Denauld Brown assumes the position of defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania.

Brown has coached at Columbia University and at Blinn College, of Brenham, Texas, which won the 2006 junior college national championship. After Brown's departure, Blinn won another National Championship in 2009, with the 2011 #1 NFL Draft Pick Cam Newton. Brown has also coached for the Barcelona Dragons, Scottish Claymores, Hamburg Sea Devils of NFL Europe. He had begun coaching at his alma mater, Kutztown (Pa.) University, where he was a graduate assistant coach from 1999 to 2001. Brown was a graduate assistant at the University of Connecticut under then head football coach Randy Edsall from 2001 to 2003.

An Introduction to The 5-3-1 Triangle Defense By Denauld Brown I would like to introduce to the my fellow football coaches, a defensive concept that I have been working on for last 5 years. I call it the 5-3-1 Triangle Defense. The 5-3-1 Triangle is a single gapping, 3-4 hybrid defense, that first adjusts its self to the offense formation; by identifing the middle of the used offensive formation, and placimg a specific defender transversely across from it (termed as MO or the Middle Of Formation) The 5 in the 5-3-1 refers to the 5 LOS Defenders (4 down linemen and the Sam linebacker). The 3 in the 5-3-1 refers to the two inside linebackers and the stacked safety (Mike, Will, and $). The 1 in the 5 -3-1 refers to the Free (Field) Safety.

Q: Is the 5-3-1 Triangle a balanced single gapping defense? A: In essence, every 2 high defense is imbalanced. In more traditional defenses, balance can be created by walking down or overlapping a Safety. In the 5-3-1 Triangle, we keep the Sam linebacker on line of scrimmage. This player is the primary overlap, allowing the defense to stay single gapped. However, this allows the scheme to hold a pre-snap disguise longer, making it more effective; and confusing the QB's PSR. The scheme

maintains the look of a 2 High Defense by choice, not necessity. To me, that gives the defensive coordinator an extreme amount of latitude and flexibility with the secondary.

Q: How Did the 5-3-1 Trianlge come about? A: With the immergence of the spread offense and it's off-shoots, traditional defensive schemes have been attacked like never before. These type of offenses has exposed us defensive gurus for the traditional coaches that we really are. So we are waiting for the defensive gods to bring us our messiah, and with him the answers to defending the Spread that we all seek. However, not all hope is gone, for the Spread Offense has spawned some honorable and fresh defensive ideas; like Gary Patterson and his 4-2-5 defense. In my opinion, the 4-2-5 is the best defense played at the college level today, when defending the spread. It is as close to an answer for the spread as I have seen this decade; but who in the top 25 runs it other than TCU? It saddens me that offenses have devised schemes and philosophies that allow for over 100 plays of offense a game, as well as averaging 1 play per 10 seconds or less. Actually this is an accepted norm by some defensive coaches. However, I must put my foot down and tell my defensive colleagues, it is not! Tim Murphy is both the Head football coach and offensive play caller at Harvard University. In my opinion he is one of the best offensive play callers in the country. His call sequences are an amazing piece of work. I have encountered his offense, that was 50/50 in every single category from personnel, hash, down and distance, formation, and run/pass ratio. Needless to say they won several Ivy League Championships during my tenure as a defensive coach and coordinator in that league. For all you smart guys who call defense out there: if you ever face a play caller like that, who can maintain that type of balance, and at the end the game accomplish a 50/50 run/pass ratio: you can you look like a novice, but only if you are not prepared or even worse, unaware.

Q: How does the 5-3-1 Triangle defend the Spread offense? A: To me, the biggest culprit is the in defending the Spread Offense is the hash. Binding a defense to the hash, in my opinion, is a mistake that many coaches commit. This has has been a large contributor to why the spread offense is exploding; with a larger volume of plays and points; while being a likely reason to why the Spread Offense has been so successful over the last 10 years. Q What alternatives does the 5-3-1 Triangle offer to Hash Binding? A: I challenge defensive coaches to reconsider binding your entire defense to the hashes, and start putting more emphasis on the opponet's offensive sets. By running a hash defense your tendencies in the middle of the field are skewed. Chances are, you will be more likely to stay in your base shell or become a simplistic 2 high shell defense; the majority of the time. This makes you predictable, and gets you beat! Q: So What are the advatages? The first thing this scheme does, is reduces the amount of variables used during the opponent break-down phase. I have found it useful to look at formations in a generic manner; instead of a more specific manner.

