The California Golden
Bears’ Defensive
I t is a pleasure to be asked to write this
article on our Golden Bear defense. I
would like to thank Tom Holmoe, our head
Philosophy football coach, for the opportunity to put
together this defensive staff. Bill Dutton our
defensive line coach, Randy Stewart our
secondary coach and myself have coached
the same defensive concepts together for
about 15 coaching seasons. A great addi -
tion to our staff this year was Al Simmons,
who coaches our corners.
We feel our first priority must be to
stop the run. If we cannot stop the run, we
have no chance of winning. However, in
our conference you may stop the run and
still not win. We see a great number of
passing formations and different types of
passing games. If we can force the
offense to pass, we can then get into one
of our substitution packages that may
help us defend against it.
We play about four or five defensive
fronts and three coverages, though simple
adjustments give the appearance that we
play more than that. Our defensive fronts
come from the 50 reduction concepts
which we call eagle G or eagle shade. We
match the fronts with a quarters concept in
Lyle Setencich which we may play cover two on one side
and quarters on the other. Our safety may
Defensive Coordinator play deep (eight to 10 yards) or up (tight to
the line of scrimmage) to give us a nine-
University of California man front approach. We play an under
front in passing situations and match that
Berkeley, Calif. with a five, six or seven-man secondary
scheme.
We are an eagle G and eagle shade
cover eight quarters team. When we are
trying to stop the run, the safeties may
invert both sides to give us a nine-man
front. We may also play quarters on one
side and invert the other side to give us an
eight-man front.
The top priority for our defensive line-
men is to establish vertical thrust! That
allows us to use some fronts that incorpo-
rate line movement. Our defensive linemen
have four techniques they can play, our
linebackers have three techniques and our
secondary has four techniques to choose
from.
All of our defensive players have a run-
pass eye progression. They must be able
to explain, and execute each progression.
All players have a pre-snap eye progres-
sion, or a clue from the offense, that tells
them which technique they may choose.
Each player also has what we call A.A.+
K + T.E. Which stands for:
• AFCA Summer Manual — 1999 •
Alignment.
Assignment.
Key (Eye progression).
Technique.
Execution.
When we call an eagle front, we are
telling our players to think run. When we
call an under defense, we are telling them
to think pass. Based on our pre-snap eye
progression, our players must be able to
play an eagle technique defense when we
have called an under defense. They must
have an understanding of the system to
play eagle or under technique regardless of
the call.
Diagram 1: Eagle G Front
Diagram 2: Under Front
Defensive Line Technique
R.O.M. (Read on the move): A bal-
anced stance playing off the movement of
the offensive line.
Read Blast: An attacking run stance
playing off of the movement of the offen-
sive line.
Vertical Blast: An attacking pass rush
movement.
Line Movement: Single movement,
two-man games, adjacent movement,
three-man and four-man games.
Note: All line movement in eagle are
quick games
All line movement in under are delayed
or second level twists.
Linebacker technique is based on the
technique used by the defensive line.
Depth off the ball is always based on what
techniques are being executed in front of
the linebackers. We base our width on the
same concepts. Our pre-snap eye progres-
sion can also determine our depth and
width. Our linebackers read adjacent spac-
 Diagram 3: Read on the Move Diagram 9: Three-Man Game
Diagram 4: Read Blast Diagram 10: Four-Man Game
Diagram 5: Vertical Blast
Diagram 11: Three-Man Game
Diagram 6: Line Movement
Diagram 12: Four-Man Game
ing lineman to flow. We call that zone eyes.
Diagram 7: OF Single Line Movement
If we are reading a back, we call that man-
eyes. The eye progression may change by
back set, formation or splits.
Diagram 13: Adjacent Spacing
Lineman that Mike and Willie Read
Diagram 8: Two-Man Game
The Sam linebacker plays on the tight
end. The majority of the time he will read on
the move (ROM). His eye progression
starts with the tight end. His depth and
width is based on formation and back set.
• AFCA Summer Manual — 1999 •
The safeties in our package play a
tremendous role in our defense. We
depend on them to be linebackers on one
play and corners on another play. They
play four techniques, which we call hard,
heavy, shuffle and soft. These are based
on their pre-snap eye progression, the for-
mation, back set and split.
A heavy technique is one in which the
safety stays in place. His keys tell him to
play run like a linebacker or the pass (wide
receiver) like a corner. With this technique,
the safety does not know if it is a run or pass.
His post-snap eye progression will tell him.
A hard technique is one in which the
safety will take a one-two step and utilize a
step-up technique. This is similar to a cover
two corner. The safety has anticipated run
by his pre-snap eye progression, back set,
formation, or split. Once again, we are pro-
grammed to stop the run.
The shuffle technique is a vertical shuf-
fle, which occurs when the safety has read
lite and he anticipates pass. As he goes
into the vertical shuffle he follows his eye
progression to the play. It could be run, but
most often it is pass.
A soft technique is used in long yardage
passing situations. The safety plays pass
by down and distance or formation.
The safety must recognize the following
blocks in order to be a factor in the run game.
The base block is a downhill concept to him.
The hook block is a playside fit to him. The
down block is a playside fit. The cut-off is a
backside, and he must fill the running lane or
space as it shows. The crack block is a
replacement by the safety. Once the safeties
recognize these blocks, we take them
through the pass sets they will see.
Diagram 14: Base
Diagram 15: Hook
 Alignments vs. Pro Formations
Diagram 16: Cut-Off Diagram 25
Diagram 19: Pro RT “I”

