The 3-4

Slightly more practical than the 1-3-7, but slightly less feasible given our current numbers.

Whenever someone would bring up the idea of the Irish running a 3-4, the rest of the messageboard would immediately excoriate him. Reading their replies, one got the impression that a 500 lb. NT, two 400 lb. DE, and two 300 lb. OLB with 4.2 speed were necessary to even think about implementing this arcane scheme; however, yesterday Jeff on Irish Eyes reported that the Irish probably are going to convert to the 3-4 at some point, undoubtedly due to the preferences of new Defensive Coordinator Corwin Brown.

From the American Football Strategy Wikipedia article:

Defensive line

The 3 down linemen attempt to occupy the offensive linemen, while on running plays being responsible for the two gaps on either side of them, or two gapping. The defensive line is made up of a nose tackle (NT), who lines up in front of the opposing team's center and two defensive ends (DEs), who flank the nose tackle on both sides. Linemen in 3-4 schemes tend to be larger than their 4-3 counterparts to take up more space and guard more territory along the defensive front.

Linebackers

4 linebackers line up behind the defensive line. In a 3-4 defense, the linebacker unit is made up of two middle or inside linebackers (MLBs/ILBs), who are flanked on both sides by outside linebackers (OLBs).

The strength of the 3-4 is its ability to confuse the quarterback during passing plays. Most teams generate a pass rush by sending at least 4 defensive men at the quarterback. In a standard 4-3 alignment, these 4 rushers are usually the 4 down linemen. But in a 3-4, the fourth rusher is a linebacker. Since there are 4 linebackers, the fourth potential rusher can come from a variety of spots on the field, thus influencing and sometimes confusing the quarterback's pre-snap defensive read.

A drawback of the 3-4 is that without a fourth lineman to take on the offensive blockers and close the running lane, both the defensive linemen and the linebackers can be overwhelmed by blocking schemes in the running game; thus a 3-4 defense requires a large and strong nose tackle able to routinely tie up 2 or more blockers, freeing the middle linebackers to make the tackle. The 3-4 linebackers must be very athletic and strong enough to shed blocks by fullbacks, tight ends, and offensive linemen to get to the running back.

I thought I'd take a look on how this defense would shake out.

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Notes:
1. The data should be pretty straightforward. The number in parentheses after the weight is the weight I expect them to play at next year. The players' class is their academic class--both because it was easier to find and because eligible years left doesn't matter for the sake of this post.

2. Only 5 NFL teams run the 3-4. By my count: Browns, Chargers, Cowboys, Patriots, and Steelers. I averaged the height and weight of the starters for these teams by position to arrive at the NFL mean. Due to my limited knowledge of the NFL and the ambiguity of the official web sites, I wasn't able to include backups in this calculation.


3. For the Goal category, I took 20-10 lbs. off the NFL average depending on the position in question, I kept the height the same.

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NT:

Derrell Hand, 285 (290); 6'3"-Junior
Pat Kuntz, 270 (280); 6"2"-Junior
Trevor Laws, 283 (288); 6"1"-Fifth Year
Paddy Mullen, 265 (285); 6'5"-Sophomore
Andrew Nuss, 285 (280); 6'5"-Freshman
Ian Williams, 290 (285); 6'1"-Freshman

Projected 2-Deep: Laws; Hand

Current: 279 (265-290); 6'3" (6'1"-6'5")
Current 2-Deep: 284; 6'2"
Projected: 285 (280-290); 6'3" (6'-6'5")
Projected 2-Deep: 289 (288-290); 6'2" (6'1"-6'3")
Goal: 315; 6'3"
NFL: 335 (310-365); 6'3" (6'1 - 6'5")

As you can see, Notre Dame has quite a ways to go. By my calculations our 2-Deep would be 26 lbs. behind our goal and 46 lbs. behind the NFL average. Laws, our best DT, will be a fifth year next year, so I don't think he'll ever get to 300 lbs. let alone 315. Of the players on our roster only Nuss and Williams (both currently high school seniors) and maybe Hand will ever achieve the hoped for weight. Kuntz hasn't shown any special aptitude up this point, so it might not matter what his weight is. While it's possible a 290-300 lb. Mullen might be an adequate NT depending upon his drive, quickness, etc.; Paddy should probably switch over to DE at some point since he would compare perfectly with the NFL standard.

DE:
Justin Brown, 254, 6'3"-Senior
Paddy Mullen, 265, 6'5"-True Freshman
John Ryan, 240, 6'5"-True Freshman
Dwight Stephenson, 248; 6'2"-True Senior
Justin Trattou, 250; 6'4"-Incoming Freshman

Projected 2 Deep: Brown, Ryan; Trattou, Mullen

Current: 251 (240-265); 6'4"
Current 2-Deep: 252; 6'4"
Projected: 265; 6'4"
Projected 2-Deep: 267; 6'4"
Goal: 277; 6'4"
NFL: 297 (285-310); 6'4" (6'2" - 6'6")

While the DE situation isn't perfect, at least the projected 2-Deep average is only 10 lbs. behind our goal. The bigger problem with the projected 2-Deep is that Brown would be the only upperclassman (and an undistinguished one at that). Ryan and Mullen will be sophomores next year, while Trattou will be a true freshman. Suddenly Jason Peters becomes a must-get. Where have you gone Ronald Talley? He would have been a decent contributor as a DE in the new scheme. As you can see I've taken my own advice and already moved Mullen over to DE. My assumption is that he won't crack the 3-Deep this year at DT. If he does, then Stevenson moves into the 2-Deep. On a side note, it will be interesting to see what a guy like Trattou could do in a college 3-4. While DEs don't get many tackles in the NFL, Trattou is so good that he has the potential to do something pretty interesting things.