Instead of making yourself and your players memorize non-systematic formations, this system classsifies them as even or odd. It is determined by the location of MO whether a set is either even or odd. Most Coaches looking at a single break down scenario could see: 2nd and 8, left hash, 11 personnel, QB Gun, Ace right. This system compiles that information, and presents: 2nd and 8, Even. This allows you to study the results of the previous play in your break rather than locking yourself into the dynamic of the current play's presnap. Q: What does this article series offer me? I have done a lot of work with this defense and will take several articles and clinics to disclose the finer points of it. I fell that the 5-3-1 Triangle is the answer to the Spread Offense. The 5-3-1 Triangle has allowed me to merge both the alignment with assignment. In this system all personell align to offensive line leverage points. Ask yourself why a 3 technique cant be a Tackle, Linebacker, or a safety? Now a 3 linebacker just simply does what 3s do. We as human beings ask questions for two reasons. First, we ask a question to get an answer. But we also ask questions to simulate thought. I have created this defense by asking one question; Why is football an 11 man game?

Denauld Brown assumes the position of defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. Brown has coached at Columbia University and at Blinn College, of Brenham, Texas, which won the 2006 junior college national championship. After Brown's departure, Blinn won another National Championship in 2009, with the 2011 #1 NFL Draft Pick Cam Newton. Brown has also coached for the Barcelona Dragons, Scottish Claymores, Hamburg Sea Devils of NFL Europe. He had begun coaching at his alma mater, Kutztown (Pa.) University, where he was a graduate assistant coach from 1999 to 2001. Brown was a graduate assistant at the University of Connecticut under then head football coach Randy Edsall from 2001 to 2003.

Who is This Guy MO? Breaking Down the Offense in the 5-3-1 Triangle Defense By Denauld Brown When breaking down the offensive opponent, I have found it helpful to focus on one variable in the early moments. By doing this you will gain sufficient information on which direction your Defensive Personnel should go after the snap shot is taken. I call it a snap shot, on your path to significance. Breaking down a good offense can logistically be a challenge. It could also be a nightmare, if you dont know what to look for. In my experience, I have learned that the good offensive play callers are the people who seek to attain a balanced run/pass ratio. The really good ones try and attain balance through various other categories like, Hash, Down & Distance, Personnel, etc. The more categories that they achieve balance the harder it will be to sort out their tendencies, making them less predictable. Tendencies are exactly just that; they simply reveal a disposition to do something rather than a desire. As defensive coaches, we are aware of the tendencies; while being sensitive to situations, and playing the percentages. It is difficult to recognize the offense's intent (based on a break-down) when said offense is playing other opponents. Furthermore, their game plan was drafted for that defensive opponent, and not your own. So what can you do to strengthen your break-down and pre-snap game plan? First, you must know the strengths and weaknesses of your own defense; secondly, ask a few questions prior to break down. Go into the Break-down with some upfront, general questions. A General List could include, but not limited to: 1. 2. 3. What player on the offense can beat you? Can we play our base defense and manage their offensive attack? Lastly what scheme outside of our bases should we put in to take of advantage of their weakness or manage their strengths?

Breaking the Offense down with MO I feel that the following Offensive Break-Down Method has been efficient in discovering a play callers intent along with gaining knowledge of their tendencies. The Offensive variables can become overwhelming during the break-down phases; I credit this to the multiple, fast paced spread teams, that we face today. With that said, taking a general approach on the path to significance is quite understandable. What if I told you that you can still take this general approach but target a precise variable that reveals the Offense's intent?