Alignments vs. One-Back Sets

Diagram 17: Down Block
Diagram 20: Pro Left “Near” Diagram 26

Diagram 18: Crack

Diagram 21: Pro Left “Far” Diagram 27

The general responsibilities for the

safeties are: fit to pursuit, man on No. 2 Alignments vs. Two-Tight End Diagram 28
vertical, push to No. 1, and back to the ball Formations
if No. 1 goes away. We coach these rules
Diagram 22
and try to make them as simple and con-
sistent as possible. These are coached
every day vs. the run blocking schemes
that we see. The pass blocking and pass
routes are coached in the same manner.
These six pre-snap reads are drilled every
down by both the corners and safeties.
1. Back set. Diagram 29
2. Formation. Diagram 23
3. Splits.
4. Light/Heavy.
5. Down/Distance.
6. Field position by yard line.
Our corners have less to do mentally
but are put in a great deal of one-on-one
coverage. They use two techniques.
They play both the soft technique and the
Diagram 24
press technique. There are three varia- These alignments are simple and
tions of press they use in conjunction reasonable for our defensive players to
with the safeties. learn. We do not want to give up a play,
We ask the corners to be secondary because we cannot align to the many
leverage in run. They must be drilled in the d i fferent formations and motions we
crack block and crack pass. They must must play. We stress technique and eye
read three-step, and play man on the No. 1 progression more than schemes. We
receiver. know that we are not going to fool any

• AFCA Summer Manual — 1999 •

o ffensive coaches. The offense will
know where we will align and what we Cal’s Defensive Statistical Improvement and Pac-10 Rank (1996-1998)
are playing.
With our philosophy we made great Total Yds. (Rank) (TD) Rush Yds. (Rank) (TD) Pass Yds. (Rank) (TD)
improvement in the past two years at Cal. 1996 5,063 (10th) (44) 2,084 (9th) (24) 2,979 (10th) (20)
The table at the right clearly illustrates the 1997 4,195 (8th) (42) 1,588 (7th) (18) 2,607 (7th) (24)
vast improvement between the 1996, 1997 1998 3,743 (3rd) (28) 1,473 (3rd) (10) 2,271 (3rd) (18)
and 1998 seasons.
In conclusion, I have a few thoughts for team?" We have a standard answer for a knee.” This is our way of telling them we
you. We all know how players will always this. We say, “Get the tip of your shoulder are a technique-oriented defensive team,
ask, “How are we going to play this or pads below the tip of his shoulder pads, not a scheme-oriented team. If you want to
that?” or, “How will we line up for this strike for pad control, and never, never take talk defense, give us a call.

Practice Safety-First Coaching Techniques

Excerpted from an article by Dick Schindler for the National Federation News

Coaches’ Checklist
1. Keep the head up. 13. Stress safety every day.
2. Discuss risk of injury. 14. Don’t glorify head hunters.
3. Keep the head out of contact. 15. Support officials who penalize
4. Explain how serious injuries for illegal helmet contact.
can occur. 16. Don’t praise or condone illegal
5. Involve parents in early season helmet contact.
meeting. 17. Provide conditioning to strengthen
6. Have a set plan for coaching neck muscles.
safety. 18. Entire staff must be “tuned in” to
7. Clearly explain and demonstrate safety program.
safe techniques. 19. Check helmet condition regularly.
8. Provide best medical care 20. Improper technique causes spinal
possible. cord injuries.
9. Monitor blocking and tackling 21. Helmet must fit properly.
techniques every day. 22. Be prepared for a catastrophic
10. Repeat drills which stress injury.
proper and safe techniques. 23. The game doesn’t need abusive
11. Admonish and/or discipline users contact.
of unsafe techniques. 24. Player safety is your responsibility.
12. Receive clearance by doctor 25. It’s a game — not a job — for the
for athlete to play following head players.
trauma.

• AFCA Summer Manual — 1999 •