F irst, let me say that it is an honor for me

to be able to speak with you tonight. I

would like to thank the AFCA for the
Assistant Coach of the Year Award and
also for this opportunity to speak at this
convention. An award like this is especially
meaningful when your peers present it.
With the short period of time that I have
been allotted for this presentation, it is dif-
ficult to talk about defensive schemes. So
I would like to share some thoughts about
defense in general and also some
thoughts about linebacker play in our
scheme.
First, it is helpful if you understand
something about me. I have had the good
fortune of coaching for 20 years at an insti-
tution that has had 40 winning football sea-
sons in a row. I believe that the only way to
win on a consistent basis is to play great
defense. I will show you a chart of our con-
ference defensive statistics for the last 16
years. I believe the chart shows some cor-
relation between playing good defense and
winning conference championships (See
chart below).
Over the last 20 years I have had the
opportunity to coach in more than 200 foot-
ball games and have observed several
hundred more. There are five characteris-
tics of great defensive football teams that I
think exist at any level of football. I believe
that you must coach your players in these
five areas if you are going to be a success-
ful defensive team.
1. Team Defense
Every player on the field must know his
assignment, do his assignment and realize
that there are 10 other players that are
depending on him to fulfill his responsibility
on any play.
Central College Defense
2. Aggressive Defense
Every player must be aggressive in car -
rying out his assignments and techniques
Linebacker Play
in a 50 Defense
on every play. The defense must be the
aggressor in all one-on-one situations with
the offensive player. The defensive player
cannot afford to stay back and wait for
something to happen.
3. Understand the Importance of
Field Position
The first goal on any defensive series is
to prevent a score, but the players need to
understand that field position can be the
difference in any tight football game. Third
down must be important, and the defense
needs to win the third down battle two-
thirds of the time in order to be successful.
4. Pursuit
Running to the football is critical to the
success of the defense. Every player on
the field must understand that he needs to
be where the ball is when the whistle blows
at the end of the play. How well your foot-
ball team pursues the football will have a
greater impact on your success than any
other technique or fundamental.
Don DeWaard
5. Great Tackling
If a player does everything else well, Defensive Coordinator
but isn’t a good tackler, he will not help
you on defense. Every defender on the Central College
field must be a good tackler for the
defense to be successful. Pella, Iowa
Those are five areas that I believe you
as a coach must emphasize to your defen-
sive players in order to have a great
defense.
I would like to spend some time talking
about linebacker play. In our scheme, when
I talk about linebackers, I am talking about

POINTS PER GAME CONF. PER GAME CONF. CONF.

YEAR ALLOWED AVERAGE RANK YARDS RANK FINISH
1986 58 7.3 1ST 191.7 1ST 1ST
1987 47 5.9 1ST 186.4 1ST 1ST
1988 72 9.0 1ST 188.3 1ST 2ND
1989 78 9.8 1ST 182.3 1ST 1ST
1990 83 10.4 1ST 229.9 1ST 1ST
1991 68 8.5 1ST 235.8 2ND 2ND
1992 94 11.8 1ST 215.4 1ST 1ST
1993 65 8.1 1ST 186.9 1ST 2ND
1994 66 8.3 2ND 234.0 2ND 1ST
1995 35 4.4 1ST 180.5 1ST 1ST
1996 147 18.4 1ST 291.6 1ST 2ND
1997 119 14.9 1ST 279.5 1ST 2ND
1998 142 14.2 1ST 281.6 3RD 1ST
1999 128 12.8 1ST 260.4 2ND 2ND
2000 73 7.3 1ST 227.1 1ST 1ST
2001 149 14.9 2ND 271.9 3RD 1ST

