My 4th grade pee wee football team ran variations of the 6-2 defense last season. To be honest, we should have stuck to our 7 Man Front Eagle Defense variation. But, my new defensive coordinator wanted to try the 6-2, and he had not heard of the Eagle 7, so we gave the 6-2 defense a shot. In most situations it works, but for teams that figured out our “C” gap was weak, we had to rely on our offense to score points. A double lead block run to the C gap with a guard trap on the D-End will kill you in a 6-2. We had a very tough time defending this play in our 6-2. Our two losses last season, both by 8 points or less, were from two teams that attacked our “C” gap. Below is our 6-2 Base Defense.
6-2 Defense – Base

To address our C gap weakness, we would move into a 6-2 Wide defensive formation, which moved the two linebackers into the C gaps. See below.
6-2 Wide Defense

I probably should have moved the D-tackles wider also to stunt the C Gap. But, I moved back into our Eagle 7 Defense, which plugged the strong C Gap hole with a big D-Tackle.
There are many types of blitzes you can run out of the 6-2 Defense with Linebackers and Defensive backs. I ran mainly LB /Lineman stack cross blitzes to the gaps or a Corner blitz to one side. I would also occasionally Blitz the safety up the middle.
I am not going to run the 6-2 defense in 2008. I am sticking with my Eagle 7 variations and testing out the Gap Air Mirror Defense for short yardage situations.
Coach Wade at his website has some great info on the 6-2. You may want to visit his website.
Good Luck this season.




























1 Comment
June 28, 2009 at 1:37 pm
It is funny how the skill level is even more advanced @ the 9-10 tear old level. I’m talking about it is not about just stopping the run anymore. These guys are passing as much as running. I found myself having go to the 5-2 with a strong safety. 2 corners and a FS I found once an athletic team gets beyond the 6-2 aligment a juke here and a juke there it is a quick 6 for the for your opponenet. Once you get your team to recognize the strong side it just goes to show you those first 2 weeks of shirts shorts and helments are a crucial time for conditioning and learning. What do you guys thinkK
Coach Bubba Savage Nederland TX