Solid youth football defense wins championships. Choosing the right defense is vital to a successful season. Remember, it does not matter what defense you choose, what’s important is that your team gets to the ball and tackles well.
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Youth Football 53 Defense
The 53 defense is probably the most common defense in youth football . In my league I play against the 53 defense at least 5 times per season, including playoffs. The defense is a solid defense for youth football. It puts 8 defenders in the box to stop the run. This defense is a simple, yet effective. It is sound against the run and effective against the pass.
The 53 defense has 5 down linemen, 3 linebackers. The secondary consist of 2 cornerbacks and a safety. The great thing about this defense is that you only have to find 3 linebackers, where as the 44 you need 4. It also has 5 down linemen which will allow your 3 linebackers to be free off blocks and make plays. This also a great defense to hide some of your weaker players as they get required plays.
Youth Football 44 Defense
The youth football 44 is a defense which consists of 4 down linemen and 4 linebackers. The linebackers are stacked behind the defensive linemen. The secondary has two cornerbacks along with a free safety, playing center field.
The 44 stack is a great way to confuse the offensive linemen’s blocking scheme. Stacking your linebackers will hide which defender is attacking which gap. The 44 stack makes the offenses pre-snap read difficult. The 44 defense is a blitz and stunting friendly defense. This defense has 4 linebackers that can blitz at anytime. Slanting of the defensive linemen and looping of the linebackers works really well in this defense. Having 8 defenders in the box in youth football is a good thing, stop the run.
Youth Football 52 Defense
The 52 defense is commonly used youth football defense. There are 5 down linemen. There are 2 inside linebackers, with 2 cornerbacks, a free safety and a strong safety. This defense is great because of the strong safety, which can be moved to any area of the field. Having a strong safety allows the defense to adjust accordingly to multiple offensive formations by only moving one player (bringing the strong safety over to strong side). In youth football it is good to keep defenses basic, focus on getting off blocks and tackling. What is also good about the 52 defense is that the strong safety can play the strong side flat zone (against slants, screens, flare passes).
Youth Football 62 Defense
The 62 consists of 6 down linemen, 2 inside linebacker and 3 secondary players (2 corners and 1 safety). This defense is tough against the inside isolation and power plays. The 62 defense is also good for hiding some of your weaker players (minimum play players) in the interior of the line with little chance of giving up large yardage. Youth football linebackers are sometimes hard to find, so coaches usually can put your two best players at the inside linebacker positions. Having 6 down linemen will also occupy most of the interior gaps. This will leave your two linebackers free from blocks, allowing them to make plays.
Youth Football 43 Defense
The 43 defense is not a very common defense in youth football, because it only has 7 defenders in the box. This doesn’t mean it is a bad defense. The 43 defense consists of 4 down linemen, 2 outside linebackers and 1 middle linebacker. The secondary has 2 cornerbacks, along with a free and strong safety.
What is good about this defense is that it has two safeties. This will allow you to adjust to the strong side of the offense- only having to move one player (one of the safeties). You can shift into a 44 defense easily as well; bringing down a safety to make an 8 man box. The 43 is also very successful in pass coverage. The cover two works well in passing situations. Cover 4 (four deep coverage) is also great for prevent. Although, this defense is decently rare in youth football, it can still be a successful defense. It is simple to implement, which is definitely a good thing. Easy and simple is key for youth football.
Youth Football 33 Stack defense
The 33 stack defense has 3 down defensive linemen, 2 defensive tackles and a nose guard. There are 5 linebackers; 1 inside linebacker lined up stacked over the center, 2 middle linebackers stacked over the defensive tackles, and two outside linebackers. There are 2 cornerbacks, along with a deep middle safety (free safety). This is strictly a gap control defense.
The 33 stack defense is designed to confuse the offense with the “stack” look. Having the stacked linebackers will really confuse the offense. Combination blitzes and defensive linemen slants will be a nightmare for offenses. This defense is also very flexible; it is easy to get into the 44 or 53 defense-with minor player movement. The 33 defense will put pressure on the offense, because they will not know where the blitz is going to come from. It is a great defense for youth football. It will eat up many different youth football blocking schemes. Even though I have always had a 5 man front, I use a lot of 33 stack defensive philosophies.
Thanks for the details regarding youth football defenses. I have always used the 52 monster defense. Like you said its good because I have to only move one player to adjust the the titled offense. when the offense gives me no strong side i will throw my monster to wide side of the field. I been running the 52 for years and had a lot of success with it. In youth football it is all about keeping it simple. Thanks coach!!!!!!! I look forward to more!!
My favorite is the 65, manup on the six offensive players in the box, not counting the center. Five dbs align 5 yards deep, each in front of the receiver he will cover man on passes. Two backers are the outside men on the down six, so we have only four defensive linemen. The two most savvy of the six are allowed to call switches and twists ; each to one side of the defense. All players are encouraged to lineup wherever they wish; as long as they can fiil their gap, find the ball, and pursue it. The backers contain the wide plays and Monster, from the middle of the 5 deep, will usually ket the FB; but is free to do whatever he wishes. We want our guys to move around, setting and resetting, to confuse the blocking. Our two best down linemen will set on their two weakest offensive linemen; with twogap responsibilities. We want to jam all receivers and force them to run their patterns into one another. We
scout industriously, and always find some poignant keys. We want to take their hotdogs down hard and often and early on. Wherever we are, the field and the ball are ours. The punks in the wrong color uniforms have no business on our field or with our ball and we will punish them for their presumption.
I agree scouting is vital and so overlooked. That is why I run a series based scheme, with no huddle and formation shifts which will allow us to see how the defense adjusts and we can adjust to the play which will give us the most success from the look we are getting from the defense….Jet, Rocket, and Fly motion are also not used a lot by teams, which is a mistake. I put a lot of my better players on the offensive line…if you control the line of scrimmage you control the game. Only a few things about man to man that I have a problem with-is it is weak against play action passing-combination routes-if they play press with inside leverage then we ll throw a go route. If they are playing man to man head up well hit slant. Plus I can split a player out to take a defender out of the box to give me better numbers inside. Coaches need to have check outs and running the no huddle is a killer because I do not call plays just to call them we check into a play that can give us the most success with saying only one call. I also get a lot of pass interference calls because corners on the youth level have problems finding the ball. With no safety my post corner combo is a killer. Specially my slot receiver is off the ball. Check out this play: http://www.youtube.com/user/YouthFootballOnline#p/u/7/nhuS_jrErsQ
Couldn’t agree more about scouting, we scout every team and try to get as many games as I can on them. I mean the tapes do not lie you can pick up a lot of things on film, you probably had a lot of success because you scout hard. I have won games because of scouting.
Good stuff !
Coach Jeff
Hello Coach, I am a newly appointed Defensive Coach, I usually coach the O & D lineman. I was wondering if you could give me any advise as to what to look for when calling my Defensive formations? I understand the 5-2, 4-4, 6-2 etc., but I need to be able to teach my players position, zones and areas where they need to be and what to look for when the Offense is getting set. I am at the PeeWee level, which is 11-13 year olds. Many have played at least 3-4 years of football. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time. Coach Jody, Jackson,NJ
I think the 53 defense is the way to go for youth flag football.
this past season I used the 33stack and my d was unstoppable , we gave up 18 points in 8 games , had 6 ints 1 for a td as for sacks or tackles for lost well way too many 2 remember. in the playoffs only 12 points in 2 games, oh and how can I forget about the forced fumbles again way 2 many 2 remember, 2 say it in 1 word this d is almost unstoppable 2 much confusing as a side note I had the most under seize team in elite. great defense! trust me try it.
two int tds