The 4-2-5: Part Two

Getting into detailed charting data on Rob Aurich's personnel and front-seven mode of operation

Photo courtesy San Diego State Athletics.

Don’t let the basketball team’s historic accomplishments distract you from the real priority: Talking random football scheme minutiae in March!

This is the second part in a series charting out Rob Aurich’s defense at San Diego State and comparing it to recent NU coaches’ philosophies, with this part focused generally on the personnel and front seven. If you missed the initial post last Friday, you’ll need to read that first to understand this one:

In the first post, I made the case that the “4-2-5” scheme Aurich is bringing with him from San Diego State is actually closer to a 4-3 that just subbed its field outside linebacker for a safety body, and I got into the “two-to-rotate” back-seven philosophy that relies heavily on match-based Cover 3 and Cover 4. I also discussed Aurich’s limited use of blitzes and rushers but its (relatively) high percentage of sim and creeper pressures. And I talked about what some benefits and downsides of playing that way might be and made comparisons to other defense’s people might be familiar with.

This post will focus exclusively on the personnel usage, fronts, pre-snap shift rate, boxes, shells, rusher totals, and stunt rate.

I’ll have a post more focused on the back seven and secondary later this week ahead of March 28th’s spring game. The first post in this series was free, but the final two will be behind a paywall. Subscribing to the paid version of this newsletter gets you access to these last two posts — plus all future paid posts, the full archive, and commenting on posts — and is just $5 a month and $50 a year.