The 4-2-5: Part 1

As many of you know, Michigan currently runs something of a "4-3 under" or for some people "THE USC DEFENSE". Now that we're in the off-season and I feel like learning more, we'll take a look at some other defenses that the Wolverines could use (or face) in the future.

This week, it's the 4-2-5. This defense is also known as the "nickle defense", which many teams run on 3rd down by pulling a linebacker off the field in favor of another defensive back. Some teams, however, use it as a primary defensive front, most notably TCU and Boise State, two extremely successful mid-majors over the last decade.

In the 4-2-5 you have four down linemen, two linebackers, and five defensive backs. In most nickle situations, a 3rd cornerback is brought onto the field. But in the case of Boise and TCU, the third cornerback is actually something of a linebacker/safety combination, often named a "robber" or something of a similar name (UTEP's 3-3-5 safety is named MINER, so you get the idea). In this way the defense doesn't sacrifice too much size for speed, but getting a solid balance of both.

The 4-2-5 is very effective because it presents different challenges for a quarterback who typically has to read 4-3 and 3-4 defenses. This formation allows the defense to not only disguise coverages but also who's blizting and where they'll be coming from. An example - the inside blitz from a 4-2-5 look.

The nose is stepping across the center through A gap while the tackle heads through B, with the backers blitzing both the A and B gaps as well. Many times teams will also blitz the safeties (or Robbers) off of the edge or in combination with other blitzes.

The problem with this situation above is the secondary is left with deep thirds, meaning if the safety is locked down by the TE, then a scrambling quarterback may have access to the flats.

More coming in the next post!