Let me introduce you to MO? MO is short for the Middle Of the 5 offensive eligibles. MO is the true center of the formation. MO is like the sun in our solar system, or the nucleus in our atom. Everything centers around MO! No matter the opponents offensive history or future, or types of scheme they run, they will be unable mask their offensive intention if you keep your eyes on MO. Why you ask? MO is the only player on offense that can tilt the formation into balanced or un-balanced. MO is distinctive by position, but unique by task; within the total framework of the offense. MO gives you the whole picture. Experience has taught me, that MO will give a great snap shot. However, to achieve success, you still are going to have to do your homework. As defensive coordinator I know, every offense is different. So never take true film study and analysis for granted. MO gives you a clear direction where to start your breakdown, but not the entire breakdown. Every offensive coordinator has a story to tell. Knowing their tendencies is great, but reading their offensive intent is better. MO gives you a better feel for the intention of the other tendencies that you will discover. MO is more useful in more ways than one. Motions, trades, shifts, and different formations, can make a more traditional defense, check and adjust their play call; sometimes happening more times in single play than you might care to happen. Lets look at an example of the possible adjustments:

Using the example above, lets's perform a short analysis. The first question you have to ask is this set considered empty? Secondly, how do you adjust to tight end wing? Third, whats your base trips adjustment? Lastly how will you adjust to slot if and when the tailback motions to the backfield? Thats 4 major adjustments you have to think about pre-snap. Thats tough! I have seen Chip Kelly and the Oregon Ducks relentlessly dismantle a defense out of this set in their fast pace. Head Football Coach Al Bagnoli and his 2010 Ivy League Champion Penn Quakers gave me an early lesson on the difficulties of defending this set on the fly having never seen it on film during the previous game week. They are a well coached football team and he being named a finalist for National Coach of the Year award in 2010 was well deserved. So how can keying on MO help defend this set? I hope I have sparked your critical thinking skills just enough, so that you can come up with some practical solutions. I wont reveal how we line up in the 5-3-1 vs. this set but it doesnt take a new concept like the 5-3-1 to defend it, it just takes some awareness about the true middle of the formation. Here are some other examples of how we us MO as a focal point when line up in the 5-3-1 vs. some selected sets:

Denaulds Recommended Reading: 1958 Flank formation football; stress: defense Bill Walsh San Jose State College http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/9/

Controlling the Hash with the 5-3-1 Triangle Defense By Denauld Brown The hash is a fascinating component in college football today. It has significant schematic and tactical implications on the game. In the pre leatherhead days of football, the hash was non-existent. The next play started where the previous one ended; if the ball carrier happened to go out of bounds, the ball was placed one yard inside the boundary. In its inception, the hash is responsible for deciding the placement of the football, after the previous play ends. However, rules between leagues do differ. As discussed in our previous article, the 5-3-1 Triangle is a way to break away from the traditional hash based defense. Like most typical defensive line coaches, the only thing I cared about was stopping the run and getting sacks. Conceptualizing coverage option was not part of my job description, at the time. That all changed, when I was forced to leave my comfort zone, and adjusted to zone blitzing. Zone blitzes generally made me feel uncomfortable. I never understood why dropping a down lineman, and/or long sticking a defensive end, made for an effective defense; within the frame work of the single gapping 4-3 defense. What further added to my dismay, for this concept, was that the hash is the variable being used to stabilize the front. This allows the coverage to rotate, according to the vacated locations, by blitzing defenders. Overall the zone blitz concept is great, and has proved to be a mainstay in modern football! However running this out of a 4-3 defense creates many problems and inherently has too many weaknesses up front. These could include, but not limited to: Long sticking DE aligned to a TE 3 x 1 sets present maximum stress Dropping DE adjusting to a 2 x 2 set that has vertical implication on the fly Reluctance to call these types of pressures in the middle of the field Predictability

