Georgia’s new coordinator calls 3-4 defensive scheme ‘balanced’
Four of the NFL’s top-five ranked defenses ran a 3-4 defensive scheme during the 2009 regular season.
And now Georgia’s new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is bringing the same concept to the Bulldogs, joining defending national champion Alabama as the only other SEC school to utilize the 3-4 as its base package.
Grantham believes the 3-4 scheme is a better fit for matching the firepower of non-traditional offenses that have hit college football recently, such as Florida’s spread offense or Georgia Tech’s triple option offense.
“In the 3-4 you can be balanced,” Grantham said. “The thing with the 4-3 is the guys that are putting their hand in the dirt are the guys rushing. Whereas in the 3-4, I can tell you that the three guys with their hand in the dirt are coming but one of those other outside backers is going to be coming 95 percent of the time, so they have to account for all four of those guys on every snap. But yet only one of those guys could be coming.”
But with only three down linemen in the 3-4, the nose tackle becomes especially critical, as he is expected to take on two blockers in order to free up the two inside linebackers to roam and make plays. A common misconception, though, is that the nose tackle must be a massive space-eater in the mold of Alabama’s Terrence Cody.
“When we were in Dallas, Jay Ratliff made the pro bowl as a nose tackle, and he’s an undersized nose tackle and we’re going to be more of a one-gap team so you can play with guys that are like that,” Grantham said.
The prime candidate on Georgia’s roster to fill the nose tackle position is 295-pound junior Deangelo Tyson.
“I think I’m going to be the one in the middle,” Tyson said. “If I am, I’m just going to work hard, learn it and play it to the best of my ability. I just feel like I would need to get stronger because you don’t want to get too big and not be able to move.”
Defensive ends in the 3-4 are expected to be greater in size than 4-3 defensive ends, and are relied on more for run support and occupying blockers than rushing the passer.
Therefore, the pass-rushing responsibilities fall on the outside linebackers, who are bigger than their 4-3 counterparts.
“We’re going to attack blockers up front,” Grantham said. “Our outside backers are going to be aggressive, they’re going to be solid on the edge in the run, and we’re going to develop those guys as pass rushers.”
As dramatic as the changes will be for the front seven, which could include many position changes, the secondary will largely remain unchanged by the switch.
“I think, from the secondary’s vantage point, it doesn’t make probably that much difference because 4-3, 3-4 are still seven-man fronts,” new secondary coach Scott Lakatos said.
Whether it affects their potential position or not, the potential is undeniable to Grantham’s new flunkies.
“Alabama has a lot of people running to the ball, they create a lot of turnovers, and they just had a great defense,” Jones said. “So when you see a team in your own conference run that type of defense against the same teams you play and have so much success, it makes you feel like you could do the same thing as they can.”
