Today on the Coach and Coordinator podcast, it is another edition of our “Your Call” series. We talk with several coaches from across the country at the high school and college football level. The topic for the podcast is defending the Run/Pass Option. This will be a two-part series on defending RPO, starting today and concluding tomorrow. Today’s episode talks with coaches who employ 1-high solutions when defending the RPO.

We recently conducted a Twitter poll on this very topic, where there were over 250 responses from coaches. The breakdown was as follows: 62% said they used a 1-high structure, with 48% favoring man coverage and 14% siding with zone coverage. And the remaining 38% went with a 2-high structure, with it split even 19% for each man and zone coverage defense.

Four coaches called in to share their specific strategies and tactics for defending the RPO with the 1-high structure. Here are the guests on today’s show.

Grant Caserta – Defensive Coordinator, Husson University (Bangor, Maine) – Twitter: @GCaserta1

Kyle Bakken – Defensive Coordinator, Concordia College (Moorhead, Minnesota) – Twitter: @KCBakk31

Nick Davis – Defensive Coordinator, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, Indiana) – Twitter: @Spread_Defense

PJ Gibbs – Defensive Coordinator, Palmetto Ridge High School (Naples, Florida) – Twitter: @coachPJGibbs

In today’s show, the guests and host Keith Grabowski discuss defending the RPO with the 1-high structure and the differences between using man and zone coverage.

Show Notes

0:24 Responses from the Twitter poll on defending the Run/Pass Option

2:00 Insight on defending RPO from previous show guests

10:16 Your Call starting lineup

12:16 Grant Caserta talks about breaking players up into defending pass or run

13:36 GC: Influencing the offense to give the ball to certain players

18:03 GC: The importance of the Free Safety in defending the RPO

19:14 GC: Drills and practice periods used to practice RPO defense

22:36 Kyle Bakken looks at his defensive philosophy against the RPO

25:30 KB: Giving players one assignment in defending the RPO

28:58 KB: Using a split coverage with the 1-high structure

32:45 KB: Preparing defense for the RPO in practice

37:19 Nick Davis on how he uses the 3-3 stack defense against the RPO

39:37 ND: Defending quick concepts with the level two defenders

46:06 ND: Advantages to using the Bear front against the RPO

48:43 ND: Best advice to defending the RPO on a consistent basis

50:51 PJ Gibbs explains how he uses the Rip Liz concept to defend the RPO

51:46 PG: Using the Rip Liz with a 4-2-5 formation

53:49 PG: Drilling his players to have discipline on defense

55:36 PG: Dedicating specific time in practice to defending the RPO