El Dorado’s base defense was a 3-3-5 alignment last season, although what the Wildcats lined up in on Friday nights depended on the offense they were facing. This season, El Dorado will base out of a 3-4 defensive alignment.
The change was made in the spring. Defensive coordinator Trey Outlaw was asked if his squad has fully transitioned to the new formation or if there are still kinks to be ironed out.
“It’s hard to tell because I don’t think there was much adjustment,” he said. “We had three down linemen last year. We just added a fourth linebacker. It’s basically just allowing our guys to do what they naturally do, which is being athletic and moving around instead of just of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. We’re letting them do with what they’ve been blessed with. I don’t think it’s as big an adjustment as people would think.
“You’re constantly trying to learn and teach daily. I won’t ever tell them we’re there because we’re not. We’re constantly trying to get better each day.”
The Wildcats appear to be loaded in the secondary. But defense begins and ends with tackling. Outlaw said his troops haven’t lost focus of that.
“We tackle every single day. Now, what are we tackling? We’re tackling dummies, whether it’s a pop-up dummy or a wheel or something. There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t tackle,” said Outlaw.
The coach said half of the team’s 12 individual periods each day will be spent on tackling and reads and fits.
“There’s not been a day that’s gone by that we have not worked on tackling or have hit something legally. We’re big on tackling,” he said. “I think that’s something you do for two reasons. One, to be a great defense, you have to tackle. And two, I don’t think you can just tell your guys to come two weeks before you start playing and start teaching them how to tackle. I think you have to tackle throughout the summer on dummies to create that safety that you need for your players.”