I get asked every year why I think the 3-4 defense is the best for youth football and I’m here to begin to explain why. The reason I say “explain” is since the 3-4 Defense, and especially the 3-4 defense playbookfor youth football sold on this site, contains many different coverage and blitz options. Depending on the age and experience of your players there is something for all levels in the 3-4 defense.
If your are coaching Flag Football or are a beginner tackle coach you will probably stick to no defensive line stunts except for the slant. At the very young levels most of you tackles will be made by a few players. In the 3-4 defense your linebacker will be your best tacklers and you do not want them being blocked. You need your linebacker running free to make plays. The best way to accomplish this is to have your defensive line slant diagonal into the opposing offense lineman one player over. This slant messes up their blocking assignments, keeping the away from going downfield and trying to block your linebackers. This now frees up your inside linebackers to roam sideline to sideline and make tackles.
As you move up the youth football coaching ranks, you can expand on the 3-4 defense. Our first exposure to the 3-4 defense was playing a team with a six year winning streak and undefeated record at the time we played them. They were a dominant Wing T offensive team and we needed a scheme to slow them down. The 3-4 playbook gave us the ideas we needed to compete with the champs. We modified the 3-4 defensive playbook and beat that team winning the youth championship. We have continued to make the 3-4 the base defense we use every year.