ILB:
Joe Brockington, 220 (225); 6'1"-Fifth Year
Maurice Crum, 220 (230); 6'0"-Senior
Aaron Nagel, 215 (225); 6'1"-Freshman
Steve Paskorz, 220 (230); 6'2"-Freshman
Steve Quinn, 215 (222); 6'2"-Junior
Toryan Smith, 230 (240); 6'0"-Freshman
Kevin Washington, 239 (245); 6'1"-Junior

Projected 2 Deep: Crum, T. Smith; Brockington, Washington

Current: 223 (215-239); 6'1" (6'-6'2")
Current 2-Deep: 227 (220-239); 6'1" (6'-6'1")
Projected: 231 (222-245); 6'1" (6'-6'2")
Projected 2-Deep: 235 (225-245); 6'1" (6'-6'1")
Goal: 233; 6'2"
NFL: 243 (227-254); 6'2" (6'-6'5")

It looks like we finally have a position at which the Irish meet the necessary weight requirements. Crum and Smith in the middle should be pretty solid. Brockington should function as a competent backup, while Washington is pretty much an unknown at this point. I threw him in just to give some size to the ILBs. It hurts that Weis didn't go after a true MLB this year. Colasanti's looking pretty good now, isn't he? Chris Donald, of course, would have been gravy, but he's gone for oranger pastures. Concerning the two committed LBs, only Paskorz looks like he could contribute in the 3-4. Nagel, alas, would make a prototypical WLB in the 4-3. Still, if is great grades weren't the primary reason for his recruitment, it's possible that Nagel might be one of those guys who punches above his weight--not something you can exactly count on though. I expect both Nagel and Paskorz to be passed over in the depth chart. Unfortunate, since they were both guys who committed to ND on the spot. Malcolm Smith (215, 6'2"), a recruit still in play, is also small but looks to more talented than Nagel.

OLB:
Morrice Richardson, 228 (238); 6'2"-Sophomore
Anthony Vernaglia, 230 (235)6'3"-Senior
Kallen Wade, 220 (235); 6'5"-Sophomore
Scott Smith, 242 (247); 6'3" Junior
Kerry Neal, 230 (240); 6'3"-Freshman

Projected 2 Deep: Richardson, Wade; Neal, Vernaglia

Current: 230 (220-242); 6'3"
Current 2-Deep: 227 (220-230); 6'3"
Projected: 239 (235-247); 6'3"
Projected 2-Deep: 237 (235-240); 6'3"
Goal: 247; 6'4"
NFL: 257 (243-270); 6'4" (6'3"-6'6")

Once again we're back to being drastically underweight and scarily young. Richardson and Wade will both be true sophomores, while Neal will be a true freshman. Unlike the ILB we actually have the beginnings of a decent depth chart among the underclassmen. Richardson, Wade, and Neal OLB types and should easily put on the required weight given some time. If Vernaglia could only put it together, he could be a great help this year. I don't really see that happening though. The loss of Martez Wilson hurts here, since he would make a perfect OLB. Maybe Corwin Brown will be able to persuade him to make the switch from Illinois to Notre Dame?

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You may have notice a recurring theme. Lack of depth. Ty left the defense in an extremely precarious position numbers-wise. Talent-wise wasn't any better. A defensive line of Brown, Hand, Kuntz, and Talley might scare Navy, but that's about it. Weis' failure to recruit suitable numbers of LBs and DL these past two years hasn't helped any, although the ones that did commit are clearly superior in ability.

Finally, I thought I'd look at how this year's recruiting class compares with our new needs:

NT (Done, Fulfilled): Willams - Blackwell would've been nice since the depth above is so thin
DE (Unfulfilled): Trattou - filled if Peters commits
OLB (Done, Unfulfilled): Neal - filled if Wilson or Benn switches his commitment
ILB (Unfulfilled): Paskorz, Nagel - if Malcolm Smith were to commit I'd consider this group to be a marginal success. If Donald decommits from Tennessee, ILB would be a roaring success.

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Verdict: moving to a 3-4 could be quite painful next year. When you have a scheme requiring three defensive linemen to tie up five offenseive linemen, it hurts that every single one of your linemen are undersized. That all but one of your starting linebackers are also going to be undersized compounds the problem. This said, next year is clearly marked as a rebuilding year. Since defensives schemes take time to implement, it's better to take our lumps next year than during a BCS run in '08. Still, due to the problems I just noted, I would advise a situational use of the 3-4, whose use expands throughout the season; however I'm not the new defensive coordinator of the Irish, for which you should be eternally grateful.