subject: The 73 Bandit Defense for Youth Tackle Football [print this page] The 73 Bandit Defense for Youth Tackle Football
The 73 Bandit Defense is a blend of several defensive schemes that our teams have used over the years, including Coach J. Reeds "Gap Air Mirror Defense" and the traditional 50-series defense that has been popular for decades at all levels. We made these modification to take care of certain areas we think can be improved in each of the baseline defenses, and to better suit the aggressive style of play for youth league recreational and school level football.
The defensive philosophy of the 73 Bandit is based on several time-proven tendencies found in most youth leagues with players aged 6-12 years old:
Teams run 90% of the time, and most passing is "risky" at best
Offensive plays go to the "strong side" of the formation 75% of the time
70% of running plays are run outside of the tackle (whether by design or not!)
Talent levels in most youth leagues vary wildly from season to season and from team to team
Defenses with too many rules don't work if the boys can't learn to execute them flawlessly
Every youth league team has weaker players that have to play somewhere
Every youth league player needs tocontribute to the success of the team to have the most fun!
With these concepts in mind, our staff devised the Bandit defense. The term Bandit is used to describe the key player in the defense - a hybrid rover safety that is the only player to reposition himself regularly depending on the formation of the offensive set. This makes the defense easy to learn, but still powerfully effective to both sides of the formation. The basic set looks like this (assuming the defense is facing the bottom of the page, and the offense is facing the top of the page:
The key tenants of this defense are as follows:
Bandit aligns tothe strong side of the offense, and calls out his position to the rest of the team.
The interior three linemen charge from their 4 point stance toward the side called by Bandit
DE in a 2pt. stance align just outside the TE, and jam him inward to the line at the snap
CB's read the TE for "pass first / run support second" reactions
Bandit covers the first "back" aligned outside of the TE's - usually a wingback or flanker
Outside LB's align outside the DE, and charge cleanly into the offensive backfield unless they have pass coverage requirements based on the offensive formation.
MBL mirrors the QB and fills gaps along the DL from C gap to C gap, rarely defending a pass.
There are a few "reads" that must be made, mostly due to offensive alignment of additional backs set in Wingback or Flanker positions, or a pass-play vs run-play analysis at the line of scrimmage.The full text, including colored player diagrams of the defensive eBook details these simple rules, which most any boy can learn in two practice sessions. We also show how to defendagainst most any kind ofimaginable offensive set, from Power I with two TE's to a Quad Wide gadget alignment.
Just as in the Gap-Air-Mirror defense, the interior linemen use a 4 point stance to "bear crawl" into the offensive line, but we add a slice stunt to the guards, along with an "automatic" blitz call for certain situations, creating a huge pile up of bodies that no sane running back would ever attempt to run into. This forces the ball carrier to run wide to one side or the other, where the best tacklers and athletes on the defense lie in wait, backed up by sure footed cornerbacks (CB's), the Middle Linebacker (Mike), and of course, the "Bandit" who only covers a receiver if he reads pass.
This combination of defending only half the field to the sideline, and the ability to always rush more defenders in to the offensive backfield than the offense can block creates tremendous pressure on the offense, resulting in many broken plays, turnovers, and tackles in the backfield.
The entire details of the defense is contained in an online eBook, viewable with any personal computer that supports Microsoft PowerPoint software. The eBook contains full role responsibility for every player, and the remarkably simple responsibilities each player must assume. There is also a section on useful practice drills, and a full commentary of the skills and traits that will help a youth coach select the right boy for any given position.
If you are a defensive coach looking for a defense to shut down your opponents running game, and to put so much pressure on the passer that an air approach is impractical, this simple defense is easy to learn and fun for the boys to master.