My primary concern with the 4-3 Zone Blitz concept is what the DC is planning to do with the defensive line. Long sticking never made me feel like I was being a sound and technical football coach. Secondly, vertical defensive line play is the only way to consistently control the pocket with 4 rushing players; regardless of bringing a 5th or a 6th rusher. Lastly, you can still achieve sound blitz technique for the defensive line, maintain a vertical post snap mindset, and achieve your schematic goals without ever long sticking your defensive end. How does the Hash relate to the Defensive line? You must first ask yourself if you as a defensive coach either bind or tie your front with to your coverage. These two concepts are vastly different and will answer many questions about the hash. When you tie both front and coverage together there is an understanding that a front is simply matched up with the coverage. The nature of the call itself has a disjointed feel. For instance, when a defensive call is 4-3 Over/Cover 3, do they necessarily interlock with each other? If they do not interlock, then are they truly interconnected? Some weakness with tying includes:

Only adjusting with your coverage excluding the front Multiple formations and shifts Give the LB too many on the fly call and responsibilities with the pre-snap picture changes. Stemming to get to an assignment rather that execution from the intended alignment

When you bind both front and coverage, then the idea would be that the front would be interconnected through one set variable. In the previous article Who is This Guy MO I referred to the middle of the 5 offensive eligible as that set variable. Defensive coaches you will be happy to hear, that you can use another offense eligible other than MO to interconnect your defense with in the frame work of your opponents offense. That will be an article for another day. Scenario For example, a linebacker aligns in a D gap alignment. Lets say a defensive back aligns in an A gap alignment, because of the linebackers D alignment; while the defensive end aligns in a C gap alignment because of the defensive backs A Gap alignment. Now the defense becomes more about anticipating your post-snap responsibility rather than your pre-snap assignment. Once the defensive front is locked into the hash, for example BENCH LEFT (placing the 3 technique the boundary) motion by the TE does not generally reset the defensive front. Resetting the front would likely denote a formation based call. This would also mean that all the moving parts of a zone blitz would have to shift to the opposite side of the formation, while flipping the originating location of the blitz. I know many defensive coaches, who would not like to bring a field intended pressure from the boundary, especially away from trips. So ask yourself the hard question; do I tie or bind my front with my coverage? I am of the belief that the front should never be separated from the coverage. An alignment change by one defender should alert the other 10 defenders of the change. If not, both your defensive front and coverage can become disjointed; while being exposed by a well prepared, multiple formation offense. Defense needs a fixed variable, in order for the coverage to look sound, pre-snap. The most popular fixed variable used these days is the hash, and the problem with the hash is that, you cant control it! If you cant control the only fixed variable post snap, then you cant join your front and coverage consistently. You would almost have to blitz in a hash based 4-3, to ensure that all the gaps are filled. However, if you tie your defensive front and coverage together, than you need not the hash call stabilize the front; rather the formation becomes the defining factor to rotate your coverage on. Just ask yourself what type of play calls you make in the middle of the field? Are they varied more than your calls on the hash? Better yet, do a self-analysis of your defense, and create a cut-up of all the sets and plays that occur; in the middle of the field vs. your defense. If the plays are dramatically different from the offenses base plays or if your calls are not as varied as you think, then it is likely you have a tendency in the middle of the field; that you might not be unaware of. The hash would be the main reason for these tendencies. In It is my opinion that blitzes are better suited out of a 3-4 or the 5-3-1 Triangle. These types of defenses allow you to give a balanced pre-snap look, while giving you and equal opportunity to blitz from both the left and right side of the formation; without binding your defense to the hash.

I am trying to spark a dialogue on defense. The mantra of the spread offense is to Make them defend 53 yards and 6 athletes every play. Lets take on this challenge as defensive coaches together. Make them defend 53 yards and 6 athletes every play. Lets take on this challenge as defensive coaches together.

Denauld's recommended reading: "Education and the significance of life By J. Krishnamurti http://www.alternativeeducationindia.net/education_ch1.htm 2011 TheGridironProphet

How to defense the spread with the 5-3-1 Triangle Defense By: Denauld Brown What are top 5 things you address when defending the Spread Offense?

You have to know the Spread Offense in order to defend it. The spread offense is a pass oriented offense, but to me you must find out how extensive their running game is within it. This will help your transition to understanding their passing game better. If they are truly a spread team, their run game should marry directly into their pass protections.

Do not be reluctant to acknowledge that scheme does matter on defense. It is more important to have good scheme. Figure out inventive ways to vet your defense other than just practice film.

