Alright all you defensive guru's out there--- I need some help, please!
but... you have to remember, this has to be on the middle school level. I'm not looking for how detailed and sophisticated you can be... I'm looking for uncomplicated and easy (for a 13 year old) to comprehend!

What I need is some ideas as to how to call blitzes out of our 4-4 defense that allows some flexibility of getting any combination of LB's blitzing but... I do NOT want to flip flop personnel!!! We can find strength each play... but how do I call a blitz, for example, where I want the weak side OLB to blitz the edge while the strong side ILB fires (say) A gap to his side?

Any diagrams would be greatly appreciated. You can attach to an email to my school address: johnslz@cps.k12.va.us.

I noticed that nobody has used this Forum in awhile so I hope somebody notices a new message on "Defense"!!!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Blessings,
Lew

Coach, here is a simple plan that I used a few years back. Label left outside LBER - Liz, right outside LBER Rip, the two middle LBERs would be Sam, left ISLB and Mike, right ISLB. Then you would label your pressures to match the gap they are going to go to. A gap pressure is ACE, B gap pressure is BLITZ, C gap pressure is CRASH, and D gap pressure is DOG. You now have only 4 pressure responsibilities for your kids to know, from the 4 lber positions. It is now incumbent on us as coaches to determine where we want pressure from, and the kids just go and play. You then have 1 man pressure, 2 man pressure, 3 man pressure, and can bring the house and still be gap sound. A typical call from the sidelines would be, BASE- LIZ DOG, MIKE ACE, Cover 1. The front plays base, Liz comes off the left edge and Mike hits the A gap to his side, and the secondary mans up. No flopping or remembering strong vs. weak, at least for the kids. There may be some adjustments to make based on how you line up your fronts and whether they stunt or not, but again it is then up to us as coaches to do this and help put kids in the right position to have success. I hope this helps you, as you have done so much to help others on this board and elsewhere.
Coach Runyon

Coach: Thank you VERY much. Your ideas have a lot of merit. Well-thought out. I appreciate it.
In Christ,
Lew

Another thought similar to the one I posted earlier is to make the call based on strength, if your young guys can recognize your strong and weak calls. An example would be: BASE - Dog weak, Ace strong, Cover 1.. Using my last post's examples of blitz naming, the pressure would look like this; If STUD/strong right, Liz runs DOG off the edge, Sam plays base, Mike pressures strong A gap(ACE), and Rip plays base, the front bases up and the secondary mans up. If STUD/strong left - Rip lber runs the DOG pressure, Mike plays base, Sam pressures A gap(ACE), and Liz plays base, the front bases up, and the secondary mans up. It all depends on strength related or matchup related pressure calls, in essence whatever we as coaches choose. Hope this helps.