I have literally been screaming to get this kind of defensive scheme/technique on the back end and finally we do it... in the 8th game of the year.
Someone on another forum stated that Toney played a lot of that at Louisiana. Not sure the validity of it, I'm sure someone could dig into that. Could just be their approach to doing things with their current roster. Who knows? But I get the frustration. Lets hope for improvement.
There is no excuse not to play this type of defense most of the game... these young Florida men, on our back end, grew up playing this type of defense. It's in their blood... It's when they excel and you can see it perfectly illustrated in the clip.
If you play zone... you cover grass, and only the most seasoned players in that type of scheme can make it work... still not as good as man press.
Sort of. The way we play it,, thats true.. Too many times I see players running to the hook/curl when the receiver to that side is running a fade, drag, bubble. Frustrating. You should cover the player in your zone and ride that player to te next zone. It works better with disciplined players who are smart and who benefit from a DL that can get home.
It's not like nobody in the history of football has ever defeated press man. It's possible that that's what our players execute best right now, but if you only do one thing the offense will beat you.
The last time I saw an extensive breakdown, only five teams in the nation played 50+% M2M. And none were the big dogs. YPA, YPC, completion %, and penalties were all significantly higher with M2M. IOW, there is a reason practically all teams and literally all good teams are zone-heavy. Having said that, given what I see with ours, I’m all for M2M especially in a transition year. Learn all these lessons while it’s not going to cost anything and then get back to elite schemes once the ship stops sinking. Also, offenses like UT are now basically straight zone busters. Even mighty Bama doesn’t have the horses to play cover 3 against it. They just wait for you to fall into it and it’s X button all day. Safe to say that more teams will copy it, so you might consider getting ahead of the trend and committing to man and give up your biggies, but hopefully not 8 a game like you’ll probably do against UT and anyone else who can find a good long-baller and two burners. I personally would vote Hooker Heisman while simultaneously finding him wildly overrated. But it is unquestionable that he has a legit talent for long balls and also finding the right deep guy losing a step. And 60 yard bombs also result in fewer catastrophes. They’re hard to catch for DB’s and harder to return. They are typically incomplete or punts. It’s actually a “safe” style because the reward is basically max and the risk isn’t equal. Trying to throw 35 passes across the middle is chock full of risk. It really is an XBOX offense from back in the day when guys would just run 4 verts every play. Six incompletes and two picks in a row? Meh, punts. Next throw: 75 yard TD!
It might help one particular DB to not turn guys lose and then cover nobody… I’ll not mention any names don’t need to bash specific players.
He’s the glaring example but we have another couple that while they don’t normally just get left literally 25 yards behind they typically do the opposite and never close within 8-10 until reacting to the horse already out of the barn. I can’t explain it but I will confidently speculate that NO coach teaches that as a legit technique except perhaps in very circumstantial instances like huge leads. When I see Marshall stuck to a guy like knockoff Dry-fit in M2M and bailing at the snap like a tiger just escaped its cage on any down and distance and time in zone, I just ponder the meaning of life, since that’s an easier question to figure out.
Agree. Sad thing is 3 years ago the unnamed player played pretty well. Your point about delayed reactions is spot on. Can’t figure it out. And when they stop teaching the DBs to turn and look for the ball? My son plays HS ball and he says they teach the DBs just to face guard. Seems like many of ours have done this for years. Save a few.
Crazy right. Let these Dbs press & may the best man win. Not a fan of zone defense at all. Either press with a single high safety or 2 deep
Well technically you can face-guard, but not “playing the ball” puts you on the hook for basically any contact. I suppose that’s a legit concept, and maybe especially for HS where most teams don’t have many game-wrecker DB’s. But at UF, yeah, I want my NFL wannabes playing the ball and trying to change the game on one play. But our M2M is mostly good. As mentioned, Marshall looks NFL quality to me in man 95% of the time. Perkins can play it, especially on short and intermediate routes. Kimber can play it. Helm can play it. I suspect Hill can too if the knees ever get truly 100%. I’ve already seen him do it, I just think he’s not all the way back yet. If the recruiting class holds up, I believe we can add another two-ish to that list overnight. Line these guys up and just declare it. Gonna need to fix that funny little LB issue of course, if you’re going to have all the DB’s run themselves away from the run game (which is in reality why most teams are zone heavy, they are supporting the run D with DB’s, hoping for a best of both worlds outcome.) But we’re 4-4 and can’t stop much of anything. So may as well see what it looks like to sell out in M2M, IMO. It’s also my opinion that most college QB’s today are now zone beaters as a rule. It’s why so many go Full Dud in the NFL where everyone has basically the same freak talent and it’s even faster, and any team can play a respectable M2M. Those guys who were masters of throwing to soft spots in college can’t hit the smaller windows or throw accurately enough to punish M2M which is only going to be open by a step at best. UT should do this against UGA. They also play mostly wretched D. Bennett can throw for two bills against bad cover 3. And then look like he’s about to get replaced for the 100th time against M2M. And UGA should mos def do it against Hooker. They have the personnel to go cover 1/0 all day. My prediction: both will play zone all day and it’ll be another 100 point shootout.
I really did not care if the Gators ran a press man (1 yard off) or off man coverage (5-7 yards off). My concern was that regardless of the coverage our DBs constantly lost leverage by turning the wrong way or making the wrong reads. It was certainly weird to see off man coverage with the DBs so far off the receivers (well beyond 10 yards...it looked like a prevent defense at times), especially with the defensive linemen also playing off the line of scrimmage and apparently not understanding gaps and edges.
When I played HS ball I was a safety and all the DBs were taught to use our peripheral vision to keep an eye on the receiver while being able to watch the QB as best we could. The only reason I can surmise that they don't do that anymore is that the receivers are so much faster now and the passing games are too complex. Personally, I'm a big proponent of knocking the crap out of the receivers coming off of the line and impeding their immediate progress while disrupting the timing of the play. That way the DBs can still see where the QB immediately looks initially.
From time to time, you have to change things up. Sooner or later the offenses are going to adjust and counter your scheme and eat your lunch. On the other hand, if our D is failing in making the reads, making wrong turns, cannot close the gaps, then you go to man to man or tight coverage. The plus side of this is that the Defense will improve on the pass coverage and the tackling skills. Something that is missing now. Making the reads and the required coverage adjustments takes time. Playing zone is a real team oriented scheme. Our guys have not been coached well enough, and or not been together long enough. One player blowing his assignment will result in a completion and or a TD.
