Play in the Alley - Breaking Down Brent Pry's Philosophy to Stop the Run

When fans get their first glimpse of the Hokies this spring, they will see a huge degree of Bud Foster influence in Brent Pry's defensive scheme. After all, at Pry's introductory presser he noted he cut his teeth as a graduate assistant in the mid-90s under Foster. So naturally Pry's defenses at Penn State were built on the concept of using speed and movement to force opposing offenses to play in the alleys, where an unblocked defender was schemed. As I will mention in this column time and time again, Pry brought extra defenders into the box, and used stunts, slants, and predetermined pressures to dictate where the ball carrier went. The goal was to confuse the blocking scheme with counterintuitive movements, jam up the play, and then spill or force the running back to the unblocked hat.

Watch this typical Pry defense run stop.

Michigan lines up with three wide receivers and a wingback. They run a power scheme counter-trey. The left side of the o-line rides the defensive line inside. Right guard Andrew Vastardis (No. 68) and wingback Erick All (No. 83) pull around to kick out the backside edge and lead up on the linebacker, respectively.

To the field-side, SAM linebacker Curtis Jacobs (No. 23), initially looks like he was going to play man coverage on the slot receiver. However, at the snap Jacobs immediately slides inside and becomes the field-side containment or edge defender. The interior linemen — field d-end Nick Tarburton (No. 46), field DT Derrick Tangelo (No. 54), and boundary DT Dvon Ellies (No. 91) — all attack the gap inside of them. Their job was to jam everything up.