• Proceedings • 79th AFCA Convention • 2002 •

inside backers that normally line up inside
the offensive tackles. I will start with these
fundamentals.
Stance
I have learned over the years that it is
more important to help your players break
bad habits in their stance, than try to get
them in the perfect stance on every play.
Don’t allow your players to start the play in
a position that prevents them from reacting
to anything that the offense attempts to do
to them.
Keys and Key Reaction
Whether you key linemen or backs
depends on what the offense you are play-
ing against is doing. Our keys will change
from week to week but the important thing
is to help your players understand what the
offense is trying to do to them.
Block Protection
I believe very strongly that any defen-
sive player must get their hands in the
game as soon as possible. The key to
block protection is creating separation from
the blocker as soon as possible because
the defense does not have any time to
waste once the ball is snapped.
These are the linebacker techniques
that I teach.
Read
This technique is used when we are
aligned on an open lineman. The key in this
technique is to recognize the type of block
that the lineman is trying to use and then
react appropriately.
Scrape
We use this technique when our gap
assignment is either inside or outside of our
alignment. The keys to this technique are to
attack the gap as quickly as possible by not
taking extra steps to get there, and to
attack the inside of the gap if you are going
outside and the outside of the gap if you
are going inside.
Shuffle
This technique is used by the backside
linebacker when the ball flow is away. It is
important to maintain depth and also a
good cutback relationship on the football
when using this technique.
Shoot
This technique is used when our gap
• Proceedings • 79th AFCA Convention • 2002 •
responsibility is right in front of us and the
gap is threatened. It is important to attack
as soon as the read is made and also to
attack inside out.
Pass Drop
Getting depth as quickly as possible by
turning the hips and running is important,
as well as keeping the head moving back
and forth in order to read not only patterns,
but also the quarterback.
I would like to take a few moments to
discuss some coaching points that I feel
are important for the linebacker position.
These are some general points about line-
backer play that I believe are important for
linebackers to know and understand.
1. Understand the Defense
I believe it is very important for lineback-
ers to not only know their assignment but to
also understand the entire defensive
scheme and philosophy. They need to
understand the strength and weaknesses
of all the defensive calls.
2. Be an On-The-Field Leader
Linebackers must be the quarterback of
your defense. They need to call signals,
talk situations and be an on-the-field coach.
3. Recognize Formation and
Communicate
One of the most important aspects of
playing good defense is learning as much
about the offense presnap as possible.
Linebackers need to be leaders in this area
and communicate it to their teammates.
4. Know the Situation and
Communicate
Any defense will be better prepared on
a given play if they understand the situa-
tion (down, distance & field position). It is
up to the linebackers to be aware of the on
field situation and communicate it to their
teammates.
5. Attack the Line of Scrimmage on
Running Plays
Linebackers always need to be in the
attack mode if the line of scrimmage is
threatened in their area of responsibility.
We need to meet blockers at two yards of
depth, not four.
6. Keep Shoulders Square to the Line
of Scrimmage
All defenders need to stay parallel to the
line as long as possible. Staying square
allows the defenders to move in any direc-
tion, thereby having the ability to cover
more ground.
7. Never Stay Blocked
Everyone is going to get blocked some-
time throughout the course of the game.
The key is to not stay blocked.
8. Do Not Over Pursue
Linebackers must always keep a good
cutback relationship on the football when
they are in pursuit. Keeping the football
between themselves and the sidelines
allows them to always be in a position to
make the tackle.
Over the years at Central, we have been
successful on defense because we have
always had linebackers that are able to
play defense sideline to sideline. The abili-
ty of the linebackers to shed blocks and run
to the ball are critical to the success of a 52
defense. We have not always had tremen-
dous speed at linebacker but we have been
able to teach our linebackers to play up and
down the line of scrimmage. We spend a
lot of time in our individual drills doing foot-
work using bags and ball movement.
Teaching linebackers’ pursuit angles is
another very effective way to assist them in
getting to the football quicker.
I would again like to thank the AFCA
for this opportunity to share some
thoughts about defense and linebacker
play. It has been a very enjoyable experi-
ence for me.
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