In my experience, the play by play can give you 80 percent of the information you need to formulate an effective game plan. It gives you the intent of the offensive play caller, and what I term as their call sequences. However, you still have to sort through all the useless data. The play by play is much underutilized tool. Watching the film will just give you the characters of the story.

How does the 5-3-1 Triangle Defense Differ from the more Traditional Spread Defense? If you conceptualize and understand your defense from the offensive perspective then you will learn more about who you are schematically. The 5-3-1 Triangle defense allows me to do this. There are no formations, route combinations, or blocking schemes that I have not already drawn or simulated vs. this defense. You gain a great appreciation and respect for the offensive side of the football and I think that is necessary. I study and simulate offense playbooks relentlessly. I have studied playbooks by Mike Leach 1999 Oklahoma, Andy Reid Eagles Mini Camp 2002, Mark Richt 1994 FSU, and Steve Mariucci 1997 Cal. I figure if I can get good at defending these guys I can defend anyone. Defense is such a reactionary segment of football. As a defensive coach there is a natural evaluation period after the fact rather than prior to the play. Study your defense through offense and you will gain a natural anticipation of post snap play.

When defending the Spread Offense, How should I defend the pass?

First, I think you have to figure out a progression when it comes to teaching yourself the offensive sets. I prefer starting out with an empty set then condensing the formations to an I pro set. Therefore you have given the extended sets enough attention. Second, I look at pass protection from the free releasers stand point rather than where they are going to slide. You get a better feel the pass game this way. A back that free releases into the pass pattern especially to the two receiver side indicates protection. Thanks to Nevada and their gun pistol we have to find alternate indicators other than the offset back to reveal protection. Lastly, you need to have a general knowledge about what a good run or pass set is.

When defending the Spread Offense, how do find success in defending the Running Game? First thing to find out is if the particular spread team has an option element to it? Option takes a commitment. If they dont run option on 3rd & 3 +? They are not committed to the option. Second, know when they are going to run. Down and distance is good but field zone studies yield great run tendencies. Also, wide receiver may run pass routes but their pre-snap alignments also tell you a lot. Lastly, if the offense has a player that seemingly does everything especially aligning in multiple positions, follow him!

How do you handle the Spread Option, in the 5-3-1? Spread option is handled pre-snap by counting the amount possible running threats that can get directly carry the ball or get into pitch phase by alignment. You always have to have 4 defenders on 3 threats or 5 defenders on 4 threats vs. the spread option. Your backside safety has to engage in the running game once he clears any vertical threat to his side. I will not discuss the specifics of how the 5-3-1 defends the option but I have always liked the quarters approach to playing option.

How would I address the QB as a Runner? The QB as a runner is something that you have to define. In my opinion the only time that the QB is considered a runner is when the OC designs plays by hat have him attack the perimeter. Sprint out, QB Sweep etc. Outside of that it comes down to a contain thing that has to be addressed by the defensive line. I am partial to 1 defender behind 2 defender type movements and quick penetrating movements. The QB perimeter run game is handled by the coverage. Usually some form of 1/4's with a crack replace component to it. No matter what the defense does someone is going to have to be a two gap player and get off of a block and make a play. You have to know who the two gap player will be in your particular scheme. Resent Trends in College Football has seen exceptional runners and run strategies at the QB Position. How do I defend against those types of players? Players are players; while some are more gifted than others. Game plans for players like Cam Newton or Tim Tebow should be based on their passing ability, and not their running ability. I would rather keep a runner from

passing that keep a runner from running. Reason being the more he runs it the more hits I can get on him. A defense will always step up to punish a good running quarterback. Which Spreads set should I look for, and why? (List of three)Set Name, Reasoning Let me answer this question by telling you what my favorite offensive sets are. Yes I have offensive sets that I like more than others. Why? I feel that you have to love offensive concept football not just understand offensive plays. I would think that a fire fighter who loves fire would be more successful in prevention and efficient in operation.

Prophet's Recommended Reading: 2000 Valdosta State Playbook Top Gun QB Academy's Multiple West Coast Spread

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