Previous articles on the Virginia Tech scheme: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Let’s close out with what might be different for Virginia Tech linebackers and defensive backs. Coverages are the main issue here, though there are some details, too.

New linebackers coach Tracy Claeys prefers fast, attacking fronts, saying at one point that he’s never asked a defensive lineman to hold up an offensive lineman. His teams attack screens and punish quarterbacks on short drops. In coverage, he prefers spot-drop zones and man coverage, but you’ll see some brackets, too. Beyond the bracketing, there isn’t a lot of matching/route-reading, and he says as much. He likes how pure zones allow players to follow the ball. Watch the bottom cornerback in this clip:

The Cougars are rotating into a Cover-3 spot-drop zone. The corner’s interested in staying deep, while bending his route towards the biggest threat to his zone; in this case, since the QB is on the opposite side of the field, the slot is the most dangerous man. In zone-match schemes that rely on reading routes and middle-ground schemes that squeeze their zones more, that cornerback and the defender under him both would’ve been tighter to the receivers. For comparison, here’s a middle-ground example of the Hokies playing what turns into Cover-3 with an emphasis on tightening throwing windows:

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