Question for football coaches/scouts/knowledgeable peoples
If lets say a team is in 21 personel, but one of the "backs" is actually a TE lined up as a fullback/blocker of some sort, then is it still 21 personel? Or is it 12 because he is still a TE lined up in the backfield? I'm trying to learn more about the game of football and this is really confusing me. Any help would be appreciated.
is the first comment the most pithy. plus one sir.
The way we do it is if the player is on the line or one yard off the line(like a wing back) it is "12". If the player is more than one yard off of the line it is "21".
21 personel is what coaches use to describe the players going in the game. So technically if the FB is a player that normally plays TE it would be 12 personel but a 21 personel formation. Because many coaches use personel groupings for many different formations i would call it 12 personel. For example the Patriots can be in 12 personel and go empty. They still would have one RB, 2 TEs and 2 WRs on the field in an empty look. That is the beauty of versatile personel because Def usually deploy players based off the personell but when you have versatile players you can really get a good advantage.
And only ten on special teams.
#Hoke'd
Sigh. I thought we were finally past that until we only had 10 against Iowa's game winning FG. The curse that just won't go away.
Exactly.
Also, the personnel grouping doesn't really matter based on the formation. If you're lined up in 10 personnel (1 RB, 0 TE), it doesn't matter if you're 2x2 with the back in the backfield or if you line up with 3 WR in the backfield and the other guys out wide. The personnel package has already determined your defensive personnel and the defensive call.
When your guys in the booth or on the sideline see the personnel entering the game, they have to relay that to the sideline so you can change your defensive personnel. After that there's not much that you can change, because when they line up, the ball will be snapped within a few seconds.
I had one head coach I worked with change his terminology from 1 year to the next from 1 TE/2 RB being called "12 personnel" to then being called "21 personnel" the next season. No explanation was given. So yeah, there's no universally accepted Bible for football terminology. It changes from school to school and region to region.
This is true and sometimes not true. It is opponent dependent.
So you're saying opponents had to decide whether Funchess was a WR or TE before the game and go with a personnel strategy regardless of where he lined up? Makes sense I guess. The advantage goes to Michigan there if you can play someone in multiple positions.
Has no real answer. You can do both with the same personnel. As a DC, I would love to know b/c I defend 21 and 12 a lot differently. This is why having a lot of FB/TE/H-back types is such a great philosophy and makes guys like Harbaugh tough to game plan against.
Executing FB type blocks require different techniques than TE type blocks, however, and I personally would study the film to find out what each player's strengths as a blocker are. I would then define the personnel groups by the jersey numbers and not by where a guy lines up, which obviously can change during the QB cadence.
Another good thing about this defensive philosophy means how I defend against teams that employ the same personnel yet change b/w 12 and 21 personnel is that my defensive schemes change opponent to opponent.
For example, let's say I play Team A in week 3, and Team A employs players that are hybrid FB/TE types, but through film study I determine that Team A is much better with 21 personnel schemes than 12, and so I base my defensive attack to primarily counter 21 personnel and formations.
Then I play Team B in week 6, and Team B also employs hybrid FB/TE types, but is stronger with 12 personnel schemes. Having studied my film from playing against Team A, Team B determines to be weak against 12 personnel and develops its plan accordingly. However, I've studied Team B, and thus employ a plan to primarily defend 12 personnel schemes.,
Of course, this example is things lining up for me rather nicely, and as well all know, life usually doesn't line up nicely. Which brings me back to the original conundrum, which is that offenses that excel with a lot of good FB/TE hybrids is damn tough to defend.