondary.

Dangerfield DBsIt certainly is a pleasure to represent

Marshall University at this years conven-tion. Although we run various fronts andcoverages, I would like to share with youone of our base coverages in our base 4-3front. Our quarters coverage allows us tohave good run support and be solid in thedeep passing game.

Corner AlignmentOur corners alignment in quarters tech-

nique is 0-1 yard outside the No. 1 receiverat a depth of eight yards (Diagram 7).

Jay Hopson, Defensive Backs

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Corner ResponsibilityThe corner has the No. 1 receiver

man-to-man on all deep cuts. The corneris on a race to be on the up field, outsideshoulder pad (Diagram 8). He is sec-ondary on all run unless the No. 1 receiv-

er crack blocks (Diagram 9). If No. 1receiver hitches or runs a short underroute, he can zone his quarter, depend-ing on the release of the No. 2 receiver(Diagram 10).

Safety AlignmentOur safeties align one yard outside the

tight end at a depth of nine yards. If there isno tight end, they will align three yards out-side the offensive tackle at a depth of nineyards (Diagram 7).

Safety ResponsibilityOur safeties are primary on run support.

They will key No. 2 to level of ball or linekey to level of ball if there is no No. 2. If No.2 vertical releases behind linebackers, heis the responsibility of the safeties. Anyother pass release and safeties zone quar-ters to release of No. 1 receiver. He is apost to curl player (Diagram 11).

When No. 2 blocks and run occurs, thesafety must now see flow. Tight or slantflow tells him to fit up and in on run support(box the ball). Tight or slant flow lets thebackside safety know he is a core cutbackplayer. Wide flow allows the backside safe-ty to work lateral, however, he must stay onthe backside hip of the ball. The safeties

are final outside support in our even frontprinciple (Diagram 13).

Play Action PassIn the occurrence of play-action pass, our

safeties must always have a Dont Go UntilYou Know mentality. Many times their initialkey may be gray, so they must always seethe ball past the deepest back. When PA Poccurs, safeties will react to release of No. 1,unless No. 2 verticals. If No. 2 verticals, hewill become the responsibility of the safety.

BootBoot action puts the backside safety in a

holding pattern, in which he will play off theoutside linebacker. Backside safety cansecure post when crosser is secured.

One BackIn the occurrence of one back sets, we

have the ability of quarters or half field cov-erage. We will set our coverage to theo ffensive tendency and receiver splits(Diagrams 14 and 15).

Again, it certainly has been a pleasureto share a few ideas and representMarshall University football, at this the firstconvention of the new millennium.

Diagram 7

Diagram 10

Diagram 12

Diagram 13

Diagram 11

Diagram 9

Diagram 8

Diagram 14

Diagram 15

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