Louisville Defenders Adjusting Well to New 4-2-5 Scheme

So far through spring practice, the Cardinals haven't had many issues with the transition to a new defensive system.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It's been an offseason full of change for the Louisville football program. The Scott Satterfield era came to bit of a surprising close, and with it, preparation for the long-awaited Jeff Brohm era is now underway.

Of course, whenever a program undergoes a coaching change, the style in which that team operates is bound to change. Louisville is no exception. On offense, the Cardinals are shifting from a run-heavy pistol formation based system to one that is more of a pass-heavy, pro style scheme.

The defensive side of the ball is also going to look drastically different. Defensive coordinator Bryan Brown, as well as his 3-4 scheme, is now with Satterfield and the Bearcats. Replacing that is a 4-2-5 scheme co-operated by Ron English and Mark Hagen, who both followed Brohm from Purdue to Louisville.

The two co-defensive coordinators have had a couple months up to this point to begin teaching how to run their new scheme, and recently, the Cardinals took their first steps towards executing it with the start of spring ball last week. So far, it appears that early impressions from the players as it pertains to the new scheme have been positive.

"I think they like it, because it's more of a pro-style defense," English said earlier this week. "This is more learning, more communication has to take place. More detail in alignments and assignments, because you got to kind of work together. It's all 11, as opposed to 'You got that guy, you got that guy, we're bringing these guys.' It's kind of different that way. ... I think they found out after the first day, I gotta get my playbook. I got to study and I got to know what I'm doing. Especially hearing me say it all the time."

In the previous system, the base formation was three down linemen and four linebackers - hence the name 3-4. As you can probably guess with this new scheme, the base is four down linemen with two linebackers behind them, with the five being your normal secondary plus a linebacker/safety hybrid position. A full explainer on the 4-2-5 can be found here.

Not only is the alignment different, but the exact roles across the board are shaken up as well. Sure, it will be while until the players have completely mastered the new system, but so far through spring ball, adjusting to it hasn't been an insurmountable challenge.

"I wouldn't say it's difficult (to adjust)," safety M.J. Griffin said. "It's gonna take a little time because it's new, but I feel like it's not difficult at all once you get the hang of it."

Griffin added he likes the system because it's predicated on single-gap fits. This means that each defender in the front seven is responsible for penetrating one gap on the opposing offensive line, as opposed to defenders lining up directly in front of an opposing offensive lineman.

"With safeties, we can go get that ball because the hole is gonna be just a little wide open just for us," he said. "I feel like that helps us out."

He's not the only one that is liking what they are seeing early in spring ball from the new defensive scheme. Defensive end Ashton Gillotte noted that a benefit for him personally is that he is going to see "a little less double teams" now that he is a little more on the edge than he was last year.

But above anything else, Gillotte believes that the players are fully bought into what both English and Hagen are trying to install, and that there are no reservations with the change.

"I think everyone's buying into it, and seeing the vision that English has or Hagen has for us, and what our roles are," he said. "There's definitely some some chances to make big time plays, and that's something that we all appreciate."

(Photo of Popeye Williams via University of Louisville Athletics)

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