Simplistic Multiplicity-Shutting Down the Spread Offense Stopping the Jet Sweep

Tommy Lewis and Jamie Lemmond show how Victory Christian Academy stops the jet sweep series, one of the spread offense's favorite ways to get its best athlete the ball in space. Containing the spread is the goal of most defensive coordinators who face it, and this session of the "Simplistic Multiplicity" series turns that goal into a plan: define the series, defend it from the inside out, run to the ball as a team and take away the player the offense is built around.

What you'll learn

• What the jet sweep series is, and what it is not
• The elements of the JSS: fast motion from the slot receiver, a handoff on an inside or outside sweep, a give to the tailback or a play-action pass
• Three principles for shutting it down: defending from the inside out, relentless team pursuit and clamping down on the offense's best player
• Why pushing the ball carrier laterally matters, and how to generate an extra run defender against the sweep
• Slants, stunts and blitzes that create blocking confusion
• Mixing different fronts, movements, coverages and personnel so the offense never gets a settled picture
• Identifying the opponent's best player and building the plan around him
• Causing distraction and confusion within the play-action passing game off jet motion

Who it's for

Defensive coordinators and linebacker and secondary coaches at the high school level who face jet motion every week, and college coaches who want a simple set of rules for it. Whatever your base front, the inside-out and pursuit principles carry over.

About the coach

Tommy Lewis was head coach at Victory Christian Academy in Lakeland, Florida, where Jamie Lemmond ran the defense. The program won a Florida state championship, and the two coaches produced this five-part series on shutting down the spread offense.

Part 3 of Coach Lewis and Coach Lemmond's five-part series on shutting down the spread offense.