Defending Trips in the 4-2-5

This post was provided by Joe Daniel Football

Joe Daniel is the Offensive Coordinator at Amelia County High School in Virginia. He works with the Offensive Line and Linebackers.

When you prepare your 4-2-5 Defense to defend against Trips Formations, start by focusing on what you need to stop first. In High School and Youth Football, that means defending the run.

The 4-2-5 Defense System package is built on our base philosophy of keeping it simple so that your players can play fast. Faster players win more football games.

Defending Trips Formations with our 4-2-5 Defense is no different. We start with a simple Quarter-Quarter-Half coverage that I’ll share in this video. This ‘Check Roll’ call is very similar to a spot drop Cover 3.

The ‘Check Roll’ call is excellent for defending offenses that spread the field to run the football or distribute the ball with a short passing game. But we found an obvious weakness defending 4 vertical routes in practice.

To shut down the 4 Vertical passing concept from a 3 by 1 set, incorporate the ‘Hang Technique’ with your Weak Safety. When he is not immediately threatened by weak side run game or a running back release, he sinks and looks for crossers. We tell him to just ‘hang out.’

By getting the Weak Safety to recognize and get underneath the #3 Receiver crossing to the back side hash in the 4 Vertical concept, you squeeze off the low hole area where we were vulnerable before.

The back side Corner plays a deep-half technique. He is helping over top of both vertical routes to his side.

Always carry at least 3 calls to defend Trips Formations with your 4-2-5 Defense in every game plan. While our basic Quarter-Quarter-Half is simple and effective, you’ll need more than just one answer for the plays your opponent runs best from week to week.

The video clip below has audio so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Note that some schools block access to YouTube.

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