The change to the 4-2-5 defense

guffus said:
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/s...ani-hooker-geno-stone-phil-parker/2293595002/

Very good story about Iowa's change from its traditional 4-3 to the 4-2-5. Sounds like its here to stay. It also sounds like it was the Wisconsin game that was the final straw that led to the change.

Of course this story would have a happier ending if this new defense would have been able to stop Purdue.
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'bout damn time! The whole country is using the spread offense and over the course of the season, line-backers, even speedy ones, can not cover wide-outs and flankers one on one the entire game. Should have been done 4 years ago.
 
It will be interesting to see how this effects current roster AND recruiting. We have a ton of LBs with experience on our roster, what becomes of them? Do some transition into pass-rush specialists to be used situationally?
 
It's been a long time coming, although it's going to be dependent on personnel available. Do you have a strong safety that can play like a linebacker (Amani Hooker) or a linebacker that can plays exceptionally well in coverage (Ben Nieman)?
 
AreWeThereYet said:
It's been a long time coming, although it's going to be dependent on personnel available. Do you have a strong safety that can play like a linebacker (Amani Hooker) or a linebacker that can plays exceptionally well in coverage (Ben Nieman)?
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I mean, we've essentially been running the 4-2-5 since Kirksey was the OLB. Parker asks a lot of those OLBs, and generally they've been good enough athletes to do it well. This year was just the first year it was official, with an actual DB manning that spot.
 
That's a very good article, but the main thing to get out of it is that Iowa has evolved past the idea of they pick one formation and will stick with it the entire game. Depending on the team and the situation, they may play a 4-3 or 4-2-5, it's just that the 4-2-5 is now considered the primary formation they play most often now.

And it is also interesting to see how Iowa made this key adjustment that seemed to work well for most games after Wisconsin, even though Iowa had several key players hurt at LB and CB, but then Purdue just seemed to rip Iowa's defense to shreds.

Which just goes to show you, ultimately whatever formation you pick, you got to have players good enough and healthy enough to play it.
 
BVHawk95 said:
I mean, we've essentially been running the 4-2-5 since Kirksey was the OLB. Parker asks a lot of those OLBs, and generally they've been good enough athletes to do it well. This year was just the first year it was official, with an actual DB manning that spot.
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Kirksey was good enough to play that OLB spot and still cover. I don't think Niemann and Niemann have Kirksey's skills at coverage, and I think they decided that you just need to have a guy out there who is stronger against the pass, more than you need a guy who is stronger vs the rush.

With the way Iowa has been recruiting the Safety position and with how good Phil is at coaching up the DB's, this is only logical. So right now if Hooker returns we have Hooker, Stone, Merriweather, and Craddieth (4* kid last year) for those 3 "Safety spots". Then we are bringing in two more kids this year who look like Hooker clones (Belton and Castro).
 
Somebody mentioned this above but with the way Phil coaches up DBs, this fits Iowa and playing in the B1G West well. With the way the game is slanted toward passing offense, my question is at what point is Iowa going to be looking at putting together a base D with 6 DBs?
 
deanvogs said:
Kirksey was good enough to play that OLB spot and still cover. I don't think Niemann and Niemann have Kirksey's skills at coverage, and I think they decided that you just need to have a guy out there who is stronger against the pass, more than you need a guy who is stronger vs the rush.

With the way Iowa has been recruiting the Safety position and with how good Phil is at coaching up the DB's, this is only logical. So right now if Hooker returns we have Hooker, Stone, Merriweather, and Craddieth (4* kid last year) for those 3 "Safety spots". Then we are bringing in two more kids this year who look like Hooker clones (Belton and Castro).
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I think Belton looks like a Hyde/Brents clone.
 
We are building a monster defense. I'm not in the slightest worried about that side. The coaches, the players, the formations and just the way they are starting to think about the game is all headed the right direction.
On the other side? Who knows. They show promise at times. But what frustrated me so bad was that when it came to run blocking, it was like they couldn't see the forest through the trees.
They had this grand idea in their head about an offense, but were failing at the basics.
But all you have to do is go back and watch the Illinois game (granted competition gap) and you could see they finally got the message.
 
I don’t see this as a Really big deal. Basically, for spread teams, we will be playing our “Nickel” package instead of the 4-3 as our base package. We have always had a nickel package. Basically they are saying that we need to use the Nickel more. $5 says we go right back to the 4-3 vs Wisky, MSU, Michigan and any other run-heavy teams.

Rather than just any old CB coming in to replace a LB, we are taking a very good Safety and replacing the LB with him, to bring him closer to the line and replacing the safety. In theory, a good safety can bring the heat when needing to make a tackle, but probably is just a step faster in coverage.

In response to the question above, we probably already have a “dime” package where we bring in an additional CB and pull out another LB, which gives us 6 CB’s. Almost every team has a nickel and dime package that they can use.
 
You're missing the boat.

Iowa is a perennial elite rated defense. Until Daddy and Baby 'Rentz can figure out how to score against teams with a greater than .400 record, we could have the '76 Steelers' defense and not contend for the B1G.
 
I’ll admit I didn't read the article but nothing Iowa did was that drastic. They had a bunch of linebackers get hurt, so they moved a good tackling safety and one of their best defensive players up near the line of scrimmage. It was easier to do because they had a good replacement safety in Stone.

With a lot of teams playing the spread, playing more nickel makes sense. Iowa won’t always have a nickel player that can read plays and tackle like Hooker.

My guess is running downs we will stick in our base 4-3, and passing downs and passing situations we will play more nickel. This is nothing groundbreaking.
 
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