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If you don’t know the Umbrella Principle yet, you need to pay attention. This is the single most important concept for defensive coaches to understand.

It’s also the fastest way to get your defensive players to understand run fits. Completely changes the way they see their position.

Learn the concept. Then start drawing up your defense against different formations. Plays. See how the concept works.

Then teach it to your players. Once they understand the Umbrella Principle, they get an understanding of their job within the defensive scheme. This is huge.

First, you’ll need to know some terms. You don’t have to use these exact words in your teaching.

Want to call it contain instead of force? Great. But these are the words I’ll be using.

The Umbrella Principle in the 4-2-5 Defense
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Spill Player: Do not allow the ball carrier to go inside of you or to run the ball north-south. Force him to bounce east-west. Always attack the inside half of your gap.

Force Player: Edge defenders who must force a change of direction for the ball carrier. Do not allow him to get outside, unless he bubbles around you. Make him go back inside to the pursuit of the spill defenders and the alley defender.

Alley Player: The ‘alley’ is the space between the last spill defender and the force defender. Alley players fit this space.

Stay In Coverage Player: Two defenders are always primary pass defenders. They are responsible for making sure you don’t look bad on a toss pass, double pass, or another trick play. Stay in coverage over the top to make sure the play is a run play.

With that out of the way, let’s get on to the Umbrella.

The Umbrella Principle is the simplest way I’ve found to teach how the pieces of your defense fit together. How spill, force, alley and stay in coverage result in an impenetrable force for your defense.

I didn’t invent it. No idea who did. I heard it in a clinic from a coach at TCU. Don’t even know his name, but I wish I did. Most important coaching point I’ve ever heard.

The Umbrella is an imaginary lid over your spill defenders. Spill players are usually the Defensive Line and Inside Linebackers.

The spill defenders are making the ball bounce out to the edges of the umbrella. To the force defenders.

To accomplish that goal, spill defenders always attack the inside half of their gap. It’s a clinic talk way of speaking, but the concept is important. Do not allow anyone to run inside of you. Not a blocker. Not a ball carrier.

The ‘wrong arm’ concept comes into play here. You attack the inside half of the gap, forcing lead blockers and kick out blockers to go outside of you.

When your defenders understand spill within the Umbrella Principle, wrong arming happens naturally. As the ball carrier can’t find any inside lanes to attack, he continues to bounce to the outside.

4-2-5 Defense against strong side Power run using the Umbrella Principle. Spill players make the ball to bounce, with the Strong Safety forcing the cutback directly into the Alley player.

The force defenders are ready for the ball to spill out. They must force a change of direction in the ball carrier when he gets to them.

Forcing a change of direction means making the ball carrier either cut back to the pursuing spill defenders and alley defender, or making him bubble away from the line of scrimmage to get around the force defender.

The job is the same as we used to coach when we called it a contain player. The difference is the wording. Contain can just mean to make sure he doesn’t get outside – but where is outside?

​The role of forcing a change of direction in the ball carrier is simple to understand, and measurable. Close too tight, stay too wide, or get up the field too far and the ball carrier never has to slow down as he turns the corner.

The alley is the tips of the umbrella. If a ball carrier gets outside of the spill, and cuts inside of the force, he should be tackled by the alley defender.
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​The combination of the two jobs is called constricting the alley. After all, you’ve only got one alley defender. Don’t give him a lot of space to handle.
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​If the force defender gets a fast read and sets the edge by attacking the lead blocker with a great angle, he makes the alley smaller.
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​When the last spill defenders – usually a Defensive End or scraping Linebacker – do a great job, the alley gets smaller.
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​They alley defender fits off the hip of the last spill defender, inside of the force defender. Might be at the hash, at the numbers, or anywhere on the field.
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​It’s not a place on the field. It’s a fit in the play. Run fits.
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​Where’s the alley? Had no idea. Somewhere out there.
​When I started coaching, I knew what an alley defender was. He’s the guy who defends the alley.

Outside Zone to the strong side with the Defensive End and Strong Safety constricting the alley. If the ball bounces outside of force, the Alley defender changes his path to compensate.

Stay in Coverage defenders are pretty self explanatory. Stay in coverage. Don’t let this team fake us out and get a walk-in touchdown on a double pass to an uncovered receiver down the field.

Yet, I hear so many coaches talking about the corner’s role in defending a play. The best example is coaches who want the corner to be responsible for the pitch man against a triple option team.

Works really well unless you play a halfway decent, well coached team. As soon as you see the corner involved in a tackle at the line of scrimmage? Time to attack him.

Keep two Stay in Coverage defenders at all times. Don’t let a team who can barely throw the ball make you look silly.

Once you’ve tested the umbrella principle on paper, take time to watch film. You’ll see where the breakdowns are in your defense. Apply the umbrella to it.

Then start teaching your players. Watch film. Talk about where the umbrella breaks down.

And if you really want the Umbrella principle to become a foundation of your defense, learn more. Study your defensive system inside JDFB Insiders. All of our Defensive Systems use the Umbrella Principle.